The 1914 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 Western Conference during the

1914 college football season The 1914 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Army, Illinois, and Texas as having been selected national champions. Only Illinois claims a national championship fo ...

. In their second 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 a 7–0 record (6–0 against conference opponents), shut out four of seven opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 224 to 22. There was no contemporaneous system in 1914 for determining a national champion. However, Illinois was retroactively named as the national champion 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 ...

and as a co-national champion by

Parke H. Davis Parke Hill Davis (July 15, 1871 – June 5, 1934)"PARKE H. DAVIS BURIED.; Many Prominent Men at Funeral of Football Authority", special to ''The New York Times'', June 9, 1934 was an American football player, coach, and historian. Shortly befo ...

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

was chosen as co-champion by Davis and as national champion by three other selectors. End

Perry Graves Perry Henry Graves, Sr. (September 6, 1889 – January 9, 1979), was an All-American football player who played end for the University of Illinois from 1913 to 1915. In later life, he owned lumber companies. Biography A native of Rockford, Illi ...

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 ...

Ralph Chapman Ralph D. "Slouie" Chapman (May 8, 1892 – August 1969) was an American football player. He was the son of P. T. Chapman, a wealthy banker in Vienna, Illinois. He played at the guard position for Robert Zuppke's University of Illinois footb ...

were consensus picks for the 1914 All-America college football team. Chapman was the team captain. Seven Illini players were also honored on the

1914 All-Western Conference football team The 1914 All-Western Conference football team consists of American football players selected to the all-conference team for the Western Conference, later known as the Big Ten Conference, as chosen by various selectors for the 1914 college football ...

selected by

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 ...

: quarterback

Potsy Clark George M. "Potsy" Clark (March 20, 1894 – November 8, 1972) was an American football and baseball player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Michigan Agricultural College, now Michigan State University, ( ...

(first teaam); halfbacks Harold Pogue (first team); ends George K. Squier (first team) and

(second team); guard

(first team); fullback Eugene Schobinger (second team); and tackle Lennox F. Armstrtong (second team).

Schedule

Roster

*Head coach:

(second year at Illinois)

Awards and honors

, end :* Consensus first-team selection on the

1914 College Football All-America Team The 1914 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans for the 1914 college football season. The only selectors for the 1914 season who have been recognized as "official" by the Nation ...

, guard :* Consensus first-team selection on the 1914 All-America team * Lennox F. Armstrong, tackle :* Third-team All-American selection by

Frank G. Menke Frank Grant Menke (October 10, 1885 – May 13, 1954) was an American newspaper reporter, author, and sports historian. He wrote for the Hearst Newspapers from 1912 to 1932 and his articles appeared daily in 300 newspapers across the country. He ...

, sporting editor of the

International News Service The International News Service (INS) was a U.S.-based news agency (newswire) founded by newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst in 1909.

:* Third-team All-American selection by Frank G. Menke :* ''

Outing Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person's sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia in order to discredit political opponents or to com ...

'' magazine's "Football Roll of Honor: The Men Whom the Best Coaches of the Country Have Named as the Stars of the Gridiron in 1914" * Harold Pogue, halfback :* First-team selection by Fred M. Walker of the ''Pittsburgh Gazette-Times'' and '' The Michigan Daily'' for the 1914 All-America teamSpalding's Official Football Guide 1915 :* Second-team selection by

for the 1914 All-America team of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' :* Third-team selection by

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

and

for the 1914 All-America team :* ''Outing'' magazine's "Football Roll of Honor"

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 Illinois Fighting Illini football {{collegefootball-1914-season-stub