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1923 Minnesota

5–⁠1–⁠1 (2–⁠1–⁠1 Western Conference), coached by William Spaulding.

Schedule and results

Minnesota in 1923, game by game: won vs. Iowa State 20–17; won vs. Haskell 13–12; won vs. North Dakota 27–0; tied at Wisconsin 0–0; won vs. Northwestern 34–14; won vs. Iowa 20–7; lost at Michigan 0–10+27−10Won 20–17 vs. Iowa State+3Iowa StateWon 13–12 vs. Haskell+1HaskellWon 27–0 vs. North Dakota+27North DakotaTied 0–0 at Wisconsin0WisconsinWon 34–14 vs. Northwestern+20NorthwesternWon 20–7 vs. Iowa+13IowaLost 0–10 at Michigan-10Michigan
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Oct 6vsIowa StateW 20–⁠1762%
Oct 13vsHaskellW 13–⁠1283%
Oct 20vsNorth DakotaW 27–⁠093%
Oct 27atWisconsinT 0–⁠028%
Nov 3vsNorthwesternW 34–⁠1470%
Nov 17vsIowaW 20–⁠743%
Nov 24atMichiganL 0–⁠1024%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Michigan 10–⁠0; 4th in the Western Conference.

In program history: The 70th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 135 on file).

Photographs from 1923

  • Clinton Merrill
    Clinton MerrillPhoto: Hennepin County Library, No Copyright – United States, via Digital Public Library of America
  • Lloyd Peterson
    Lloyd PetersonPhoto: Hennepin County Library, No Copyright – United States, via Digital Public Library of America
  • Ray Elliott
    Ray ElliottPhoto: Hennepin County Library, No Copyright – United States, via Digital Public Library of America
  • Manning Rollitt
    Manning RollittPhoto: Hennepin County Library, No Copyright – United States, via Digital Public Library of America
  • Manning Rollitt
    Manning RollittPhoto: Hennepin County Library, No Copyright – United States, via Digital Public Library of America
  • Spaulding and Elliott Have A Laugh
    Spaulding and Elliott Have A LaughPhoto: Hennepin County Library, No Copyright – United States, via Digital Public Library of America

Photographs from libraries and archives found through the Digital Public Library of America, each under the rights statement its holder gives (no copyright in the United States, public domain or Creative Commons) and credited to it. Captions as each collection catalogues them.

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1923.

Consensus All-AmericanRay Eklund, E

Record
5–⁠1–⁠1
Conference
2–⁠1–⁠1 4th in Western Conference
AP poll
Began in 1936
Points
114–⁠60
Coach
William Spaulding
Elo
1534 +58 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
13.8 No. 19 of 109 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captain
Earl Martineau

All-Big Ten

3 first team, 1 second team

First team

  • Ray EklundEBE; NB-1; WE-1
  • George AbramsonOGNB-1
  • Earl MartineauRBBE; NB-1; WE-2

Second team

  • GayOGWE-2

From Wikipedia’s 1923 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1923 Western Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Illinois5–⁠08–⁠0
Michigan4–⁠08–⁠0
Chicago5–⁠17–⁠1
Minnesota2–⁠1–⁠15–⁠1–⁠1
Iowa3–⁠35–⁠3
Indiana2–⁠23–⁠4
Wisconsin1–⁠3–⁠13–⁠3–⁠1
Ohio State1–⁠43–⁠4–⁠1
Purdue1–⁠42–⁠5–⁠1
Northwestern0–⁠62–⁠6

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.