Michigan quarterback Harry Newman was a consensus first-team All-American and won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the most valuable player in the conference.
Michigan was awarded the Knute K. Rockne Trophy, narrowly prevailing over USC as the national champion under the Dickinson System.
Co-champion Purdue compiled a 7–0–1 record, had the conference's leading scoring offense with an average of 20.5 points per game, and was ranked No.
Fullback Roy Horstmann was Purdue's most valuable player and was selected as a first-team All-American by several selectors.
Key DS = Ranking in the Dickinson System, a system used at the time to rank the country's best college football teams and to award the Knute Rockne Trophy to the national champion[2] PPG = Average of points scored per game[3] PAG = Average of points allowed per game[3] MVP = Most valuable player as voted by players on each team as part of the voting process to determine the winner of the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy[4] The following players received first-team honors from either the Associated Press (AP) or United Press (UP) on the 1932 All-Big Ten Conference football team: Two Big Ten players were consensus first-team picks on the 1932 College Football All-America Team:[5] Other Big Ten players receiving first-team All-American honors from at least one selector were: