American college football season
The 1923 college football season saw several teams finish their seasons unbeaten. And untied. As such, numerous schools claim a national championship for the: 1923 season. Illinois (coached by, Bob Zuppke) and Michigan (coached by Fielding "Hurry-Up" Yost), both members of what is: now theββBig Ten Conference, finished with records of 8–0 and "were selected as national champion by multiple selectors." Illinois featured break-out star Red Grange. Ivy League teams Yale and Cornell also had undefeated seasons. Cornell was selected as national champion by one selector.
Southern Methodist University (SMU) had a record of 9–0, thanksββto coach Ray Morrison bringing the forward passββto the "southwest." Teams that had no defeats. But had been tied, were California (9–0–1), Texas (8–0–1), and Kansas (5–0–3).
In the 1924 Rose Bowl, Washington tied Navy 14–14.
Conference and program changesβ»
Conference establishmentsβ»
Conference membership changesβ»
Program changesβ»
Septemberβ»
September 29
Notre Dame opened its season with a 74β0 win over visiting Kalamazoo College.
After a warmup game against a team of Cal alumni, California beat St. Mary's 49β0.
Cornell beat St. Bonaventure 41β6, Dartmouth beat Norwich 13β0, and Syracuse beat Hobart 33β0.
Octoberβ»
October 6
Illinois beat Nebraska 24β7 and Michigan defeated Case 36β0. Syracuse beat William & Mary 61β3. Notre Dame beat Lombard College 14β0. Kansas defeated Creighton 6β0. California defeated Santa Clara 48β0. Following wins over the crews of USS Mississippi (33β0) and USS New York (42β7), Washington beat Willamette 54β0. Vanderbilt beat Howard 27β0. Dartmouth beat Maine 6β0. Yale beat North Carolina 53β0, and Cornell beat Susquehanna 84β0.
October 13
Notre Dame beat Army 13β0
Dartmouth beat Boston University 24β0, and Yale beat Georgia 40β0. Michigan beat Vanderbilt 3β0, and Illinois beat Butler 21β7
California beat the Olympic Club 16β0 and Washington beat Whitman College 19β0. Kansas beat Oklahoma State 9β0.
October 20
Cornell beat Williams 28β6, Yale beat Bucknell 29β14 and Dartmouth beat Vermont 27β2. Notre Dame won at Princeton 25β2. Illinois won at Iowa 9β6 and Michigan beat Ohio State 23β0. Texas beat Vanderbilt 16β0. At Lincoln, Kansas and Nebraska played to a 0β0 tie. California beat Oregon State 26β0 and Washington beat visiting USC 22β0.
October 27
Cornell defeated Colgate 34β7.
Yale beat Brown 21β0 and Dartmouth beat Harvard 16β0
Notre Dame beat Georgia Tech 35β7. In Chicago, Illinois beat Northwestern 29β0. Michigan beat Michigan State 37β0. Kansas and Kansas State played to a scoreless tie (0β0).
At Portland, Oregon, California continued its streak of shutouts with a 9β0 win over Washington State. Washington beat Puget Sound 24β0. Vanderbilt defeated Tulane 17β0.
Novemberβ»
November 3
Yale beat Army 31β10
Notre Dame beat Purdue 34β7
Dartmouth (5β0β0) hosted Cornell (4β0β0) and in a triumph of Big Red over Big Green, Cornell won 32β7.
Illinois and Chicago, both unbeaten (4β0β0) met at Champaign, with the Illini winning 7β0. Michigan won at Iowa 9β3.
Kansas won at Oklahoma 7β3.
California held visiting Nevada scoreless for its seventh straight shutout, but could not score either, suffering 0β0 tie. Washington stayed unbeaten and untied with a 14β0 win at Oregon State. Mississippi A&M tied Vanderbilt in the rain, 0β0.
November 10
At Boston's Fenway Park, Dartmouth beat Brown 16β14, while at New York's Polo Grounds, Cornell beat Columbia 35β0. Yale beat Maryland 16β14. Notre Dame suffered its first loss, at Nebraska, 14β7.
Meanwhile, Illinois beat Wisconsin 10β0. Michigan defeated the Quantico Marines football team 29β6.
In Los Angeles, California beat USC 13β7. Washington beat Montana 26β14. Kansas beat Washington University in St. Louis 83β0. Vanderbilt beat Tennessee 51β7.
November 17
California (7β0β1) hosted Washington (8β0β0) and won 9β0.
Illinois beat Mississippi State 27β0, and Michigan won at Wisconsin 6β3, as both teams stayed unbeaten. Notre Dame beat Butler 34β7. Yale defeated Princeton 27β0. Kansas beat Drake 17β0. Vanderbilt defeats Georgia 35β7.
November 24
In Pittsburgh, Notre Dame defeated Carnegie Tech 26β0. Dartmouth beat Colby College 62β0, and
Cornell defeated Johns Hopkins 52β0. Yale closed a perfect season with a 13β0 win over Harvard.
Illinois closed its season at 8β0β0 with a 9β0 win at Ohio State, while Michigan closed a perfect season with a 10β0 win over Minnesota.
California closed its season with a 9β0 win over Stanford. Washington beat Washington State 24β7, and though it was second to Cal in the Pacific Coast Conference, received the invitation to the Rose Bowl to face (5β1β2) Navy.
On Thanksgiving Day, which was held on November 29 in 1923, Furman, which had won its first ten games, lost its final game to visiting Clemson, 7β6. In Philadelphia, Cornell closed a perfect season with a 14β7 win over Pennsylvania. Dartmouth finished with a 31β6 win over Columbia at New York. Kansas and Missouri played to a 3β3 tie, giving the Jayhawks an unbeaten, if not untied (5β0β3) finish. Notre Dame won at St. Louis 13β0. Vanderbilt beat Sewanee 7β0. Texas beat Texas A&M 6β0. Florida beat Alabama 16β6.
December 1 Washington beat Oregon 26β7.
Rose Bowlβ»
A crowd of 48,000 turned out to watch Navy and Washington play an exciting game. Ira McKee's passing put Navy ahead 14β7 at halftime, after Washington's George Wilson had tied the game at 7β7. In the fourth quarter, Washington's Roy Petrie picked off a pass at Navy's 10 yard line, setting up the Huskies' tying touchdown for a 14 to 14 finish. Later, it turned out that Washington halfback Les Sherman, whose two extra point attempts had tied the game, had played with a broken toe, while fullback Elmer Tesreau had played with a fractured leg.
Conference standingsβ»
Major conference standingsβ»
For this article, major conferences defined as those including multiple state flagship public universities.
Independentsβ»
Minor conferencesβ»
Minor conference standingsβ»
Awards and honorsβ»
All-Americansβ»
The consensus All-America team included:
Statistical leadersβ»
Referencesβ»
1923β24 NCAA championships |
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