The 1923 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 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 second year under head coach

William H. Spaulding William H. Spaulding (May 4, 1880 – October 12, 1966) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. Spaulding coached at UCLA from 1925 to 1938. He had a successful tenure, compiling a 72–51–8 () record. H ...

, the Golden Gophers compiled a 5–1–1 record and outscored their opponents by a combined score of 114 to 60. It was Minnesota's final season playing on

Northrop Field Northrop Field was the on-campus stadium of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team from 1899 to 1923. The original field had seating of around 3,000 and was named for University President Cyrus Northrop. After the 1902 season, the playing f ...

. End Ray Eklund was a consensus first-team All-American, and halfback

Earl Martineau Earl Thomas Martineau (August 30, 1896 – January 20, 1966) was an American college football player and coach. He played halfback at the University of Minnesota and was selected as an All-American in 1922 and 1923 and served as the captain of th ...

also received first-team All-American honors from

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 ...

. Three Minnesota players were selected as first-team players on the 1923 All-Big Ten Conference football team. Eklund and Martineau both received first-team honors from the Big Ten coaches and from Norman E. Brown. Guard George Abramson received first-team honors from Brown.

Schedule

Game summaries

Michigan

Minnesota concluded its season on November 24, 1923, with a 10–0 loss to Michigan. The game was played at

Ferry Field Ferry Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It opened in 1906 and was home to the Michigan Wolverines football team prior to the opening of Michigan Stadium in 1927. It had a capacity of 46,000. It is currently used as a ta ...

in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in front of a crowd of close to 42,000 spectators. The game was the final college football appearance for two All-American halfbacks,

Harry Kipke Harry George Kipke (; March 26, 1899 – September 14, 1972) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He was the head football coach at Michigan State College in 1928 and at the University of Michigan from 1929 to 193 ...

of Michigan, and

of Minnesota. Both teams came into the game unbeaten. Six of Michigan's 11 starters were injured and unavailable to play in the game. Accordingly, Michigan played five starters and six substitutes against the Golden Gophers. Minnesota also suffered a setback when its starting quarterback, Graham, was injured in the first quarter. Michigan scored the only touchdown of the game in the second quarter on a 51-yard drive that featured a ten-yard run by

and a 12-yard gain on a pass to Steger. With the ball at the Minnesota 31-yard line, fullback Richard Vick passed to quarterback

Tod Rockwell Ferdinand Almon "Tod" Rockwell (1900 – March 22, 1952) was an American football player and coach. He attended the University of Michigan, where he played quarterback for the Wolverines football team in 1923 and 1924, helping the 1923 team win ...

. Rockwell caught the pass at the 20-yard line and ran for the touchdown. Rockwell also kicked the extra point to give Michigan a 7–0 lead. In the third quarter, Edliff Slaughter blocked a punt by Martineau, and Dick Babcock recovered the ball at Minnesota's 27-yard line. When Michigan was unable to score, Kipke drop-kicked for a field goal from the 37-yard line. Minnesota's final drive was stopped on an interception by Kipke. On defense, Michigan shut out a Minnesota offense that had scored 34 points against Northwestern and 20 against Iowa. The Golden Gophers threw eight passes for zero completions and two interceptions. Left tackle

Stanley Muirhead Stanley Nelson Muirhead (August 29, 1902 – September 14, 1942) was an American football player. He played at the tackle position for the University of Michigan from 1921 to 1923, leading the Wolverines to consecutive undefeated seasons in ...

, playing his final game for Michigan, was credited with the success of the defense:

In his last game against Minnesota, November 24, Muirhead was everywhere. He made three-fourths of the tackles under punts, and was always on the ball. A check was made during the game of Muirheads's tackles. No less than twenty-two times did this stalwart tackle bring down his man. He was a veritable demon on the field. He could not be stopped. If there is a greater tackle in the country than Stan Muirhead of Michigan he has not yet been seen.

Princeton coach Bill Roper watched the Michigan-Minnesota game as a guest of Fielding Yost. After the game, Roper had high praise for Kipke: "Kipke is the greatest punter I have ever seen ... I have never seen such deadly accuracy ... It was impossible for the Minnesota quarterback to handle Kipke's kicks. Most of them went out of bounds some fifty yards from the line of scrimmage."1924 Michiganensian, "Michigan Football," page 224.

References

{{Minnesota Golden Gophers football navbox

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Minnesota Golden Gophers football seasons

Minnesota Golden Gophers football The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represents the University of Minnesota in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Founded in 1882, Minnesota has been a member of the Big Ten Conference since its incept ...