The 1923 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University in the sport of college football during the 1923 Southern Conference football season. The team's head coach was Dan McGugin, who served his 19th year in that capacity. The Commodores played six home games at Dudley Field in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt finished the season with a record of 5–2–1 overall and 3–0–1 in SoCon play, outscoring opponents 137–33. The team suffered its losses to the national champion Michigan Wolverines and the undefeated Texas Longhorns.
The Vanderbilt team was members of the Southern Conference (SoCon) as well as co-members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA). They won the conference title for the third straight year, tying with Washington & Lee for the SoCon championship. Most sportswriters listed the Commodores as the best team in the South and winners of the championship outright, resulting in their receiving the Champ Pickens Trophy. It is still to date the most recent conference title for Vanderbilt football.
The offense was led by captain and quarterback Oliver Kuhn and All-Southern halfback Gil Reese. The defense, which allowed and average of 2.33 points per game at home, was anchored by All-Southern ends Lynn Bomar and Hek Wakefield. As was common in 1923 and the days of one platoon football, both Bomar and Wakefield also featured heavily on offense and the kicking game. Bomar was also a consensus All-American, even selected for Walter Camp's first team, a rarity for a player from the South.Scott, Richard. SEC Football: 75 Years of Pride and Passion. Minneapolis, MN: Voyageur, 2008; p. 25 Of Wakefield's performance during the Michigan game, Michigan head coach Fielding Yost said "I never saw a greater exhibition of end play."
Schedule
Before the season Following two unbeaten seasons, Wallace Wade left his position at assistant coach to be head coach at Alabama, where he went on to win three national and four SoCon titles.Traughber, William L. Vanderbilt Football: Tales of Commodore Gridiron History. Charleston, SC: History, 2011. pp. 71 He was replaced at Vanderbilt with former All-American tackle and Vanderbilt alumnus Josh Cody. Vanderbilt faced a hard schedule through the month of October.
Quarterback Oliver Kuhn was elected captain at the end of last year. Returning players included Kuhn, Lynn Bomar, Tuck Kelly, Red Rountree, Gil Reese, and Fatty Lawrence; who composed "the nucleus around which Dan McGugin and his assistant "Josh" Cody are forming the 1923 eleven."
Lengthy end Tot McCullough was ruled ineligible for the coming season. Those who played for baseball in the South Georgia league, or any other unrecognized one, were disallowed from participating in varsity athletics in the Southern Conference. Tot had played with the Albany club.
Game summaries Week 1: Howard (AL) The Commodores opened the season at Dudley Field against the Howard Bulldogs on October 6 and were considered heavy favorites. Vanderbilt won by a score of 27–0. The regulars played only in the first quarter, scoring 20 points. Captain Doc Kuhn returned the opening kickoff 60 yards and Tom Ryan ran in the first touchdown. Gil Reese went over for the second touchdown, but fumbled, recovered by Kuhn. Kuhn returned the next kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown. One source said it was the best return on Dudley Field since Lee Tolley's punt return in 1913. Substitute quarterback Alvin Bell got the final touchdown.
Vanderbilt's starting lineup for the Howard game: Bomar (left end), Reeves (left tackle), Lawrence (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelley (right guard), Walker (right tackle), Wakefield (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), S. T. Porter (left halfback), Reese (right halfback), Ryan (fullback).
To the woe of Commodore fans, tackle Tex Bradford was ruled ineligible on October 10; on grounds of having already played four years of college athletics. His loss was lamented so near the eve of the Michigan game, for his line work against them was "materially responsible" for the 0 to 0 tie of last year.
Week 2: at Michigan
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In the second week of play, Vanderbilt traveled to Ann Arbor for a rematch of last year's scoreless tie with the Michigan Wolverines. There was much optimism among the Vanderbilt faithful, for last year its team had many injuries when it tied Michigan; and this year the squad was healthy. Michigan's A. J. Sturzenegger had scouted Vanderbilt shortly before the game, and found the Commodores to have good reason for thinking they could win. He was not alone in this view, the Commodores were "regarded as having fully as strong an aggregation as last year."
Vanderbilt lost the hard-foughtcf. game 3–0, handing the Commodores their first loss in two years. Much like last year, the game featured little offense and stalwart defense. Vanderbilt "handcuffed the Wolverines' running and passing game" and "had a defense which became nothing less than a stone wall whenever her goal was threatened." Both Commodore halfback Gil Reese and Wolverine halfback Harry Kipke were "marked men"; and Vanderbilt's offense never crossed the 35-yard line. Reese and Doc Kuhn were said to raise fans to their feet with the showcase of speed, but the Wolverines kept it confined to sideways runs of little gain. A wire service account of the game noted the defensive play, "Both played crafty football, the fumbling that tended to mar the game being more than offset by swift, dashing interception of passes while the work of the linesmen on both sides was at top form."
The lone score of the game came on a 15-yard field goal by consensus first-team All-American Jack Blott in the second quarter. Play was in Vanderbilt territory for all of the first half. After Michigan had reached the Vanderbilt 7-yard line, two drives at the line failed, resulting in lost yardage. On third down, Jack Blott was called into the backfield from his normal position at center and kicked a field goal. Two field goal attempts by Kipke failed. One was blocked and another rolled under the cross bar. The one other long gain of the day was a 20-yard run late in the third quarter from Herb Steger. The run came just after Vanderbilt had advanced its furthest into Michigan territory and had its drive ended by a Steger interception. Vanderbilt never advanced far enough to attempt a field goal.
Vanderbilt's best player that day was Hek Wakefield, showcasing his skill in tackling Michigan's runners. "I never saw a greater exhibition of end play," said Fielding Yost, referring to Wakefield. The Kingsport Times reported that governor Austin Peay had given Hek praise for his play that day. Thomas Ryan also had a fine game, out-punting the famed Harry Kipke. The Michigan Alumnus attributed this to Ryan's superior line, claiming Kipke was under constant threat of a blocked punt. The Alumnus also said Kipke could not seek to return punts, for fear of fumbling. As soon as he received the ball, Vanderbilt ends Hek Wakefield or Lynn Bomar would crash into him. After the game, the referee McDonald approached guard Tuck Kelly and told him, "You are the first individual I've complimented after a game in which I officiated, but I want to tell you that I never saw a better guard than you are." Steger was Michigan's best runner that day. The Wolverines' backfield having three men who could pass the ball in Kipke, Steger, and Uteritz, was said to help them throughout the game by vexing Vanderbilt's secondary.
The Michigan Alumnus summarized the game thus: "Never surely was a game more lacking in spectacular features and thrills. For a good part of the time it gave one the same sort of feeling which was so common during the Great War, when a gain of a few yards was a matter for rejoicing, and it was hard to believe that even the most dashing attack could accomplish any lasting results." The game featured few penalties, no injuries, and few substitutions. Michigan made only three substitutions, and Vanderbilt not a one. Michigan completed 5 out of 16 passes for 90 yards. Vanderbilt completed just 1 of 5 for a 9-yard gain. A diagram of the game says this one pass was from Kuhn to Bomar.
Michigan and Red Grange's Illinois both finished the 1923 season undefeated and share both Big Ten and national titles.
Vanderbilt's starting lineup for the Michigan game: Bomar (left end), Bradford (left tackle), Lawrence (left guard), Sharp (center), Kelly (right guard), Rives (right tackle), Wakefield (right end), Kuhn (quarterback), Meiers (left halfback), Reese (right halfback), Ryan (fullback).
Week 3: at Texas
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The third week of play saw the lone upset that week in the South, as Vanderbilt lost to the Texas Longhorns in Dallas. Before the game, the Mexia Daily News reported "that Vandy outweighs Texas about fifteen pounds to the man but remember the saying "the bigger they are the harder they fall"' The Longhorns were coached by Ed Stewart. In the first period Vanderbilt drove to within a few yards of the goal, but Texas held. Lane Tynes and Oscar Eckhardt led the Texas drive which ended in a score. In the third quarter, Robert Robertson kicked a 45-yard field goal. A 12-yard run by Oscar Eckhardt over left tackle in the fourth quarter was the final score. Onlookers said Oscar Eckhardt "flattened tacklers like dominoes," until almost down at the 8-yard line. He regained his balance with one hand and plowed over for the score that led to a 16–0 victory. Said the Fort Worth Star-Telegram of Eckhardt's run, "Eckhardt, knocked to earth, rose like a phoenix and blazed down the line until he crossed the thin white marker. In all, he drove 20 yards through the gold and black to put his name in the Texas Varsity hall of fame." Blinkey Horn, sportswriter for the Nashville Tennessean, wrote "In Texas, Oscar Eckhardt has displaced Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, and the Alamo. If there are any more institutions in the new country, he has set them aside. Texas beat its first six opponents by a combined score of 202-0, and finish the year undefeated at 8-0-1. This was Vanderbilt's first loss to a southern team since 1920. The travel, to Texas four days after returning from Michigan, was cited as a reason for the loss. One writer put it as "the cross-country trip was too much for the stamina of the team."
Hugh McDermott, scouting for the Oklahoma Sooners, said the kicks from Eckhardt in the '23 Texas-Vandy game featured the best kicking he had ever seen. He recounted, "Once Eckhardt put the ball in play from his 15-yard line following a fair catch and punted 65 yards on the fly over the entire Vanderbilt team."
Week 4: Tulane
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The next week saw a match back at Nashville between two teams which had lost to Texas — Vanderbilt and Tulane. Tulane had lost to Texas on October 13, 33–0. Vanderbilt beat Tulane 17–0 with scores mostly due to blocked punts.
Tulane showed considerable optimism going into its road trip with Vanderbilt, Tennessee, and Auburn. Ed Hebert of the Times-Picayune wrote of underdog Tulane, "Handicapped through the absence of their captain "Little Eva" Talbot, through an injury, the Greenbacks have become more determined to upset the dope kettle and completely bathe the Vandy eleven in a contest that points every way to a victory for the powerful crew that held the Michigan Wolverines to a 3–0 victory recently at Ann Arbor." On having played similar foes in Texas, he went on, "Thus if Vandy can be so outclassed by a club that Tulane has already fought every inch of the way it stands that there is going to be fur-flying in copious quantities when the Commodores and Greenbacks meet Saturday." Tulane had a renowned backfield of Lester Lautenschlaeger, Brother Brown, Ellis Henican, and Peggy Flournoy. The "Greenies" were coached by Clark Shaughnessy.