The 1927 Illinois Fighting Illini football team was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

team that represented the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

in the

1927 Big Ten Conference football season The 1927 Big Ten Conference football season was the 32nd 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 1927 college football season. The 1927 Illino ...

. The Fighting Illini compiled a 7–0–1 record (5–0 against Western Conference opponents) and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 152 to 24. Illinois was also ranked No. 1 in the nation in the

Dickinson System The Dickinson System was a mathematical point formula that awarded national championships in college football. Devised by University of Illinois economics professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at u ...

ratings released in December 1927. Illinois was also retroactively named as the national champion for 1927 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 ...

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his owner ...

National Championship Foundation The National Championship Foundation (NCF) was established by Mike Riter of Hudson, New York. The NCF retroactively selected College_football_national_championships_in_NCAA_Division_I_FBS, college football national champions for each year from 1869 ...

, and Parke H. Davis. Center Robert Reitsch and guard

Russ Crane Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Russell Harry Crane, (born 11 June 1954) is a retired senior officer of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), who served as the Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy from July 2008 until his retirement in Ju ...

were selected as first-team players on the 1927 All-America college football team: Reitsch by the

North American Newspaper Alliance The North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) was a large newspaper syndicate in operation between 1922 and 1980. NANA employed writers such as Grantland Rice, Joseph Alsop, Michael Stern, Lothrop Stoddard, Dorothy Thompson, George Schuyler, P ...

and Lawrence Perry; and Crane by

Grantland Rice Henry Grantland Rice (November 1, 1880 – July 13, 1954) was an American sportswriter and poet known as the "Dean of American Sports Writers". He coined the famous phrase that it was not important whether you “won or lost, but how you playe ...

for ''

Collier's Weekly } ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

''. Reitsch was also the team captain. Other notable players included halfback

Jud Timm Judson Albert Timm (August 28, 1906 – December 23, 1994) was a college football player and coach. A native of Twin Falls, Idaho, he played for Robert Zuppke's Illinois Fighting Illini football teams at the University of Illinois at Urbana� ...

; end Garland Grange; and tackle Butch Nowack.

Schedule

Roster

*Head coach:

Robert Zuppke Robert Carl Zuppke (July 2, 1879 – December 22, 1957) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Illinois—now known as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign–from 1913 until 1941, compili ...

(15th year at Illinois)

References

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Illinois Fighting Illini football seasons College football national champions Big Ten Conference football champion seasons College football undefeated 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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