1923 Big Ten Conference football season

Sports season

1923 Big Ten Conference football season

Sport| Football
Number of teams| 10
Co-champions| Illinois, Michigan
Football seasons

← 1922

1924 →

1923 Big Ten Conference football standings

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| Conf. |  |  | Overall

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Team | W |   | L |   | T |  |  | W |   | L |   | T
Illinois \+  | 5  | – | 0  | – | 0 |  |  | 8  | – | 0  | – | 0
Michigan \+  | 4  | – | 0  | – | 0 |  |  | 8  | – | 0  | – | 0
Chicago | 5  | – | 1  | – | 0 |  |  | 7  | – | 1  | – | 0
Minnesota | 2  | – | 1  | – | 1 |  |  | 5  | – | 1  | – | 1
Iowa | 3  | – | 3  | – | 0 |  |  | 5  | – | 3  | – | 0
Indiana | 2  | – | 2  | – | 0 |  |  | 3  | – | 4  | – | 0
Wisconsin | 1  | – | 3  | – | 1 |  |  | 3  | – | 3  | – | 1
Ohio State | 1  | – | 4  | – | 0 |  |  | 3  | – | 4  | – | 1
Purdue | 1  | – | 4  | – | 0 |  |  | 2  | – | 5  | – | 1
Northwestern | 0  | – | 6  | – | 0 |  |  | 2  | – | 6  | – | 0

* \+ – Conference co-champions

The 1923 Big Ten Conference football season was the 28th season of college football played by the member schools of the Big Ten Conference (also known as the Western Conference) and was a part of the 1923 college football season.

Illinois, under head coach Robert Zuppke, compiled an 8–0 record, outscored opponents by a combined total of 136 to 20, and tied for the Big Ten championship. Halfback Red Grange was recognized as a consensus All-American and was one of the inaugural inductees into the College Football Hall of Fame. The 1923 Illinois team has been recognized as the national champion by selected retroactively as the national champion by the Boand System, College Football Researchers Association, Helms Athletic Foundation, and Parke H. Davis, and as a co-national champion by the Berryman QPRS system, National Championship Foundation, and Jeff Sagarin (using the ELO-Chess methodology).[1]

Michigan, under head coach Fielding H. Yost, compiled an 8–0 record, tied for the Big Ten championship, and outscored its opponents by a combined total of 150 to 12. Michigan led the conference in both scoring offense (18.8 points per game) and scoring defense (1.5 points per game). Center Jack Blott was a consensus All-American, and halfback Harry Kipke was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The season was part of a 20-game undefeated streak for Michigan that began on October 29, 1921, and continued until October 18, 1924. During the combined 1922 and 1923 seasons, Michigan compiled a 14–0–1 record. The 1923 Michigan team has been recognized as the national champion by the Billingsley Report and as a co-national champion by the National Championship Foundation.[2]

## Season overview

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### Results and team statistics

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Conf. Rank  | Team  | Head coach  | Overall record  | Conf. record  | PPG  | PAG

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1 (tie) | Illinois | Robert Zuppke | 8–0 | 5–0 | 17.0 | 2.5
1 (tie) | Michigan | Fielding H. Yost | 8–0 | 4–0 | 18.8 | 1.5
3 | Chicago | Amos A. Stagg | 7–1 | 5–1 | 16.8 | 2.8
4 | Minnesota | William H. Spaulding | 5-1-1 | 3-1-1 | 16.3 | 8.6
5 | Iowa | Howard Jones | 5–3 | 3–3 | 15.5 | 6.9
6 | Indiana | Bill Ingram | 3–4 | 2–2 | 6.9 | 16.7
7 | Wisconsin | John J. Ryan | 3–3–1 | 1–3–1 | 12.7 | 4.6
8 | Ohio State | John Wilce | 3–4–1 | 1–4 | 15.5 | 12.4
9 | Purdue | James Phelan | 2–5–1 | 1–4 | 8.1 | 13.3
10 | Northwestern | Glenn Thistlethwaite | 2–6 | 0–6 | 14.6 | 7.0

Key

PPG = Average of points scored per game[3]
PAG = Average of points allowed per game[3]

### Regular season

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### Bowl games

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No Big Ten teams participated in any bowl games during the 1923 season.

## All-Big Ten players

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For the complete All-Western selections, see 1923 All-Big Ten Conference football team.

Ten players received first-team honors on the 1923 All-Big Ten Conference football team from at least two of the following selectors: Billy Evans (BE)[4] Norman E. Brown (NB), and Walter Eckersall (WE).[5]

* Ray Eklund, end, Minnesota (BE, NB, WE)
* Marty Below, tackle, Wisconsin (BE, NB, WE)
* Stanley Muirhead, tackle, Michigan (BE, NB, WE)
* Jim McMillen, guard, Illinois (BE, NB, WE)
* Jack Blott, center, Michigan (BE, NB, WE)
* Hoge Workman, quarterback, Ohio State (NB, WE)
* Red Grange, halfback, Illinois (BE, NB, WE)
* Earl Martineau, halfback, Minnesota (BE, NB)
* Harry Kipke, halfback, Michigan (BE, WE)
* Merrill Taft, fullback, Wisconsin (BE, NB, WE)

## All-Americans

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For the complete All-America selections, see 1923 College Football All-America Team.

Five Big Ten players were recognized as consensus first-team players on the 1923 College Football All-America Team:[6]

* Red Grange, halfback, Illinois (Athletic World magazine [AW],[7] Walter Camp [WC],[8] Football World magazine [FW],[9] Lawrence Perry [LP],[10] Norman E. Brown [NB],[11] Davis J. Walsh [DW],[12] Tom Thorp [TT],[13] Percy Haughton [PH],[14])
* Ray Eklund, end, Minnesota (AW, FW, LP, NB, TT, PH)
* Marty Below, tackle, Wisconsin (AW, FW, NB, DW)
* Jim McMillen, guard, Illinois (AW, FW, NB, DW, TT)
* Jack Blott, center, Michigan (AW, WC, FW, NB, DW)

## References

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1. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 108. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
2. ^ In games against common opponents, Michigan won by a total of 32 points whereas Illinois won against the same opponents by a total of 22 points. Michigan defeated Ohio State by 23 points (Illinois defeated Ohio State by nine points). Michigan defeated Iowa six points (Illinois defeated Iowa by three points). Illinois defeated Wisconsin by 10 points (Michigan defeated Wisconsin by three points).
3. ^ a b "1923 Big Ten Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
4. ^ Billy Evans (December 4, 1923). "Coaches Select All-Conference Football Team for Evans". The New Castle Herald. p. 9.
5. ^ "Eckersall's All-Conference Elevens". Detroit Free Press. December 2, 1923. p. 21.
6. ^ "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. p. 5\. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 26, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2014.
7. ^ "Athletic World All America". The Decatur Review. December 16, 1923.
8. ^ "Walter Camp's All-American Team". Alton Evening Telegraph. December 19, 1923.
9. ^ ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, p. 1155
10. ^ Lawrence Perry (December 16, 1923). "Cornell and Michigan Get Two Places on Perry Eleven, One for Syracuse: Famed Gridiron Expert Rates Pfann, Sundstrom and MacRae Among Best". Syracuse Herald.
11. ^ Norman E. Brown (December 10, 1923). "Marty Below On First All-American Eleven: Merrill Taft Gets Berth On Second Team". The Capital Times. Madison, WI.
12. ^ "Walsh Picks Three Teams of All-Americans In 1923 Seasonal Postmortem". The Coshocton Tribune. December 6, 1923.
13. ^ Tom Thorp (December 8, 1923). "Eastern Grid Players Get Six Places On All-American: Tom Thorp Picks Star Mythical Eleven of 1923 for the Baltimore News". Cumberland Evening Times.
14. ^ "All Americans: Percy Haughton's Team". Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune. December 11, 1923.

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Big Ten Conference football

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*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template
*[Conf.]: Conference record
*[W]: Wins
*[L]: Losses
*[T]: Ties