The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Yale's football program, founded in 1872, is one of the oldest in the world. Since their founding, the Bulldogs have won 27 national championships, two of the first three Heisman Trophy winners, 100 consensus All-Americans, 28 College Football Hall of Fame inductees, including the "Father of American Football" Walter Camp, the first professional football player Pudge Heffelfinger, and coaching giants Amos Alonzo Stagg, Howard Jones, Tad Jones and Carmen Cozza. With over 900 wins, Yale ranks in the top ten for most wins in college football history.
The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1873. The Crimson has a legacy that includes 13 national championships and 20 College Football Hall of Fame inductees, including the first African-American college football player William H. Lewis, Huntington "Tack" Hardwick, Barry Wood, Percy Haughton, and Eddie Mahan. Harvard is the tenth winningest team in NCAA Division I football history.
The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University and competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member of the Ivy League. Princeton's football program—along with the football program at nearby Rutgers University—began in 1869 with a contest that is often regarded as the beginnings of American football.
The Penn Quakers football program is the college football team at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. The Penn Quakers have competed in the Ivy League since its inaugural season of 1956, and are a Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Penn's first game was in 1876, and the team has played in 1,413 football games, the most of any school in any division. Penn plays its home games at historic Franklin Field, the oldest football stadium in the nation. All Penn games are broadcast on WNTP or WFIL radio.
The 1901 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with NCAA-designated "major selectors" retroactively selecting Michigan and Harvard as national champions. The NCAA records book also erroneously lists Yale as Parke H. Davis's selection. Harvard beat Yale 22–0 the last game of the year.
The 1896 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Lafayette and Princeton as having been selected national champions. Lafayette finished with an 11–0–1 record while Princeton had a 10–0–1 record. In the second game of the season for both teams, Lafayette and Princeton played to a scoreless tie. Both teams had signature wins: Lafayette defeated Penn 6–4, giving the Quakers their only loss of the season, while Princeton defeated previously unbeaten Yale, 24–6, on Thanksgiving Day in the last game of the season. Princeton was retroactively named the 1896 national champions by the Billingsley Report, the Helms Athletic Foundation, the Houlgate System, and Lafayette and Princeton were named national co-champions by the National Championship Foundation and Parke Davis.
The 1895 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1895–96 academic year.
The 1889 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1889–90 academic year.
The 1893 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1893–94 academic year.
The 1892 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1892–93 academic year.
The 1891 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1891–92 academic year.
The 1888 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Yale as having been selected national champions. October 18 saw the first intercollegiate game in the state of North Carolina when Wake Forest defeated North Carolina 6–4. The first "scientific game" occurred on Thanksgiving of the same year when North Carolina played Duke. Duke won 16 to 0.
The 1887 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Yale as having been selected national champions. In the West, the 1887 Michigan Wolverines football team compiled a 5–0 record, including three wins over Notre Dame, and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 102 to 10. On November 13, college football was first played in the state of Virginia when the Virginia Cavaliers and Pantops Academy fought to a scoreless tie.
The 1885 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Princeton as having been selected national champions. The season was notable for one of the most celebrated football plays of the 19th century - a 90-yard punt return by Henry "Tillie" Lamar of Princeton in the closing minutes of the game against Yale. Trailing 5–0, Princeton dropped two men back to receive a Yale punt. The punt glanced off one returner's shoulder and was caught by the other, Lamar, on the dead run. Lamar streaked down the left sideline, until hemmed in by two Princeton players, then cut sharply to the middle of the field, ducking under their arms and breaking loose for the touchdown. After the controversy of a darkness-shortened Yale-Princeton championship game the year before that was ruled "no contest," a record crowd turned out for the 1885 game. For the first time, the game was played on one of the campuses instead of at a neutral site, and emerged as a major social event, attracting ladies to its audience as well as students and male spectators. The Lamar punt return furnished the most spectacular ending to any football game played to that point, and did much to popularize the sport of college football to the general public.
The 1876 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Yale as having been selected national champions. On November 11, organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of Pennsylvania as Princeton defeated Penn 6–0 in Philadelphia. This season was notable in the history of American football as it saw Walter Camp, widely considered to be the "Father" of the sport, participate as a freshman on the Yale team.
The 1879 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Princeton and Yale having been selected as national champions.
The 1880 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Princeton and Yale as having been selected national champions. On April 9, college football was first played in the state of Kentucky when Kentucky University defeated Centre 133/4–0 at Stoll Field. It was one of the first in the South.
The 1886 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Princeton and Yale as having been selected national champions.
The Yale Bulldogs men's soccer program represents Yale University in all NCAA Division I men's college soccer competitions. Founded in 1908, the Bulldogs compete in the Ivy League.
The College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) was founded in 1982 by Anthony Cusher of Reeder, North Dakota, and Robert Kirlin of Spokane, Washington. The CFRA took a vote of its members from 1982 to 1992 to select an annual college football national champion. Members were asked to rank the top 10 teams, and a point system was used to determine a national champion based on the members' votes. The CFRA also conducted a retroactive poll to determine historical national champions for each year from 1919 to 1981. The CFRA is listed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of 40 former and current selectors of college football national champions, and the CFRA selections are included in the NCAA's Football Bowl Subdivision record book.
