The 1923 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team that represented the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

during the

1923 Big Ten Conference football season 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 ...

. In their 11th season under head coach

Robert Zuppke Robert Carl Zuppke (July 2, 1879 – December 22, 1957) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign from 1913 until 1941, compiling a career college football record of 131–81� ...

, the Fighting Illini compiled an 8–0 record (5–0 against

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

opponents), tied with

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

for the Big Ten championship, shut out five of eight opponents, and outscored their opponents by a total of 136 to 20. There was no contemporaneous system in 1923 for determining a national champion. However, Illinois was retroactively named as the national champion by the Boand System,

College Football Researchers Association The College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) was founded in 1982 by Anthony Cusher of Reeder, North Dakota, and Robert Kirlin of Spokane, Washington. The CFRA took a vote of its members from 1982 to 1992 to select an annual college football n ...

, Helms Athletic Foundation, and Parke H. Davis, and as a co-national champion by the

Berryman QPRS Berryman QPRS, also known as the Berryman Quality Point Rating System is a mathematical rating system developed by Clyde P. Berryman to rate sports teams and competitors. The Berryman QPRS system considers strength of schedule, win–loss record, p ...

system,

National Championship Foundation The National Championship Foundation (NCF) was established by Mike Riter of Hudson, New York. The NCF retroactively selected college football national champions for each year from 1869 to 1979, and its selections are among the historic national ch ...

, and

Jeff Sagarin Jeff Sagarin is an American sports statistician known for his development of a method for ranking and rating sports teams in a variety of sports. His ratings have been a regular feature in the ''USA Today'' sports section since 1985, have been us ...

(using the ELO-Chess methodology). Halfback

Red Grange Harold Edward "Red" Grange (June 13, 1903 – January 28, 1991), nicknamed "the Galloping Ghost" and "the Wheaton Iceman", was an American football halfback for the University of Illinois, the Chicago Bears, and the short-lived New York Yankees ...

, known as "The Galloping Ghost", tallied 723 rushing yards and scored 12 touchdowns in seven games. In 2008, Grange was named by

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as the best college football player of all time. He was also a charter member of both the

College A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...

and Pro Football Halls of Fame. Grange and

Guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

Jim McMillen were consensus first-team picks on the 1923 All-America college football team. McMillen was also the team captain. This was the first season for the Fighting Illini at Memorial Stadium, where the team plays their home games to this day.

Schedule

Roster

*Head coach:

(11th year at Illinois)

Awards and honors

The following Illinois players received honors on the 1923 All-America college football team and/or the 1923 All-Big Ten Conference football team: * Halfback Red Grange :* Consensus first-team All-American :* First-team All-Big Ten selection by Norman E. Brown and

Walter Eckersall Walter Herbert "Eckie" Eckersall (June 17, 1883 – March 24, 1930) was an American college football player, official, and sportswriter for the ''Chicago Tribune''. He played for the Maroons of the University of Chicago, and was elected to the ...

* Guard Jim McMillen :* Consensus first-team All-American :* First-team All-Big Ten selection by Brown and Eckersall * End Frank Rokusek :* Second-team All-American selected by Lawrence Perry :* Second-team All-Big Ten selection by Brown and Eckersall * Quarterback Harry A. Hall :* Second-team All-Big Ten selection by Eckersall * Fullback

Earl Britton Earl Tanner Britton (July 15, 1903 – October 24, 1973) was a professional American football Fullback (American football), fullback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (1926), American Football Leagu ...

:* Second-team All-Big Ten selection by Brown and third-team selection by Eckersall

References

{{College Football National Champion pre-AP_Poll navbox

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Illinois Fighting Illini football seasons College football national champions Big Ten Conference football champion seasons 1923 Illinois Fighting Illini football