1900 Western Conference football season

1900 Western Conference football season
Sport	Football
Teams	9
Co-champions	Minnesota, Iowa
Football seasons
←  1899 1901  →

1900 Western Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Minnesota +	3	–	0	–	1			10	–	0	–	2
Iowa +	2	–	0	–	1			7	–	0	–	1
Wisconsin	2	–	1	–	0			8	–	1	–	0
Michigan	3	–	2	–	0			7	–	2	–	1
Northwestern	2	–	1	–	2			7	–	2	–	3
Chicago	2	–	3	–	1			9	–	5	–	1
Indiana	1	–	2	–	1			4	–	2	–	2
Illinois	1	–	3	–	2			7	–	3	–	2
Purdue	0	–	4	–	0			4	–	4	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions

The 1900 Western Conference football season was the fifth season of college football played by the member schools of the Western Conference (later known as the Big Ten Conference) and was a part of the 1900 college football season. This was the first season the league expanded, as Indiana and Iowa began competing for the conference title.

The 1900 Minnesota Golden Gophers and Iowa Hawkeyes football teams tied for the conference championship, the first Western/Big Ten title for both programs. Minnesota, under head coach Henry L. Williams, compiled a 10–0–2 record, shut out nine opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 299 to 23. Iowa, under head coach Alden Knipe, compiled a 7–0–1 record and led the conference in scoring offense with an average of 38.9 points per game. The 1900 Wisconsin Badgers, under head coach Philip King, placed third in the conference, compiled an 8–1 record (its only loss being to Minnesota by a 7–6 score), shut out seven of nine opponents, and led the conference in scoring defense with an average of 1.2 points allowed per game.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Conf. Rank	Team	Head coach	Overall record	Conf. record	PPG	PAG
1 (tie)	Minnesota	Henry L. Williams	10-0-2	3-0-1	24.9	1.9
1 (tie)	Iowa	Alden Knipe	7–0–1	2–0–1	38.9	1.5
3	Wisconsin	Philip King	8–1	2–1	33.3	1.2
4	Michigan	Langdon Lea	7–2–1	3–2	11.7	5.5
5	Northwestern	Charles Hollister	7–2–3	2–1–2	9.3	4.1
6	Chicago	Amos A. Stagg	9–5–1	2–3–1	13.6	9.0
7	Indiana	James H. Horne	4–2–2	1–2–1	13.8	3.6
8	Illinois	Fred Smith	7–3–2	1–3–2	15.3	5.6
9	Purdue	Alpha Jamison	4–4	0–4	21.5	9.9

Key

PPG = Average of points scored per game ^[1]
PAG = Average of points allowed per game ^[1]

Regular season

The following conference games were played during the 1900 Western Conference season:

• October 6: Chicago defeated Purdue, 17–5, at Chicago
• October 13: Minnesota tied Chicago, 6–6, at Minneapolis
• October 13: Northwestern defeated Indiana, 12–0, at Evanston, Illinois ^[2]
• October 20: Michigan defeated Purdue, 11–6, at Ann Arbor, Michigan
• October 20: Northwestern tied Illinois, 0–0, at Evanston, Illinois ^[3]
• October 27: Michigan defeated Illinois, 12–0, at Chicago
• November 2: Iowa defeated Chicago, 17–0, at Chicago
• November 3: Minnesota defeated Wisconsin, 6–5, at Minneapolis
• November 3: Michigan defeated Indiana, 12–0, at Ann Arbor, Michigan
• November 3: Iowa defeated Chicago, 17–0, at Chicago
• November 3: Illinois defeated Purdue, 17–5, at Champaign, Illinois
• November 10: Minnesota defeated Illinois, 23–0, at Minneapolis
• November 10: Iowa defeated Michigan, 28–5, at Detroit
• November 10: Northwestern defeated Chicago, 5–0, at Chicago ^[4]
• November 17: Minnesota defeated Northwestern, 21–0, at Minneapolis ^[5]
• November 17: Wisconsin defeated Chicago, 39–5, at Chicago
• November 24: Wisconsin defeated Illinois, 27–0, at Madison, Wisconsin
• November 27: Indiana tied Illinois, 0–0, at Indianapolis
• November 28: Chicago defeated Michigan, 15–6, at Chicago
• November 29: Iowa tied Northwestern, 5–5, at Rock Island, Illinois ^[6]
• November 29: Indiana defeated Purdue, 24–5, at West Lafayette, Indiana

Notable non-conference games during the 1900 season included the following:

• October 6: Minnesota defeated Iowa State, 27–0, at Minneapolis
• October 20: Chicago lost to Brown, 11–6, at Chicago
• October 25: Indiana defeated Notre Dame, 6–0, at Bloomington, Indiana
• October 26: Iowa defeated Drake, 26–0, at Iowa City, Iowa
• October 27: Minnesota defeated North Dakota, 34–0, at Minneapolis
• October 27: Chicago lost to Penn, 41–0, at Philadelphia
• November 10: Wisconsin defeated Notre Dame, 54–0, at Madison, Wisconsin
• November 17: Michigan defeated Notre Dame, 7–0, at Ann Arbor, Michigan
• November 24: Michigan tied Ohio State, 0–0, at Ann Arbor, Michigan
• November 29: Minnesota defeated Nebraska, 20–12, at Lincoln, Nebraska

Bowl games

No bowl games were played during the 1900 season.

Awards and honors

All-Western players

For the complete All-Western selections, see 1900 All-Western college football team.

In 1900, an All-Western football team was selected by Caspar Whitney (CW) in Outing magazine as follows: ^[7]

Position	Name	Team	Selectors
End	Beyer Aune	Minnesota	CW
End	Neil Snow	Michigan	CW
Tackle	Arthur Hale Curtis	Wisconsin	CW
Tackle	Joe Warner	Iowa	CW
Guard	Jerry Riordan	Wisconsin	CW
Guard	Cyrus E. Dietz	Northwestern	CW
Center	Leroy Albert Page, Jr.	Minnesota	CW
Quarterback	Gil Dobie	Minnesota	CW
Halfback	Henry	Chicago	CW
Halfback	Al Larson	Wisconsin	CW
Fullback	Warren Cummings Knowlton	Minnesota	CW

All-Americans

For the complete All-America selections, see 1900 College Football All-America Team.

No Western Conference players received first-team All-America honors in 1900. However, two players received third-team honors on Walter Camp's All-America team for 1900. They were center Page of Minnesota and quarterback Clyde Williams of Iowa.

References

1. "1900 Western Conference Year Summary". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved December 26, 2016.
2. "Hoosiers Bow to Purple". Chicago Tribune. October 14, 1900. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Tie Game at Evanston: Northwestern and Illinois Both Unable to Score". Chicago Tribune. October 21, 1900. pp. 17–18 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Stagg's Men Lose Again: Northwestern Eleven Defeats Maroons 5 to 0". Chicago Tribune. November 11, 1900. pp. 17, 19 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Victory: Clever Gophers Wrest an Easy Game From the Evanston Visitors". The Sunday Tribune (Minneapolis). November 18, 1900. pp. 1–2 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Purple Ties the Hawkeyes". Chicago Tribune. November 30, 1900. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "University Football". Outing magazine. 1900. p. 618.