1923 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team
| 1923 Minnesota Golden Gophers football | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Big Ten Conference |
| 1923 record | 5–1–1 (3–1–1 Big Ten) |
| Head coach | William H. Spaulding (2nd year) |
| Home stadium | Northrop Field |
| 1923 Big Ten football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Illinois + | 5 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 8 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan + | 4 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 8 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chicago | 5 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 7 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minnesota | 2 | – | 1 | – | 1 | 5 | – | 1 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Iowa | 3 | – | 3 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 3 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana | 2 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wisconsin | 1 | – | 3 | – | 1 | 3 | – | 3 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ohio State | 1 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 4 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Purdue | 1 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 5 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northwestern | 0 | – | 6 | – | 0 | 2 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The 1923 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 1923 Big Ten Conference football season. In their second year under head coach William H. Spaulding, 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.
End Ray Eklund was a consensus first-team All-American, and halfback Earl Martineau also received first-team All-American honors from Walter Camp.
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.
Minnesota concluded its season on November 24, 1923, with a 10–0 loss to Michigan. The game was played at Ferry Field 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 of Michigan, and Earl Martineau 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 Harry Kipke 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. 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 Earl 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.
...
Wikipedia