1922 college football season | ||
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Number of bowls | 2 | |
Bowl games | December 25, 1922 – January 1, 1923 | |
Champion(s) | California Cornell Princeton | |
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The 1922 college football season had a number of unbeaten and untied teams, and no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing California, Cornell, Iowa, Princeton, and Vanderbilt as national champions. [1] California, Cornell, and Princeton were all picked by multiple selectors.
Andy Smith's Pacific Coast Conference champion "Wonder Team" at California continued on its streak since 1920. Eastern power Cornell was coached by Gil Dobie and led by one of the sport's great backfields with George Pfann, Eddie Kaw, Floyd Ramsey, and Charles E. Cassidy. Bill Roper's Princeton team was dubbed the "team of destiny" by Grantland Rice after defeating Chicago 21–18 in the first game nationally broadcast on radio. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] Today, college football on radio is common for nearly every game in every division. On the same day, Cal defeated USC at the dedication of Rose Bowl Stadium.
The Southern Conference would begin its first season of football in 1922. Vanderbilt tied with North Carolina and Georgia Tech for the conference championship. The Commodores tied Michigan 0–0 on October 14 at the dedication of Dudley Field, the South's first permanent college football stadium. On the same day, Big Ten champion Iowa upset Yale.
The 1923 Rose Bowl at season's end was the first called the "Rose Bowl" [7] and was held in the newly constructed stadium. In the first bowl appearance for either team, USC beat Penn State 14–3.
The West Virginia Mountaineers played the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the only other bowl game this season, the San Diego East-West Christmas Classic. WVU won 21–13.
The 1922 season included the new "try for a point" rule. [8] One was allowed to either kick an extra point after a touchdown as usual, or to place the ball anywhere beyond the five yard line and try to score either by touchdown or by a kick, and receive the one point if successful. On the "try for a point," any foul by the defense awarded the offense the point, and any foul by the offense made the try no good
School | 1921 Conference | 1922 Conference |
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Alabama Crimson Tide | SIAA | SoCon |
Auburn Tigers | SIAA | SoCon |
Brigham Young Cougars | Program Established | Rocky Mountain |
Clemson Tigers | SIAA | SoCon |
Florida Gators | SIAA | SoCon |
Georgia Buldogs | SIAA | SoCon |
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | SIAA | SoCon |
Idaho Vandals | Independent | Pacific Coast |
Kentucky Wildcats | SIAA | SoCon |
LSU Tigers | SIAA | SoCon |
Maryland Terrapins | SAIAA | SoCon |
Mississippi Rebels | SIAA | SoCon |
Mississippi A&M Bulldogs | SIAA | SoCon |
North Carolina Tar Heels | SAIAA | SoCon |
NC State Wolfpack | SAIAA | SoCon |
South Carolina Gamecocks | SIAA | SoCon |
Southern California Trojans | Independent | Pacific Coast |
Tennessee Volunteers | SIAA | SoCon |
Tulane Green Wave | SIAA | SoCon |
Virginia Cavaliers | SAIAA | SoCon |
VPI Fighting Gobblers | SAIAA | SoCon |
Vanderbilt Commodores | SIAA | SIAA/SoCon |
Washington and Lee Generals | SAIAA | SoCon |
September 30 Harvard beat Middlebury 20–0, Princeton beat Johns Hopkins 30–0, and Cornell beat St. Bonaventure 55–6. Vanderbilt opened its season with a 38–0 win over Middle Tennessee Normal (now MTSU). Baylor beat North Texas 55–0 California beat Santa Clara 45–14.
October 7 Princeton defeated Virginia 5–0, Harvard beat Holy Cross 20–0, and Cornell beat Niagara 66–0 Vanderbilt beat Henderson-Brown College 33–0 North Carolina lost to Yale at New Haven, 18–0. Iowa beat Knox College 61–0, and Michigan defeated Case 48–0. Chicago beat Georgia 20–0 Drake opened its season with a win over Cornell College of Iowa, 16–0 Baylor beat Hardin-Simmons 42–0 In a meeting with the visiting Mare Island Marines service team, California routed them 80–0.
October 14 Princeton beat Colgate 10–0, Harvard defeated Bowdoin 15–0, and Cornell beat New Hampshire 68–7 At New Haven, Iowa defeated Yale 6–0. In the first game between Eastern and Western teams of the college football season, Iowa dominated Yale. Yale lost to a Western team for the first time ever.
In Nashville, Michigan and Vanderbilt played to a 0–0 tie at the inaugural game for Dudley Field, the first dedicated football-only stadium in the South in the style of the Eastern schools. After beating Duke 20–0 in a Thursday game, North Carolina beat South Carolina, 10–7. Centre gave VPI its only loss of the season. Drake defeated Kansas 6–0. California beat St. Mary's 41–0.
October 21 Harvard had been shocked the year before in a 6–0 upset by the "Prayin' Colonels" of Centre College of Danville, Kentucky. In the rematch, the Crimson beat Centre 24–10. Princeton recorded another shutout, blanking Maryland 26–0. Cornell defeated Colgate 14–0.
In Dallas, Vanderbilt and Texas, both unbeaten, met at the State Fair, with the Commodores winning 20–10. In Houston, Baylor defeated Rice 31–0. North Carolina won at NC State, 14–9. Georgia beat Tennessee 7–3.
Iowa won at Illinois 8–7, and Michigan won at Ohio State 19–0; In St. Louis, Drake beat Washington University, 31–7 Baylor beat Arkansas 60–13 California shut out the Olympic Club team, 25–0.
October 28 In the first football game ever broadcast nationally on the radio Princeton (4–0–0) traveled to the University of Chicago (3–0–0) for a rematch of Chicago's 1921 win. The game was witnessed by 32,000 fans, and listened to on New York's WEAF radio station. [9] John Thomas ran for three touchdowns and Chicago's Maroons led 18–7 as the fourth quarter began, but a 40–yard fumble return closed the gap. In the closing minutes, Princeton back Harry Crum was buried under a pile of players as he plunged toward the goal line, and when the mass was untangled, it was a touchdown. With the help of a superior kicking game, Princeton won 21–18. [10]
Harvard defeated Dartmouth 12–3. Iowa beat Purdue 56–0, and Michigan beat Illinois 24–0 Baylor beat Mississippi College 40–7
Vanderbilt beat Mercer 25–0 North Carolina defeated Maryland 27–3
California was 4–0–0, and USC was 5–0–0, when the teams met in Pasadena. Cal had a 2–0 lead at halftime, and held off USC on two goal line stands, before scoring a touchdown and a field goal to win 12–0. [11]
November 4 Princeton beat Swarthmore, 22–13. Cornell (5–0–0) trounced Columbia, which had been 4–1–0, by a score of 56–0. Harvard beat the visiting Florida Gators 24–0. In the Gators' first ever game against a traditional northeastern college football power, the Gators stopped in Washington, D. C. and were greeted by President Warren Harding. [12] The 1922 Spalding's Football Guide ranked Florida as the best forward passing team in the country. [13] The 1922 Florida freshmen won the southern crown for freshmen squads. [14]
The Alabama Crimson Tide had its first intersectional victory, 9–6 over John Heisman's Penn. Alabama coach Xen C. Scott resigned due to cancer at year's end. Vanderbilt won at Tennessee, 14–6. In New Orleans, North Carolina defeated Tulane 19–12.
Michigan beat Michigan State 63–0, having outscored its opponents 154–0 in its first five games. Drake defeated Iowa State 14–7
Baylor beat Texas A&M 13–7. California defeated Washington State, 61–0.
November 11 Princeton and Harvard were both unbeaten(6–0–0) when the Tigers travelled to Cambridge to face the Crimson. Princeton had not won on Harvard's home field since 1896, and 54,000 turned out to watch. Although both teams were unbeaten, Harvard was heavily favored to overcome the young Tiger team, and led 3–0 early in the game. On the 18 yard line, though, the Tigers outsmarted Harvard with a triple pass that set up Harry Crum's touchdown run, and went on to win 10–3. Grantland Rice wrote the next day, "Crimson shadows around Cambridge way were thicker tonight than the Chinese wall and as deep as the darkness of Stygia itself..." [15]
At the Polo Grounds, Cornell beat Dartmouth, with the Big Red overcoming the Big Green, 23–0. In Boston, Baylor lost to Boston College, 33–0.
In Seattle, California (7–0–0) faced Washington (5–0–0) in a battle of unbeatens, and handed the Huskies their first defeat, 45–7.
Iowa beat Minnesota 28–14, and Michigan beat Wisconsin 13–6; Drake beat Colorado State, 19–6 Vanderbilt beat Kentucky 9–0 North Carolina beat VMI 9–7 at Richmond.
November 18 Princeton beat Yale, 3–0, to close a perfect season. Cornell beat Albright, 48–14 Harvard lost its second straight game, falling 3–0 to Brown Iowa won at Ohio State 12–9 to stay unbeaten. Drake defeated Grinnell College. 21–0 Baylor beat Oklahoma State, 10–0 Vanderbilt won at Georgia 12–0. Auburn upset Centre 6–0. The 1922 Tigers are considered one of Auburn's greatest football teams. [16] At Charlotte, NC, North Carolina defeated Davidson 20–6. California defeated Nevada, 61–13.
November 25 Harvard won at Yale, 10–3. California closed its season with a 28–0 win at Stanford. Iowa closed its season at 7–0–0 with a win over Northwestern 37–3, Michigan won at Minnesota 16–7; Drake won at Mississippi State in Starkville, 48–6
November 30 was Thanksgiving Day in 1922. In Philadelphia, Cornell defeated Penn 6–3. In Dallas, Baylor defeated SMU, 24–0, to win the Southwest Conference title. The following week, Baylor lost to the Haskell Indians team, 21–20. North Carolina closed its season with a 10–7 win at Virginia, to finish at 9–1–0. Vanderbilt beat Sewanee, 26–0, to close at 8–0–1.
In the 1923 Rose Bowl, USC defeated Penn State, 14–3. Though USC had an overall record of 9–1 coming into the game, the Trojans finished fourth place in Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) play, behind California, Oregon, and Washington, having been defeated by PCC champion California. Penn State won its first five games, then only one of the next five, and had a 6–4–1 record at season's end.
The 1922 San Diego East-West Christmas Classic was played on December 25 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego, California. The West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Gonzaga Bulldogs, 21 to 13, to finish the season undefeated with a 10–0—1 record.
Three different "retro polls", taken years later and based on opinions drawn from historical research, reached different conclusions. The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, declared retroactively that Cornell (8–0) was the best, while the College Football Researchers Association (CFRA) recognized Princeton (8–0), and the National Championship Foundation (NCF) cited California (9–0) and Princeton as best. [17] The Princeton team was dubbed the "team of destiny" by Grantland Rice after defeating Chicago in the first game nationally broadcast on radio. [18] Today, college football on radio is common for nearly every game in every division.
The other unbeaten and untied team was Iowa (7–0), which canceled its game with unbeaten Drake that year. Other teams that had no defeats in 1922 were West Virginia (10–0–1), Vanderbilt (8–0–1), Michigan (6–0–1), and Army (8–0–2). Clyde Berryman retroactively selected Vanderbilt, which tied Michigan, as a national champion. [19]
For this article, major conferences defined as those including multiple state flagship public universities.
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The consensus All-America team included:
Position | Name | Height | Weight (lbs.) | Class | Hometown | Team |
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QB | Gordon Locke | 5'10" | 165 | Jr. | Denison, Iowa | Iowa |
HB | Harry Kipke | 5'11" | 155 | Jr. | Lansing, Michigan | Michigan |
HB | Eddie Kaw | 5'10" | 168 | Sr. | Houston, Texas | Cornell |
FB | John Webster Thomas | Jr. | Ocheyedan, Iowa | Chicago | ||
E | Harold Muller | 6'0" | 180 | Sr. | Dunsmuir, California | California |
T | John Thurman | 6'1" | 225 | Sr. | Penn | |
G | Charles Hubbard | Jr. | Harvard | |||
C | Edgar Garbisch | 6'0" | 185 | So. | Washington, Pennsylvania | Army |
G | Frank Schwab | 5'11" | 195 | Sr. | Saltsburg, Pennsylvania | Lafayette |
T | Herb Treat | 6'0" | 190 | Somerville, Massachusetts | Princeton | |
E | Wendell Taylor | Sr. | Navy | |||
The 1906 college football season was the first in which the forward pass was permitted. Although there was no clear cut national championship, there were two teams that had won all nine of their games as the 1906 season drew to a close, the Princeton Tigers and the Yale Bulldogs, and on November 17, 1906, they played to a 0–0 tie. St. Louis University finished at 11–0–0. The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, declared retroactively that Princeton had been the best college football team of 1906. Other selectors recognized Yale as the national champions for 1906.
The 1926 college football season was the first in which an attempt was made to recognize a national champion after the season.
The 1927 college football season ended with the Illini of the University of Illinois (7–0–1) being recognized as champion under the Dickinson System. At season's end, the Rissler Cup was awarded to the team that finished first in the "Dickinson ratings", which considered strength of schedule, in that a win, loss or tie against a "strong" opponent was worth more than one against a lesser team, and the results were averaged.
The 1928 football season had both the USC Trojans and the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado claim national championships. USC was recognized as champions under the Dickinson System, but the Rose Bowl was contested between the No. 2 and No. 3 Dickinson-rated teams, California and Georgia Tech. The game was decided by a safety scored after Roy "Wrong Way" Riegels ran 65 yards in the wrong direction. Vance Maree blocked the ensuing punt which gave Georgia Tech a safety deciding the 8–7 win.
The 1930 college football season saw Notre Dame repeat as national champion under the Dickinson System, as well as claim the No. 1 position from each of the other three contemporary major selectors,. The post-season Rose Bowl matchup featured two unbeaten (9–0) teams, Washington State and Alabama, ranked No. 2 and No. 3, respectively. Alabama won the Pasadena contest, 24–0.
The 1931 college football season saw the USC Trojans win the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as national champion under the Dickinson System, as well as the No. 1 position from each of the other three contemporary major selectors. Rockne, who had coached Notre Dame to a championship in 1930, had been killed in a plane crash on March 31, 1931. For the first time, the champion under the Dickinson System also played in a postseason game. The 1932 Rose Bowl, promoted as a national championship game between the best teams of East and West, matched USC and Tulane, No. 1 and No. 2 in the Dickinson ratings. USC won, 21–12, and was awarded the Albert Russel Erskine Trophy.
The 1932 college football season saw the Michigan Wolverines win the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as national champion under the math-based Dickinson System. Because the "Big Nine" conference didn't permit its teams to play in the postseason, however, the Wolverines were not able to accept a bid to the Rose Bowl. As such, the Pasadena game matched the No. 2 and No. 3 teams, USC and Pittsburgh, with the USC Trojans winning the east–west matchup 35–0. The other four contemporary math system selectors all selected USC as national champion. This was also the last season NFL would use college football rules.
The 1933 college football season saw the Michigan Wolverines repeat as winners of the Knute Rockne Memorial Trophy as national champion under the Dickinson System.
The 1934 college football season was the 66th season of college football in the United States. Two New Year's Day bowl games were initiated to rival the Rose Bowl Game. On February 15, Warren V. Miller and Joseph M. Cousins organized the New Orleans Mid-Winter Sports Association and by October, the group had enough funds to sponsor the Sugar Bowl. Meanwhile, W. Keith Phillips and the Greater Miami Athletic Club worked in November at a January 1 game for Florida, and the Orange Bowl was created.
The 1935 college football season was the last one before the Associated Press (AP) writers' poll was used in selecting the national champion. There were seven contemporary math system selectors that year who are informally recognized by the NCAA as "nationwide in scope". The Dickinson System, run by University of Illinois Professor Frank Dickinson, selected Southern Methodist University (SMU) as best in the nation. The Houlgate System, created by Carroll Everard "Deke" Houlgate Sr., also selected SMU. The contemporary Boand, Litkenhous and Poling math rating systems all selected Minnesota as the No. 1 team in the nation. The Dunkel System selected Princeton as its top team. The Williamson System, by Paul O. Williamson of New Orleans, ranked Texas Christian University first.
The 1911 college football season was the last one before major reforms were made to the American game in 1912. In 1911, touchdowns were worth five points, the field was 110 yards in length, and a team had three downs within which to advance the ball ten yards. The United States Naval Academy (Navy) finished with a record of 6 wins and 3 ties (6–0–3). Two of the ties were 0–0 games with the other major unbeaten teams, Penn State (8–0–1) and Princeton (8–0–2). Other teams that finished the season unbeaten were Minnesota (6–0–1), Florida (5–0–1) and Oklahoma (8-0). The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, declared retroactively that Princeton had been the best team of 1911
The 1912 college football season was the first season of the modern era of college football, as the NCAA implemented changes to increase scoring:
The 1925 college football season ended with no clear national champion. At the close of the season, noted sports writer Billy Evans described the championship contest as "a dead heat" among Dartmouth, Tulane, Michigan, Washington, and Alabama.
The 1924 college football season was the year of the Four Horsemen as the Notre Dame team, coached by Knute Rockne, won all of its games, including the Rose Bowl, to be acclaimed as the best team in the nation. Notre Dame and Stanford were both unbeaten at season's end, with the Fighting Irish winning the Rose Bowl contest 27–10. The Penn Quakers were retroactively awarded a national championship by Parke H. Davis.
The 1923 college football season saw several teams finish their seasons unbeaten and untied. As such, numerous schools claim a national championship for the 1923 season. Illinois and Michigan, both members of what is now the Big Ten Conference, finished with records of 8–0 and were selected as national champion by multiple selectors. Illinois featured break-out star Red Grange. Ivy League teams Yale and Cornell also had undefeated seasons. Cornell was selected as national champion by one selector.
The 1951 college football season was the 83rd season of intercollegiate football in the United States. It finished with Princeton halfback Dick Kazmaier winning the Heisman Trophy and the Maxwell Award. Five teams have laid claim to the 1951 national championship:
The 1908 college football season ran from Saturday, September 19, to November 28. The Penn Quakers and the Harvard Crimson each finished the season unbeaten but with one tied. The LSU Tigers went unbeaten and untied against a weaker opposition. All three teams were named national champions retroactively by various organizations. Only Pennsylvania officially claims a national championship for the 1908 season. Kansas also went undefeated, but did not make a claim for the national championship.
The 1937 college football season ended with the Panthers of the University of Pittsburgh being named the nation's No. 1 team by 30 of the 33 voters in the Associated Press writers' poll. The AP poll was in its second year, and seven votes were taken during the final weeks of the 1937 season, starting with October 18. Each writer listed his choice for the top ten teams, and points were tallied based on 10 for first place, 9 for second, etc., and the AP then ranked the twenty teams with the highest number of points. With 33 writers polled, Pitt received 30 first place votes and 3 second-place, for a total of 327 points.
The 1939 college football season concluded with the Aggies of The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas being named as the national champions by the voters in the Associated Press writers' poll. Led by consensus All-American fullback John Kimbrough, the Aggies went undefeated at 11–0 and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 212 to 31, with the defense allowing just 54 first downs and 763 yards all season, or 1.71 yards per play. On New Year's Day, Texas A&M defeated Tulane, 14–13 in the Sugar Bowl.
The 1909 college football season was the first for the 3-point field goal, which had previously been worth 4 points. The season ran from Saturday, September 25, until Thanksgiving Day, November 25, although a few games were played on the week before.