The Season Begins

[DJOM]

The Ivies report to camp today.





National Champions
1869, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877,
1878,1879,1880, 1881, 1884, 1885, 1886,
1889,1893, 1894,1896, 1898, 1899, 1903,
1906, 1911, 1920,1922, 1933, 1935, 1950

[bonarae]

Harvard had already started camp last week.

[NHwildEcat]

The Ivies report to camp today.


National Champions
1869, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877,
1878,1879,1880, 1881, 1884, 1885, 1886,
1889,1893, 1894,1896, 1898, 1899, 1903,
1906, 1911, 1920,1922, 1933, 1935, 1950

About time...xnodx

[Go...gate]

The Ivies report to camp today.

National Champions
1869, 1870, 1872, 1873, 1874, 1875, 1877,
1878,1879,1880, 1881, 1884, 1885, 1886,
1889,1893, 1894,1896, 1898, 1899, 1903,
1906, 1911, 1920,1922, 1933, 1935, 1950

You might want to revise your tag line. Princeton was 0-1 in 1869, losing in the first football game ever played on November 6 that year to Rutgers, 6-4, at New Brunswick.

(Yes, I'm damned old, but no, I was not at the game that day :) )

[Bogus Megapardus]

Billingsley and the National Championship Foundation had Princeton as the champion is 1869. Parke Davis had it split between Princeton and Rutgers.

(I, for one, dispute Princeton's claim to the 1896 National Championship, which both Parke Davis and the National Championship Foundation called for Lafayette)

[PhoenixSupreme]

Billingsley and the National Championship Foundation had Princeton as the champion is 1869. Parke Davis had it split between Princeton and Rutgers.

(I, for one, dispute Princeton's claim to the 1896 National Championship, which both Parke Davis and the National Championship Foundation called for Lafayette)

Parke Davis did coach Lafayette in 1896, and while they did post a good 11-0-1 record, Princeton posted a 10-0-1 record, and both teams played each other to a 0-0 tie. So in my opinion, both teams deserved to share that championship, but you can't help but suspect a little biasness from Davis for his team though

[DJOM]

It was a cool fall in the Northeast in 1869 and young men--being young men---looked for a legal outlet for their tetosterone.

Accordingly,---thanks to Wikpedia-- the first ever college football national championship awarded (retroactively) was split between the only two participants in 1869, Rutgers and Princeton. Princeton was named the champion by the Billingsley Report and the National Championship Foundation, while college football research historian Parke H. Davis named the two teams co-champions. Various other ratings and retrospectives have rated the teams differently.

In what might be considered a beginning to college football rivalries, immediately after Rutgers won the first game ever played, Princeton's players were literally run out of town by the winning Rutgers students. The Princeton students reportedly jumped in their carriages and quickly made the 20-mile trip back to their campus.

A rematch was played at Princeton a week later under Princeton rules. One of the biggest differences in rules was the awarding of a "free kick" to any player that caught the ball on the fly. This rule seriously affected the speed advantage of Rutgers that had allowed them to win the first contest. Princeton won the second game by a score of eight to zero.

The two schools had originally scheduled to meet three times in 1869, but the third 1869 game never took place reportedly because of the officials at both programs who complained about more emphasis being put on the contests rather than academics and studying. Other sources claim that it may have been canceled due to disagreement over what set of rules to play under. Due to each team winning one game, the inaugural football "season" ended with Princeton and Rutgers each tied at 1-1, and therefore each received a partial share of the college football national championship awarded (retroactively) for the 1869 season.

[Go...gate]

DJOM, you are right and I am wrong. Thanks for the correction.

[Bogus Megapardus]

Parke Davis did coach Lafayette in 1896, and while they did post a good 11-0-1 record, Princeton posted a 10-0-1 record, and both teams played each other to a 0-0 tie. So in my opinion, both teams deserved to share that championship, but you can't help but suspect a little biasness from Davis for his team though

The '96 Pards took out West Virginia, Navy and Penn while the '96 Tigers clobbered Penn State, Virginia and Army. Both schools were undefeated yet tied one another, 0-0 as noted. Princeton had 299 points for and 12 against while Lafayette scored 240 points and allowed only 10. They were certainly the two most dominant teams in the nation.

Yet 1896 might not have been Lafayette's finest hour. Innovators as they were back then - Lafayette developed the first football helmet and first used a "huddle" to call plays - the Pards also might have had a more inglorious first that year: the first recruiting violation (at least by today's standards). After beating down West Virginia on the road, the Pards convinced the Mountaineers' Fielding Yost to transfer to Easton mid-season. The Pards then went on the next week to beat then #1 Penn with the help of Yost. A true superpower in those days, Penn went 14-1-0 that year, losing only to Lafayette.

As many are aware, Fielding Yost went on to coach Michigan for 25 years, laying the foundation for the Wolverines' program today. He is now in the Hall of Fame.

[DJOM]

DJOM, you are right and I am wrong. Thanks for the correction.

No right or wrong, just fun-interesting to look at the beginnings of the game. Imagine what Country was like back in 1869.

[OL FU]

Are you Ivy guys always three weeks behind everyone else:D

[Bogus Megapardus]

Are you Ivy guys always three weeks behind everyone else:D

Ivy teams always play a 10-game season (I can remember when it was nine) and never have a mid-season bye week. It works best for them academically and culturally.

[OL FU]

Ivy teams always play a 10-game season (I can remember when it was nine) and never have a mid-season bye week. It works best for them academically and culturally.

It was a joke, and a weak one:(

[Bogus Megapardus]

It was a joke, and a weak one:(

It was early, and I'm a third less astute than my Ivy friends. http://www.clicksmilies.com/s1106/waffen/violent-smiley-011.gif