The 1927 Big Ten Conference football season was the 32nd season of

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

played by the member schools of the

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 ...

(also known as the Western Conference) and was a part of the

1927 college football season The 1927 college football season ended with the Illini of the University of Illinois (7–0–1) being recognized as champion under the Dickinson System. At season's end, the Rissler Cup was awarded to the team that finished first in the "Dickin ...

. The

1927 Illinois Fighting Illini football team The 1927 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an American football team that represented the University of Illinois in the 1927 Big Ten Conference football season. The Fighting Illini compiled a 7–0–1 record (5–0 against Western Con ...

, 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 ...

, compiled a 7–0–1 record, won the Big Ten championship, led the conference in scoring defense (3.0 points allowed per game), and was recognized as the national champion under the

Dickinson System The Dickinson System was a mathematical point formula that awarded national championships in college football. Devised by University of Illinois economics professor Frank G. Dickinson, the system crowned national champions from 1925 to 1940. Dickin ...

rankings. Guard

Russ Crane Vice Admiral Russell Harry Crane, (born 11 June 1954) is a retired senior officer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), who served as the Chief of Navy from July 2008 until his retirement in June 2011. Early life Crane was born in Southport ...

and center

Robert Reitsch Robert Reitsch (January 11, 1906 – September 4, 1998) was an American college football player. A prominent center, he was the captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a n ...

received first-team All-American honors. The

1927 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team The 1927 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1927 Big Ten Conference football season. In their third year under head coach Clarence Spears, the Golden Gophers compiled a 6–0–2 record and outs ...

, under head coach

Clarence Spears Clarence Wiley "Doc" Spears (July 24, 1894 – February 1, 1964) was an American football player, coach, and doctor. He was an All-American guard at Dartmouth College (1914–1915) and served as the head football coach at Dartmouth (1917–1920), ...

, compiled a 6–0–2 record, led the Big Ten in scoring offense (26.1 points per game), and was ranked No. 3 in the Dickinson System rankings. Fullback

Herb Joesting Herbert Walter Joesting (April 17, 1905 – October 1, 1963) was an American football player and coach. He was a consensus All-American fullback while playing for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in both 1926 and 1927. He also played three seasons i ...

was a consensus first-team All-American, and guard Harold Hanson also received first-team All-American honors from multiple selectors. The 1927 Michigan Wolverines football team, under head coach

Tad Wieman Elton Ewart "Tad" Wieman (October 4, 1896 – December 26, 1971) was an American football collegiate player, coach and athletic director. He played football for the University of Michigan from 1915 to 1917 and 1920 under head coach Fielding H. Yos ...

, compiled a 6–2 record, shut out its first four opponents, and was ranked No. 7 in the Dickinson System rankings. Michigan end

Bennie Oosterbaan Benjamin Oosterbaan ( ; February 24, 1906 – October 25, 1990) was a three-time first team All-American football end for the Michigan Wolverines football team, two-time All-American basketball player for the basketball team, and an All-Big Ten C ...

was a consensus first-team All-American for the third consecutive year. Halfback

Louis Gilbert Louis Matthew Gilbert (September 15, 1906 – May 9, 1987) was an American football player. He played at the halfback position for the Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1925 to 1927. He was selected as a first-team All-Big Ten Confer ...

was Michigan's leading scorer and a first-team All-Big Ten player. Chicago center

Ken Rouse Kenneth Rouse (August 22, 1906 – August 6, 1958) was an American football player. He played center for Amos Alonzo Stagg's University of Chicago football team from 1925 to 1927. He was captain of the 1927 team and won the 1927 Chicago Tribune ...

received the ''Chicago Tribune'' Silver Football trophy as the most valuable player in the conference.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Key
DS = Rankings from

. See

PPG = Average of points scored per game
PAG = Average of points allowed per game

Regular season

Bowl games

No Big Ten teams participated in any bowl games during the 1927 season.

All-Big Ten players

The following players were picked by the

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(AP), the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

(UP), the ''Chicago Daily News'' (CDN), and/or

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 C ...

(WE) as first-team players on the

1927 All-Big Ten Conference football team The 1927 All-Big Ten Conference football team consists of American football players selected to the All-Big Ten Conference teams chosen by various selectors for the 1927 Big Ten Conference football season. All Big-Ten selections Ends * Bennie Oo ...

All-Americans

Two Big Ten players were selected as consensus first-team players on the

1927 College Football All-America Team The 1927 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1927. The seven selectors recognized by the ...

. They were: Other Big Ten players received first-team honors from at least one selector. They were:

References

{{Big Ten Conference football navbox