1896 Princeton Tigers football team

The 1896 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University as an independent during the 1896 college football season. The team finished with a 10–0–1 record, shut out 10 of 12 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 266 to 5.[1] Franklin Morse was the head coach, and Garrett Cochran was the team captain.

1896 Princeton Tigers football
National champion (Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate)
Co-national champion (NCF, Davis)
ConferenceIndependent
Record10–0–1
Head coach
CaptainGarrett Cochran
Seasons
← 1895
1897 →
1896 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Fordham     1 0 0
Lafayette     11 0 1
Princeton     10 0 1
Washington & Jefferson     8 0 1
Penn     14 1 0
Yale     13 1 0
Pittsburgh College     11 2 0
Buffalo     9 1 2
Villanova     10 4 0
Bucknell     5 2 1
Harvard     7 4 0
Boston College     5 3 0
Storrs     5 3 0
Cornell     5 3 1
Syracuse     5 3 2
Temple     3 2 0
Army     3 2 1
Rutgers     6 6 0
Carlisle     5 5 0
Holy Cross     2 2 2
Brown     4 5 1
Wesleyan     4 5 1
Frankin & Marshall     3 4 2
Geneva     3 4 0
Penn State     3 4 0
Colgate     3 4 1
Amherst     3 6 1
Western Univ. Penn.     3 6 0
Lehigh     2 5 0
Tufts     2 6 1
Swarthmore     2 6 0
New Hampshire     1 4 0
Drexel     1 5 0
Massachusetts     0 4 0
Rhode Island     0 4 0

There was no contemporaneous system in 1896 for determining a national champion. However, Princeton was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, and Houlgate System, and as a co-national champion with Lafayette by the National Championship Foundation (NCF) and Parke H. Davis.[2] In head-to-head competition, Princeton and Lafayette played to a scoreless tie on October 7, 1896.[3]

Four Princeton players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1896 All-America team: halfback Addison Kelly; fullback John Baird; center Robert Gailey; and tackle William W. Church.[4] Other notable players included quarterback F. L. Smith, halfback William Bannard, end Garrett Cochran, and guard Edward Crowdis.

Schedule edit

DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
October 3RutgersPrinceton, NJ (rivalry)W 44–0[5]
October 7at Lafayette
T 0–05,000[3]
October 10LehighPrinceton, NJW 16–0[6]
October 14CarlislePrinceton, NJW 22–6[7]
October 173:20 p.m.at ArmyW 11–05,000[8]
October 21VirginiaPrinceton, NJW 48–0> 6,000[9]
October 24Penn StatePrinceton, NJW 39–01,000[10]
October 26Lawrenceville SchoolPrinceton, NJW 46–0[11]
October 31CornellPrinceton, NJW 37–06,000[12]
November 7at HarvardW 12–020,000[13]
November 21vs. YaleW 24–635,000–50,000[14][15]

[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "1896 Princeton Tigers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 107. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Princeton 0, Lafayette 0". The Boston Globe. October 8, 1896. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  5. ^ "Tigers Score 44 Points". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 4, 1896. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Princeton, 16; Lehigh, 0". The Philadelphia Times. October 11, 1896. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Princeton, 22; Carlisle, 6". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 15, 1896. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Cadets Worry the Tigers: Princeton's Men Compelled to Play Hard to Win". The Sun. New York, N.Y. October 18, 1896. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Princeton 48, Virginia 0". The Boston Globe. October 22, 1896. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Princeton, 39; P.S.C., 0". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 25, 1896. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Princeton 46, Lawrenceville 0". The Boston Globe. October 27, 1896. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Tigers Made a Hearty Meal: Cornell Was Beaten by a Score of 37 to 0". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. November 1, 1896. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Princeton, 12; Harvard, 0". Boston Post. November 8, 1896. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Nassau Beats Eli: Princeton Football Players Bowled Over Yale's Warriors and Won Easily on Manhattan Field". The New York Times. November 22, 1896. pp. 1, 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Princeton Won at Manhattan Field and the Blow Almost Killed Eli". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 22, 1896. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.