The 1919 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 ...

in 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 ...

during the 1919 college football season. In their seventh 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 6–1 record (6–1 against Big Ten opponents) and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 91 to 48. There was no contemporaneous system in 1919 for determining a national champion. However, Illinois was retroactively named as the national champion for 1919 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 Boand System, and as a co-national champion by the College Football Researchers Association, Parke H. Davis, 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 his alternate ELO-Chess methodology). Fullback William Kopp was the team captain. Three Illinois players received mention on the 1919 All-America college football team: end Dick Reichle (first-team choice by the ''

Reno Evening Gazette The ''Reno Gazette Journal'' is the main daily newspaper for Reno, Nevada. It is owned and operated by the Gannett Company. It came into being when the ''Nevada State Journal'' (founded on November 23, 1870) and the ''Reno Evening Gazette'' (fou ...

''); tackle

Burt Ingwersen Burton Aherns Ingwersen (August 29, 1898 – July 15, 1969) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach at the University of Iowa from 1924 to 1931, compiling ...

(second-team choice 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 guard Jack Depler (second-team choice by Camp). Seven Illini players were included on the 1919 All-Big Ten Conference football team: quarterback Robert H. Fletcher; halfback

Laurie Walquist Lawrence Wilfred Walquist (March 9, 1898 – September 28, 1985) was a professional American football player who played quarterback for nine seasons for the Chicago Bears. He was also the first-ever head coach for the Chicago Bruins of the Ameri ...

; fullback Jack Crangle; end

Chuck Carney Charles Roslyn Carney (August 25, 1900 – September 5, 1984) was an American football and basketball player. Carney was born in Chicago in 1900. He enrolled at the University of Illinois where he excelled in both football and basketball. H ...

; tackle Burt Ingerwesen; and guards Jack Depler and Clarence Applegran.

Schedule

Roster

*Head coach:

(7th year at Illinois)

Awards and honors

* Dick Reichle, end :* First-team selection of ''

'', selected by "W.P. Hahn, football expert of national note who is now located in Reno", for the

1919 College Football All-America Team The 1919 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 1919. The two selectors recognized by the NC ...

, tackle :* Second-team selection by

for the 1919 All-America team * Jack Depler, guard :* Second-team selection by Walter Camp for the 1919 All-America team

References

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

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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