The 1927 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 with ...

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 University ...

in the 1927 Big Ten Conference football season. The Fighting Illini compiled a 7–0–1 record (5–0 against Western Conference opponents) and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 152 to 24. Illinois was also ranked No. 1 in the nation in 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 ...

ratings released in December 1927. Illinois was also retroactively named as the national champion for 1927 by the

Billingsley Report The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings ...

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

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 Parke H. Davis. 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 ...

and 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 ...

were selected as first-team players on the 1927 All-America college football team: Reitsch by the

North American Newspaper Alliance The North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) was a large newspaper syndicate that flourished between 1922 and 1980. NANA employed some of the most noted writing talents of its time, including Grantland Rice, Joseph Alsop, Michael Stern, Lothrop S ...

and Lawrence Perry; and Crane by

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland "Granny" Rice (November 1, 1880July 13, 1954) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known for his elegant prose. His writing was published in newspapers around the country and broadcast on the radio. Early years Rice wa ...

for ''

Collier's Weekly ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Colli ...

''. Reitsch was also the team captain. Other notable players included halfback

Jud Timm Judson Albert Timm (August 28, 1906 – December 23, 1994) was a college football player and coach. A native of Twin Falls, Idaho, he played for Robert Zuppke's Illinois Fighting Illini football teams at the University of Illinois at Urbana� ...

; end

Garland Grange Garland Arthur "Gardie" or "Pinky" Grange (December 2, 1906 – May 28, 1981) was a professional American football player for the Chicago Bears from 1929 until 1931. Prior to his professional playing career, he played college football at the Unive ...

; and tackle

Butch Nowack Albert J. "Butch" Nowack (1904 – September 28, 1952) was an American football player and coach. A native of Pana, Illinois, he played college football as a tackle at the University of Illinois under Robert Zuppke and was a member of the 19 ...

Schedule

Roster

*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 ...

(15th year at Illinois)

References

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

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

Illinois Fighting Illini football The Illinois Fighting Illini football program represents the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) level. The Fighting Illini are a founding member of ...

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