1909 college football season

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1909 college football season
Tennessee football program
Regular seasonSeptember 25–November 25
Champion(s)Yale
← 1908 · football seasons · 1910 →

The 1909 college football season was the first for the 3-point

Thanksgiving Day, November 25, although a few games were played on the week before.[2]

The 1909 season was also one of the most dangerous in the history of college football. The third annual survey by the Chicago Tribune at season's end showed that 10 college players had been killed and 38 seriously injured in 1909, up from six fatalities and 14 maimings in 1908.[3]

Schools in the Midwest competed in the Western Conference consisting of

Big 12 teams Iowa State, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, as well as Drake and Washington University in St. Louis. In California, intercollegiate football programs (such as those of Stanford University and the University of California) had been discontinued after the 1905 season, and rugby was the autumn intercollegiate sport.[4]

Although there was no provision for a national championship, major teams played their regular schedules before facing their most difficult matches late in the season. The most eagerly anticipated games were the November 10 matchups, with Princeton at Yale, Dartmouth at Harvard, Michigan vs. Pennsylvania (in Philadelphia), and Cornell at Chicago.[5]

Rules

The rules for American football in 1909 were significantly different than the ones of a century later, as many of the present conventions (100 yard field, four downs to gain ten yards, and the 6-point touchdown) would not be adopted until 1912.[6]

Beginning in 1909, the worth of a field goal dropped from 4 points to 3 points. Touchdowns remained at 5 points. "This has come about gradually," noted one report, "owing to the feeling of players and spectators that two field kick goals should not be reckoned of greater value that a touchdown from which a goal is scored. As it is now, a touchdown if a goal results, counts six points, and two field goals count but six in the aggregate." [7] For the first time, ineligible receivers were identified.[8]

The rules in 1909 were:

  • Field 110 yards in length
  • Kickoff made from midfield
  • Three downs to gain ten yards
  • Touchdown worth 5 points
  • Field goal worth 3 points
  • Game time based on agreement of the teams, not to exceed two 45 minute halves
  • Forward pass legal, but subject to penalties

Conference and program changes

Conference changes

  • The
    Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference (CFAC, later the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) began its first season of play in 1909 with four teams in Colorado
    .

Membership changes

School 1908 Conference 1909 Conference
Colorado Buffaloes
 Colorado
CFAC
(Rocky Mountain)
Colorado Agricultural Rams Colorado
CFAC
(Rocky Mountain)
Colorado College Tigers Colorado
CFAC
(Rocky Mountain)
Colorado Mines Orediggers Colorado
CFAC
(Rocky Mountain)
Hawaiʻi Fighting Deans
 Program Established Independent
Troy Normal football Program Established Independent

September

The Carlisle Indians played a Wednesday afternoon game on September 22 at home against Lebanon Valley, winning 30–0. The previous Saturday, they had beaten a non-college team from Steelton, Pennsylvania, 35–0.

On September 25, defending champion

St. Louis edged Shurtleff College 12–11. In the South, Virginia defeated William and Mary 30–0 in a short (two 15 minute halves) game at home [9] and Vanderbilt defeated Southwestern Presbyterian (now Rhodes College) 52–0.[10]

Defending co-champion Harvard opened its season in a Wednesday afternoon game, beating Bates College 11–0 on September 29. In other home openers, Brown beat Rhode Island 6–0, Yale beat Wesleyan 11–0, and Dartmouth beat Massachusetts 22–0. Pennsylvania moved to 2–0–0 with a 22–0 win over Ursinus.[11]

October

On October 2,

Minnesota crushed Iowa 41–0. Carlisle yielded a score in a 48–6 win over Bucknell, and Princeton surrendered two touchdowns in a 47–12 win over Stevens. Dartmouth was unable to score in a 0–0 tie with Vermont. Lehigh lost at home to Franklin and Marshall, 10–0. In a game the day before, Virginia
held off Davidson, 11–0.

In four midweek games on October 6, Navy opened its season with a 16–6 win over the other Annapolis school, St. John's College, and Princeton defeated Villanova, 12–0. Yale, in a 12–0 win over Holy Cross, and Brown (which beat Bates, 17–0), both stayed unscored upon and upped their records to 3–0–0.

October 9: Fewer teams stayed unscored upon.

Pitt beat Marietta College, 12–0, and Lafayette
rolled 50–0 over Hobart College.

Opening their seasons were defending southern champion

Army
beat Trinity College of Connecticut, 17–6.

The biggest game of the week was at

Penn State and Carlisle met on neutral ground. Down 6–5 when Larry Vorhis missed the point after, State was up 8–6 on a Vorhis field goal. Vorhis was sacked in the end zone by Emil Wauseka during a punt return, and the game ended 8–8.[13]

October 13: In a midweek game, Princeton found itself losing 6–5 to visiting Virginia Tech after an interception was returned for a touchdown. The Tigers stayed unbeaten (4–0–0) on a drop kicked field goal in the last four minutes.[14]

October 16: At Philadelphia,

Pitt yielded its first points in an 18–6 win over Bucknell, and Harvard handled Maine, 17–0. Navy
was upset by Villanova, 11–6.

In the South,

Minnesota defeated Nebraska, 14–0. Michigan handed Ohio State its 10th consecutive defeat. Kansas defeated Kansas Agricultural (now Kansas State), 5–3, and Missouri
beat visiting Missouri School of Mines (of Rolla, now Missouri S & T) 13–0.

October 23: In

Carlisle and won 14–3. Yale Bulldogs stayed unscored on and reached 6–0–0 with a 36–0 win over Colgate. The other major unbeaten team in the east, Princeton, was upset by visiting Lafayette, after the Leopards' Frank Irmschler blocked a field goal in the final six seconds and returned it 92 yards for a touchdown, winning 6–0 in what the New York Times termed "probably the most sensational finish that has ever been seen in a football game."[16] Navy was defeated at home, 5–0, by Virginia
.

In the South, Vanderbilt hosted Auburn in a meeting of 3–0–0 teams at Nashville, with Vandy winning 17–0. Alabama and Ole Miss played a scoreless tie at Jackson. Arkansas defeated Oklahoma 21–6. Sewanee beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 15–0. To the West, Michigan averted being tied by Marquette, 6–5. Wisconsin beat Indiana 6–3. Missouri was tied by Iowa State, 6–6, and Kansas (4–0–0) hosted Washington University in St. Louis (2–0–0) and won 23–0.

On October 30, the fatal injury of

Army-Navy Game.[18]

In other contests

Penn State, 6–6, giving the Nittany Lions a record of 2 wins, 3 ties, and no losses. Meanwhile, the Yale Bulldogs
remained unscored upon as they registered their seventh consecutive shutout, a 34–0 win over visiting Amherst College. Yale had an average score of 21–0 against its opposition, but still had to face Brown, Princeton and Harvard.

In Western Conference play (the future Big Ten) between two unbeatens,

Minnesota defeated visiting Chicago, 20–6. Wisconsin won at Northwestern, 21–11. Further west, Missouri edged Iowa, 13–12, and Kansas
won at Washburn, 17–0.

In a big game at

N.C. State (North Carolina A&M) beat visiting Maryland 31–0, Virginia beat VMI 32–0, and Arkansas clobbered Ouachita Baptist, 56–0. TCU
lost at Texas, 24–0.

In intersectional games,

Pittsburgh
was upset by visiting Notre Dame, 6–0.

November

On November 6

N.C. State) won at Washington & Lee 3–0. Virginia beat visiting VMI 32–0. LSU had won earlier in a Thursday game at Louisiana Tech, 23–0. Further west, the University of California played a football game, beating the University of Nevada 19–8, and the University of Colorado beat the University of New Mexico, 53–0.[21] In a Monday game at Houston, Texas A&M
defeated Texas 23–0 to stay unbeaten.

November 13 saw a number of intersectional games. Previously unbeaten and untied

Penn State stayed unbeaten, reaching 5–0–2 after defeating visiting West Virginia 40–0. Lafayette
went to 5–0–1 after beating Stroudsburg, 43–0.

At a Western Conference game between two unbeatens at Madison, Wisconsin,

Alabama stayed unbeaten with a 10–0 win at Tennessee, and Texas A&M
reached 5–0–1 with a 47–0 win over visiting Trinity College of Dallas (and three days later at Dallas, A&M defeated Oklahoma, 14–8)

North Carolina A&M were idle. Virginia
won at Georgetown, 21–0, but the Cavaliers' halfback Archer Christian was fatally injured.

In the East, unbeaten, untied and unscored on Yale (8–0–0) hosted once-beaten Princeton (5–1–1). Yale had a ninth straight shutout, winning 17–0 in its last game before it would meet Harvard, which raised its record to 8–0–0, defeating Dartmouth 12–3.

Yale vs. Harvard

  • On November 20 Yale, which had allowed no points in nine games, played its only away game of the season, facing the Harvard Crimson, who had allowed only 9 points all season. Both teams were unbeaten and untied, and met before 38,000 at Cambridge. Yale's Carroll T. Cooney blocked a punt by Wayland Minot, who fell on the ball in the end zone for a safety, and a 2–0 Yale lead. Later, Stephen Philbin's 30 yard run brought Yale to the Harvard 20, and Ted Coy kicked a field goal for a 5–0 Yale lead at halftime. In the second half, Harvard made it past the 55 yard line only once, but still kept Yale out of its end zone. Coy managed another field goal late in the game, and Yale won 8–0.[23]

In other games played on November 20, unbeaten (6–0–0)

Alabama
and Tulane played to a 5–5 tie.

Other teams closed out their seasons with games on

Thanksgiving Day (November 25). At Kansas City, the MVIAA championship came down to unbeaten (9–0–0) Kansas against unbeaten and once-tied (6–0–1) Missouri
. The Missouri Tigers won, 12–6.

Arkansas beat Washington University in St. Louis 32–0 to finish unbeaten and untied (7–0–0). Colorado beat Colorado School of Mines 16–0 in a season with four college games, for a 6–0–0 finish.

Alabama lost to LSU
, 12–6.

Conference standings

Major conference standings

For this article, major conferences defined as those including multiple state flagship public universities.

1909 Missouri Valley Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Missouri $ 4 – 0 – 1 7 – 0 – 1
Kansas 3 – 1 – 0 8 – 1 – 0
Drake 2 – 1 – 0 6 – 1 – 0
Iowa 1 – 3 – 1 2 – 4 – 1
Iowa State 0 – 2 – 1 4 – 3 – 1
Nebraska 0 – 1 – 0 3 – 3 – 2
Washington University 0 – 2 – 0 3 – 4 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
1909 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Sewanee $ 4 – 0 – 0 6 – 1 – 0
Vanderbilt 4 – 1 – 0 7 – 3 – 0
Alabama 4 – 1 – 1 5 – 1 – 2
LSU 3 – 1 – 0 6 – 2 – 0
Georgia Tech 4 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0
Auburn 4 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 0
Howard (AL) 2 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 1
Clemson 2 – 2 – 0 6 – 3 – 0
Ole Miss 1 – 2 – 1 4 – 3 – 2
Georgia 1 – 4 – 1 1 – 4 – 2
The Citadel 0 – 1 – 1 4 – 3 – 2
Mississippi A&M 0 – 3 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Mercer 0 – 4 – 0 3 – 5 – 0
Tennessee 0 – 5 – 0 1 – 6 – 2
  • $ – Conference champion
1909 Western Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Minnesota $ 3 – 0 – 0 6 – 1 – 0
Chicago 4 – 1 – 1 4 – 1 – 2
Illinois 3 – 1 – 0 5 – 2 – 0
Wisconsin 2 – 1 – 1 3 – 1 – 1
Indiana 1 – 3 – 0 4 – 3 – 0
Northwestern 1 – 3 – 0 1 – 3 – 1
Iowa 0 – 1 – 0 2 – 4 – 1
Purdue 0 – 4 – 0 2 – 5 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion

Independents

1909 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Yale   –   10 – 0 – 0
Lafayette   –   7 – 0 – 1
Franklin & Marshall   –   9 – 1 – 0
Harvard   –   9 – 1 – 0
Penn State   –   5 – 0 – 2
Washington & Jefferson   –   8 – 1 – 1
Springfield Training School   –   5 – 1 – 0
NYU   –   6 – 1 – 1
Ursinus   –   6 – 1 – 1
Penn   –   7 – 1 – 2
Trinity (CT)   –   6 – 1 – 2
Dartmouth   –   5 – 1 – 2
Fordham   –   5 – 1 – 2
Princeton   –   6 – 2 – 1
Pittsburgh   –   6 – 2 – 1
Carlisle   –   8 – 3 – 1
Colgate   –   5 – 2 – 1
Brown   –   7 – 3 – 1
Geneva   –   4 – 2 – 0
Carnegie Tech   –   5 – 3 – 1
Vermont   –   4 – 2 – 2
Lehigh   –   4 – 3 – 2
Army   –   3 – 2 – 0
Villanova   –   3 – 2 – 0
Dickinson   –   4 – 4 – 1
Syracuse   –   4 – 5 – 1
Bucknell
   –   3 – 4 – 2
Boston College   –   3 – 4 – 1
Cornell   –   3 – 4 – 1
Rhode Island State   –   3 – 4 – 0
Rutgers   –   3 – 5 – 1
Wesleyan
   –   3 – 5 – 1
Holy Cross   –   2 – 4 – 2
Swarthmore   –   2 – 5 – 0
Drexel   –   1 – 5 – 3
Tufts   –   2 – 6 – 0
Amherst
   –   1 – 6 – 1
Temple
   –   0 – 4 – 1
1909 Midwestern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Iowa State Normal   –   6 – 0 – 0
Notre Dame   –   7 – 0 – 1
Michigan Agricultural   –   8 – 1 – 0
Carthage
   –   6 – 1 – 0
Michigan   –   6 – 1 – 0
Western State Normal (MI)   –   6 – 1 – 0
Mount Union
   –   8 – 2 – 0
Lake Forest   –   5 – 1 – 1
Haskell   –   7 – 2 – 0
Detroit College   –   3 – 1 – 2
Butler
   –   5 – 3 – 0
Central Michigan   –   4 – 3 – 0
St. Mary's (OH)
   –   4 – 3 – 0
Cincinnati   –   4 – 3 – 1
Doane   –   3 – 2 – 3
Buchtel   –   4 – 4 – 0
Rose Poly   –   4 – 4 – 0
Marquette   –   2 – 2 – 1
North Dakota Agricultural   –   2 – 2 – 1
Wabash   –   3 – 4 – 1
Miami (OH)   –   3 – 4 – 0
Ohio   –   2 – 4 – 2
Saint Louis   –   3 – 5 – 0
Michigan State Normal   –   2 – 4 – 0
Western Illinois
   –   1 – 2 – 0
Fairmount
   –   2 – 5 – 1
Northern Illinois State   –   2 – 6 – 0
South Dakota State
   –   1 – 3 – 0
Heidelberg
   –   0 – 7 – 2
1909 Southern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Arkansas   –   7 – 0 – 0
Texas A&M   –   7 – 0 – 1
Mississippi College
   –   3 – 0 – 0
Stetson   –   3 – 0 – 1
Kentucky State   –   9 – 1 – 0
Virginia   –   7 – 1 – 0
North Carolina A&M   –   6 – 1 – 0
VPI   –   6 – 1 – 0
Florida   –   6 – 1 – 1
Elon   –   4 – 1 – 0
Louisiana Industrial   –   4 – 1 – 0
Spring Hill   –   4 – 1 – 0
Catholic University
   –   0 – 1 – 1
North Carolina   –   5 – 2 – 0
Kendall   –   2 – 1 – 0
Southwestern Louisiana Industrial   –   5 – 2 – 2
Marshall   –   3 – 2 – 1
VMI   –   4 – 3 – 0
Navy   –   4 – 3 – 1
Texas   –   4 – 3 – 1
Tulane   –   4 – 3 – 2
West Virginia   –   4 – 3 – 2
Washington and Lee   –   4 – 3 – 0
Oklahoma   –   6 – 4 – 0
Georgetown   –   3 – 2 – 1
Oklahoma A&M   –   5 – 3 – 0
Davidson   –   3 – 4 – 2
George Washington   –   3 – 4 – 1
Chattanooga   –   2 – 3 – 2
Wake Forest   –   2 – 4 – 0
Maryland   –   2 – 5 – 0
South Carolina   –   2 – 6 – 0
Delaware   –   1 – 6 – 1
1909 Western college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Washington   –   7 – 0 – 0
St. Vincent's   –   6 – 0 – 0
Montana   –   6 – 0 – 1
Utah   –   4 – 1 – 0
Washington State   –   4 – 1 – 0
Denver   –   7 – 2 – 0
Arizona   –   3 – 1 – 0
New Mexico   –   4 – 2 – 0
USC   –   3 – 1 – 2
Oregon Agricultural   –   4 – 2 – 1
Oregon   –   3 – 2 – 0
Hawaii
   –   2 – 2 – 0
Utah Agricultural   –   2 – 2 – 1
Idaho   –   3 – 4 – 0
Wyoming   –   3 – 5 – 0
New Mexico A&M   –   1 – 3 – 1

Minor conferences

Conference Champion(s) Record
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Kansas State Agricultural 5–0
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Olivet 4–0
Ohio Athletic Conference Oberlin 4–0–1

Minor conference standings

1909 Colorado Faculty Athletic Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Colorado $ 3 – 0 – 0 6 – 0 – 0
Colorado College
 2 – 1 – 0 5 – 2 – 0
Colorado Mines 0 – 2 – 0 3 – 3 – 0
Colorado Agricultural 0 – 2 – 0 1 – 2 – 0
  • $ – Conference champion
1909 Eastern Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
William & Mary 2 – 1 – 0 6 – 4 – 0
Randolph–Macon 2 – 1 – 0 3 – 2 – 2
Richmond 1 – 2 – 0 3 – 5 – 2
Hampden–Sydney
 1 – 2 – 0 3 – 5 – 0
1909 Ohio Athletic Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Oberlin $ 4 – 0 – 1 5 – 1 – 1
Case 5 – 0 – 2 6 – 1 – 2
Ohio State 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 0
Western Reserve
 2 – 1 – 1 5 – 3 – 1
Kenyon
 4 – 4 – 0 6 – 4 – 0
Denison
 3 – 3 – 0 4 – 5 – 1
Ohio Wesleyan
 2 – 4 – 0 5 – 4 – 0
Wittenberg 1 – 3 – 0 3 – 6 – 0
Wooster
 1 – 5 – 0 1 – 6 – 0
Heidelberg
 0 – 5 – 0 0 – 8 – 1
  • $ – Conference champion

Awards and honors

All-Americans

Main article: 1909 College Football All-America Team

The consensus All-America team included Walter Camp's selections:

Position Name Height Weight (lbs.) Class Hometown Team
QB John McGovern 5'9" 155 Sr. Arlington, Minnesota Minnesota
HB Stephen Philbin Yale
HB Wayland Minot Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard
FB
 Ted Coy 6'0" 195 Sr. Andover, Massachusetts Yale
E
 Adrian Regnier Brown
T
 Hamilton Fish 6'4" 200 Sr.
Southboro, Massachusetts
 Harvard
G
 Albert Benbrook 240 Jr.
Chicago, Illinois
 Michigan
C
 Carroll Cooney Sr. Yale
G
 Hamlin Andrus Yonkers, New York Yale
T
 Henry Hobbs Sr. Yale
E
 John Kilpatrick Yale

Statistical leaders

References

  1. ^ "About the New Rules", Syracuse Herald, September 26, 1909, pII-1
  2. ^ "Football Season Bigger Than Ever", New York Times, August 22, 1909, pS-3; the Carlisle Indians played a Wednesday game on September 22 against Lebanon Valley, winning 30–0. Although some sources list the Virginia vs. William & Mary and Washington & Jefferson vs. Denison games as taking place on September 18, both matches were on the 25th.
  3. ^ "Football in 1909 Caused 26 Deaths", New York Times, November 21, 1909, p9
  4. ^ "Why California Likes Rugby", by A.A. Goldsmith, Outing Magazine (March 1914), pp742-750
  5. ^ "Collegians Ready To Start Football", New York Times, September 5, 1909, p32
  6. ^ Danzig, Allison (1956). The History of American Football: Its Great Teams, Players, and Coaches. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. pp. 70–71.
  7. ^ Syracuse Herald, 9/26/09
  8. ^ Specifically, an end "who is more than one foot back of the line and still not a yard back" could not receive a pass; Ibid.
  9. ^ "Virginia Wins Easily", Washington Post, September 26, 1909
  10. ^ "Football Scores", New York Times, September 26, 1909, pS-1
  11. ^ "Results of Football Games", New York Times, September 30, 1909, p11
  12. ^ Michael Leo Donovan, Yankees to Fighting Irish : What's Behind Your Favorite Team's Name (Taylor Trade Publications, 2004), p107
  13. ^ "Teams Play Tie Game"; "Results of Football Battles", pS-2
  14. ^ "Princeton, 8; V.P.I., 6", Washington Post, October 14, 1909, p8
  15. ^ "Pennsy Plays Loosely", New York Times, October 24, 1909, pS-2
  16. ^ "Princeton Beaten in Last Minute", New York Times, October 24, 1909, pS-1
  17. ^ "Cadet Near Death From Football Hurt", New York Times, October 31, 1909, pIV-1.
  18. ^ "Cadet Byrne Dead; No Army-Navy Game", New York Times, November 1, 1909, p1
  19. ^ "Results of Football Games", New York Times, October 31, 1909, pIV-3
  20. ^ John Kryk, Natural Enemies: Major College Football's Oldest, Fiercest Rivaly--Michigan vs. Notre Dame (Taylor Trade Publications, 2004), p48
  21. ^ "Results of Football Games", New York Times, November 7, 1909, pS-2
  22. ^ "Arkansas Razorbacks website". Archived from the original on September 15, 2011. Retrieved November 13, 2009.
  23. ^ "Yale Triumphs at Harvard: How the Game Was Played", New York Times, November 21, 1909, pS-1
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