1893 Princeton Tigers football team

American college football season August 2023 December 2025 1893 Princeton Tigers football Princeton Tigers football team (1893).jpg 285 Independent 11–0 None Thomas Trenchard National champion (Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate, NCF) The 1893 Princeton Tigers football team represented Princeton University in the 1893 college football season. The team finished with an 11–0 record and was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation.http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/football_records/2015/FBS.pdf National Poll Rankings National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) 2015 NCAA Division I Football Records NCAA 107 January 4, 2016 PDF1893 Princeton Tigers Schedule and Results Sports Reference LLC SR/College Football February 27, 2017 https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/princeton/1893-schedule.html They outscored their opponents 270 to 14. As the Princeton and Yale teams prepared to meet in late November 1893, an unprecedented amount of media and public attention fell upon the big game, which was being billed as the championship game of the season. Both teams entered the game undefeated with records of 10–0. Yale had outscored its opponents 336–6 and was riding a 37-game winning streak dating back to a loss to Harvard in 1890. Princeton had outscored its opponents by a cumulative total of 264–14, and was seeking to avenge its 12–0 loss to Yale the previous year. A crowd of 40,000, the largest ever to see a football game up to that time, showed up at the Polo Grounds in New York to see the two teams take the field. Three-time consensus All-American Philip King led Princeton into the game. He would later head the Princeton Football Association and help coach. King had just developed the double wingback formation with the ends deployed on the wings of the line. From the double wingback formation, Princeton precisely executed a complete set of plays and completely befuddled the Yale eleven, captained by College Football Hall of Famer Frank Hinkey. The New York Sun noted that "Princeton in 1893 had the finest offensive machine it had developed up to this time – a team with continuity of attack, the ability to pile first down upon first down." Princeton was able to cross the goal once and held Yale scoreless, thus winning 6-0 and claiming the national championship. However, the game did not pass without engendering some controversy. The New York Herald declared in a scathing commentary: "Thanksgiving Day is no longer a solemn festival to God for mercies given. It is a holiday granted by the State and the Nation to see a game of football. The kicker now is king and the people bow down to him. The gory nosed tackler, hero of a hundred scrimmages and half as many wrecked wedges, is the idol of the hour. With swollen face and bleeding head, daubed from crown to sole with the mud of Manhattan Field, he stands triumphant amid the cheers of thousands. What matters that the purpose of the day is perverted, that church is foregone, that family reunion is neglected, that dinner is delayed if not forgot. Has not Princeton played a mighty game with Yale and has not Princeton won? This is the modern Thanksgiving Day." The Yale-Princeton Thanksgiving Day game of 1893 earned $13,000 for each school from gate receipts, as the big games became the primary source of revenue for the college's athletic programs. Despite the loss, Yale was retroactively named champion by Parke H. Davis, and the NCAA Division I Football Records Book lists both Princeton and Yale as national champions. Schedule September 30 4:10 p.m. w Lafayette University Field Princeton, NJ 20–0 1,200–3,000 The Tigers' First Battle https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109163759/the-philadelphia-inquirer/ The Philadelphia Inquirer Philadelphia, Pennsylvania October 1, 1893 3 September 8, 2022 Newspapers.com Princeton Satisfied https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109163890/the-boston-globe/ The Boston Sunday Globe Boston, Massachusetts October 1, 1893 4 September 8, 2022 Newspapers.com October 4 w y Lehigh Bethlehem, PA 12–0 October 14 w y Crescent Athletic Club Eastern Park Brooklyn, NY 26–0 > 1,000 Crescents Downed by the Princeton Tigers at Eastern Park The Brooklyn Daily Eagle October 15, 1893 3 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51324683/crescents-downed-by-the-princeton/ Newspapers.com October 18 w Lawrenceville School Princeton, NJ 8–4 October 21 2:00 p.m. w y Cornell Manhattan Field New York, NY 46–0 Tantalizing Tigers. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49004993/the-pittsburgh-press/ The Pittsburgh Press Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania October 22, 1893 6 April 18, 2020 Newspapers.com October 25 w Lehigh Princeton, NJ 28–6 October 28 w y 1893 Wesleyan Methodists Wesleyan Middletown, CT 76–0 November 4 w y Penn Germantown Cricket Club Philadelphia, PA rivalry 4–0 18,000 The Tigers' Triumph: Princeton Wins the Great Game at Manheim The Times (Philadelphia) November 5, 1893 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16893837/the_tigers_triumph_princeton_wins_the/ Newspapers.com November 7 w y Orange Athletic Club Orange Oval East Orange, NJ 8–0 3,500 Princeton Scored Eight Points: But It Was Her Scrub Team That Faced Orange A.C. The Sun November 8, 1893 10 https://www.newspapers.com/clip/51663264/princeton-scored-eight-points/ Newspapers.com November 18 w y Army The Plain West Point, NY 36–4 November 30 w y Yale Polo Grounds New York, NY rivalry 6–0 Roster Allen, FB D. M. Balliet, C Barnett, HB H. Brown, E Burt, FB Church, T Crowdis, C Dwight, QB Joseph Marshall Flint Fulper, HB Forrest M. Hall, G Augustus Holly, T Philip King, QB Langdon Lea William McCauley, E Franklin Morse Poe, QB Rhodes, G H. Riggs, T Rosengarten, HB Summers, G Taylor, T Thompson, E Thomas Trenchard, E Tyler, G Voorhees, HB William Ward, HB Art Wheeler, G References Princeton Category:Princeton Tigers football seasons Category:College football national champions Category:College football undefeated seasons Princeton Tigers football