8-0; national champion per Helms, the CFRA, and (as a co-champion with Michigan) the National Championship Foundation.
Illinois’s 1923 schedule1923: 3 Champions, Zero Agreement
SPLITMULTIPLEDISPUTEDIllinois sweeps Helms and the CFRA for 1923, while the National Championship Foundation splits the title between Illinois and Michigan.
The case for each side
8-0; co-national champion per the National Championship Foundation only, not by Helms or the CFRA, which both named Illinois alone.
Michigan’s 1923 schedule
Claimed by the program: no recognized selector picked them
9-0-1; not named by any of Helms, the National Championship Foundation, or the CFRA; credited only by Houlgate.
California’s 1923 scheduleNo national title game was played after the 1923 season: before 1998 there was no mechanism to play one, which is why so many of these seasons were settled by vote instead.