1917 college football season

American college football season August 2023 1917 250 1917 Georgia Tech backfield.jpg Georgia Tech's backfield 1 Georgia Tech Not awarded until 1935 The 1917 college football season ended with six undefeated teams in Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Williams, and Washington State. The Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book lists only Georgia Tech as national champions, the South's first.http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/football_records/DI/2009/2009FBS.pdf Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book 76–77 The National Collegiate Athletic Association August 2009 Indianapolis, IN 2009-10-16 Tech coach John Heisman challenged Pitt coach Pop Warner to a postseason contest to determine a national champion, but as such a match did not occur until the next season. The Golden Tornado was invited to play a 4–3 Oregon team in the Rose Bowl, but by then many players had joined the war effort. In the second week of play, Georgia Tech beat Penn 41–0. Bernie McCarty called it "Strupper's finest hour, coming through against powerful Penn in the contest that shocked the East." By comparison, Pitt defeated Penn 14–6.http://www.databasefootball.com/College/teams/teamyear.htm?TeamID=83&Season=1917 1917 Pittsburgh Panthers databaseFootball.com usurped https://web.archive.org/web/20151130221601/http://www.databasefootball.com/College/teams/teamyear.htm?TeamID=83&Season=1917 2015-11-30 Conference and program changes Conference changes One conference changed its name for the 1917 season: Michigan rejoined the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (commonly known as the Big Nine Conference) after a nine-year absence. As such, the league was first unofficially coined the Big Ten, the name it possesses today. Membership changes School 1916 Conference 1917 Conference Michigan Wolverines Independent Big Ten (was Big Nine) Montana Agricultural Bobcats Independent Rocky MountainOglethorpe Stormy PetrelsProgram Established Independent Southwestern (TX) Pirates Southwest IndependentToledo Blue and GoldProgram Established Independent September September 29 In a doubleheader, Georgia Tech beat Furman and then Wake Forest; 25–0 and 33–0 respectively. Navy beat Davidson 27–6. Pitt beat West Virginia 14–9. October October 6 Georgia Tech beat Penn at home 41 to 0. Centre beat KMI 104–0. West Virginia beat Navy 6–0. Williams beat Cornell 14–10. Texas A&M defeated Austin College 66-0. October 13 Georgia Tech beat Davidson 32–10, its closest game all season. DePauw beat Centre 6–0. Syracuse beat Rutgers 14–10. Wisconsin tied Notre Dame 0–0. Texas A&M beat the University of Dallas 98-0. October 20 Georgia Tech beat Washington & Lee 63–0. Auburn beat Clemson 7–0. Pittsburgh beat Syracuse 28–0. Nebraska beat Notre Dame 7–0. Washington State beat Oregon 26–3. October 27 Undefeated Pittsburgh beat Penn on the road 14 to 6. Auburn beat Mississippi A&M 13–6. Texas A&M beat LSU 27-0. November November 3 Georgia Tech gave Vanderbilt its worst ever beating, 83–0.https://archive.org/stream/fottballsgreates00pope#page/344/mode/2up Football's Greatest Coaches 344 Edwin Pope 1956 Edwin Pope Auburn crushed Florida 68–0. Centre beat Kentucky 3–0. Texas A&M beat Tulane 35–0. Wisconsin beat Minnesota 10–7. Illinois tied Chicago 0–0. Rutgers tied West Virginia 3–3. November 10 A freshman Buck Flowers at Davidson upset Auburn 21–7. All of Georgia Tech's backs rushed for 100 yards in a 48–0 defeat of Tulane.https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/26133/1917-11-13_07_07.pdf?sequence=1 The Technique Tech Swamps Tulane 4 November 13, 1917 Texas A&M beat Baylor 7–0. Ohio State beat Wisconsin 16–3. Navy beat Georgetown 28–7. November 17 Georgia Tech beat Carlisle 98–0. Penn beat Michigan 16–0. Ohio State beat Illinois 13–0. November 24 Auburn fought undefeated Ohio State to a scoreless tie. Coach Heisman of Georgia Tech (who previously coached at Auburn) and his players were at the game, rooting for the Tigers. Minnesota beat Illinois 27–6. November 29 Georgia Tech beat Auburn 68 to 7. Davidson beat Clemson 21–9. Mississippi A&M beat Haskell 7–6. Texas A&M beat Rice 10-0, wrapping up an undefeated, untied and unscored-upon season, a feat they would replicate two years later. The Aggies outscored their opponents 270-0 in eight games in 1917. Rose Bowl The Mare Island Marines defeated Camp Lewis, 19–7, in the 1918 Rose Bowl. Conference standings Major conference standings Independents Minor conferences ConferenceChampion(s)Record Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association Virginia Union 2–0 Inter-Normal Athletic Conference of Wisconsin La Crosse Normal 3–0 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Kansas State NormalKansas State Normal–Fort Hays 5–0–15–0 Louisiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association Southwestern Louisiana Industrial 5–0 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Alma 4–0 Nebraska Intercollegiate Conference Unknown — Ohio Athletic Conference Miami (OH) 5–0–1 Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference No champion — Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Pomona–Pitzer 4–0 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tuskegee — Minor conference standings Rankings 1917 college football rankings Awards and honors All-Americans 1917 College Football All-America Team The consensus All-America team included: PositionNameHeightWeight (lbs.)ClassHometownTeamQBBenny Boynton5'9"163So.Waco, TexasWilliamsHBElmer Oliphant5'7"180Sr.Bloomfield, IndianaArmyHBEverett Strupper5'7"148Sr.Columbus, GeorgiaGeorgia TechFBChic Harley5'11"171Jr.Chicago, IllinoisOhio StateECharles BolenSr.Marion, IndianaOhio StateEHeinie Miller5'10"185Jr.Williamsport, PennsylvaniaPennTGeorge HauserSr.Council Bluffs, IowaMinnesotaGDale Sies6'1"203Sr.Ames, IowaPittsburghGJock SutherlandSr.Coupar Angus, ScotlandPittsburghCFrank Rydzewski6'1"220Sr.Chicago, IllinoisNotre DameGEugene NeeleySr.Dallas, TexasDartmouthTAlf Cobb5'11"210Sr.Athol, MassachusettsSyracuseEPaul Robeson6'3"219Jr.Princeton, New JerseyRutgers Statistical leaders Team scoring most points: Georgia Tech, 491 Player scoring most points: Bill Ingram, Navy, 162 Player scoring most touchdowns: Albert Hill, Georgia Tech, 23 Player scoring most goals after touchdown: Bill Fincher, Georgia Tech, 49 Rushing yards leader: Everett Strupper, Georgia Tech, 1150 Rushing avg. leader: Everett Strupper, 10.1 References