1900-1919

The early 1900's were really the boom years of college football. This was a time when colleges first started to police themselves. This was also the time of the evolution of conferences, and greater prominence of western teams.

As far as the heavyweight title went, the title still kept a decidedly eastern flavor to it. Harvard, Yale, and Princeton still tended to dominate the title, but lesser known teams snuck in here and there. One of the more notables was Carlisle Indian School. Most of us wouldn't recognize that name, however, Pop Warner's team, with Jim Thorpe, took the title in 1907 and held on for a year. What's probably most interesting is that as of 1904, college football was 35 years old, and there had been only 6 champions. Eleven years later, only Army, Navy, Carlisle Indian School and Swarthmore College had joined the ranks. By the end of the 1919 season, the title had moved decidedly west and away from its northeastern roots. It would never return east for very long.

During this time we see some of the first times that the more famous rivalries factored into the title clashes. In 1904, the Army Navy game determines the champion for the first time. In 1918, the Michigan - Ohio State game makes its first appearance in the championship spotlight.

One of the most notable things about this period is the number of 'non-title' matches that takes place. Harvard, Yale, and Penn seemed to take on more and more of the smaller schools (proof that the concept of scheduling weaker teams early in the season did not in fact originate with Bill Snyder at Kansas State). Some of the schools that had been regular opponents, such as Williams and Amherst, were no longer considered 'major' college football schools either. While compiling this list, I'll admit to having had some frustration with the fact that the title continued to stay within the tight circle of the schools that played each other in the east.

One of the things that I felt was a shame was that Michigan didn't have a shot at the title during their impressive string of 56 games without a defeat starting in 1901, and including the first ever Rose Bowl game January 1, 1902. Granted, 21 of those games were against non major schools and included some formidable powers like Case, Albion, Physicians & Surgeons, and Oberlin. That said, during that stretch, they outscored their opponents 2,821 to 40 (including 550-0 in 1901), including several wins over powers Minnesota and Chicago. What was interesting was, I decided to start with Michigan in 1900 and see if things would end up any differently. By 1917, the title was in the same place as is documented here.

1900	29-Sep	Harvard	24	Wesleyan	0
	3-Oct	Harvard	12	Williams	0
	6-Oct	Harvard	12	Bowdoin	0
	10-Oct	Harvard	18	Amherst	0
	13-Oct	Harvard	24	Columbia	0
	17-Oct	Harvard	41	Bates	0	Non-title
	20-Oct	Harvard	29	Army	0
	27-Oct	Harvard	17	Carlisle	5
	3-Nov	Harvard	17	Pennsylvania	5
	17-Nov	Harvard	11	Brown	6
	24-Nov	Yale	24	Harvard	0
1901	28-Sep	Yale	23	Trinity	0
	2-Oct	Yale	6	Amherst	0
	5-Oct	Yale	29	Tufts	5
	9-Oct	Yale	24	Wesleyan	0
	12-Oct	Yale	24	Navy	0
	16-Oct	Yale	45	Bowdoin	0
	19-Oct	Yale	22	Penn State	0
	22-Oct	Yale	21	Bates	0
	26-Oct	Yale	10	Columbia	5
	2-Nov	Yale	5	Army	5	Tie
	9-Nov	Yale	30	Orange A.C.	0	Non-title
	16-Nov	Yale	12	Princeton	0
	23-Nov	Harvard	22	Yale	0
1902	27-Sep	Harvard	11	Williams	0
	1-Oct	Harvard	17	Bowdoin	6	Non-title
	4-Oct	Harvard	23	Bates	0	Non-title
	8-Oct	Harvard	6	Amherst	0
	11-Oct	Harvard	22	Maine	0	Non-title
	15-Oct	Harvard	35	Wesleyan	5
	18-Oct	Harvard	14	Army	6
	25-Oct	Harvard	6	Brown	0
	1-Nov	Harvard	23	Carlisle	0
	8-Nov	Harvard	11	Pennsylvania	0
	15-Nov	Harvard	16	Dartmouth	6
	22-Nov	Yale	23	Harvard	23
1903	26-Sep	Yale	35	Trinity	0	Non-title
	30-Sep	Yale	19	Tufts	0
	3-Oct	Yale	46	Vermont	0
	7-Oct	Yale	33	Wesleyan	0
	10-Oct	Yale	22	Springfield	0	Non-title
	14-Oct	Yale	36	Holy Cross	10
	17-Oct	Yale	27	Penn State	0
	24-Oct	Yale	17	Army	5
	31-Oct	Yale	25	Columbia	0
	7-Nov	Yale	30	Syracuse	0	Non-title
	14-Nov	Princeton	11	Yale	6
1904	28-Sep	Princeton	12	Dickinson	0
	1-Oct	Princeton	10	Georgetown	0
	5-Oct	Princeton	39	Wesleyan	0
	8-Oct	Princeton	16	Washington & Jefferson	0	Non-title
	12-Oct	Princeton	5	Lafayette	0
	15-Oct	Navy	10	Princeton	9
	19-Oct	Navy	23	St Johns	0	Non-title
	22-Oct	Navy	0	Dickinson	0	Tie
	29-Oct	Swarthmore	9	Navy	0
	12-Nov	Swarthmore	69	Franklin & Marshall	0
	19-Nov	Swarthmore	27	Haverford	6	Non-title
1905	7-Oct	Pennsylvania	11	Swarthmore	4
	11-Oct	Pennsylvania	38	Franklin & Marshall	0	Non-title
	14-Oct	Pennsylvania	17	North Carolina	0
	18-Oct	Pennsylvania	39	Ursinus	0	Non-title
	21-Oct	Pennsylvania	8	Brown	6
	28-Oct	Pennsylvania	6	Carlisle	0
	4-Nov	Pennsylvania	6	Carlisle	6	Tie
	4-Nov	Pennsylvania	12	Harvard	6
	18-Nov	Pennsylvania	42	Villanova	0
	25-Nov	Pennsylvania	23	Columbia	0
	30-Nov	Pennsylvania	6	Cornell	5
1906	29-Sep	Pennsylvania	32	Lehigh	6
	3-Oct	Pennsylvania	6	Gettysburgh	6	Non-title
	6-Oct	Pennsylvania	11	North Carolina	0
	10-Oct	Pennsylvania	47	Franklin & Marshall	6	Non-title
	13-Oct	Swarthmore	4	Pennsylvania	0
	20-Oct	Swarthmore	17	George Washington	0	Non-title
	27-Oct	Swarthmore	19	Gettysburgh	4	Non-title
	3-Nov	Swarthmore	21	Amherst	0
	10-Nov	Navy	5	Swarthmore	4
	17-Nov	Navy	40	North Carolina	0
	24-Nov	Navy	5	Virginia Tech	0
	1-Dec	Navy	10	Army	0
1907	2-Oct	Navy	26	St Johns MD	0	Non-title
	5-Oct	Navy	15	Dickinson	0
	9-Oct	Navy	12	Maryland	0	Non-title
	12-Oct	Navy	6	Vanderbilt	6
	19-Oct	Harvard	6	Navy	0
	26-Oct	Harvard	9	Springfield	5	Non-title
	2-Nov	Harvard	6	Brown	5
	9-Nov	Carlisle	23	Harvard	15
	16-Nov	Carlisle	12	Minnesota	10
	23-Nov	Carlisle	18	Chicago	4
1908	19-Sep	Carlisle	53	Conway Hall	0	Non-title
	23-Sep	Carlisle	39	Lebanon Valley	0	Non-title
	26-Sep	Carlisle	10	Villanova	0
	3-Oct	Carlisle	12	Penn State	5
	10-Oct	Carlisle	12	Syracuse	0
	24-Oct	Carlisle	6	Pennsylvania	6	Tie
	31-Oct	Carlisle	16	Navy	6
	7-Nov	Harvard	17	Carlisle	0
	14-Nov	Harvard	6	Dartmouth	0
	21-Nov	Harvard	4	Yale	0
1909	25-Sep	Harvard	11	Bates	0	Non-title
	2-Oct	Harvard	17	Bowdoin	0	Non-title
	9-Oct	Harvard	8	Williams	6	Non-title
	16-Oct	Harvard	17	Maine	0	Non-title
	23-Oct	Harvard	11	Brown	0
	30-Oct	Harvard	9	Army	0
	6-Nov	Harvard	18	Cornell	0
	13-Nov	Harvard	12	Dartmouth	3
	20-Nov	Yale	8	Harvard	0
1910	28-Sep	Yale	22	Wesleyan	0	Non-title
	1-Oct	Yale	12	Syracuse	6
	5-Oct	Yale	17	Tufts	0	Non-title
	8-Oct	Yale	12	Holy Cross	0	Non-title
	15-Oct	Army	9	Yale	3
	22-Oct	Army	28	Lehigh	0
	29-Oct	Harvard	6	Army	0
	5-Nov	Harvard	27	Cornell	5
	12-Nov	Harvard	18	Dartmouth	0
	19-Nov	Harvard	0	Yale	0
1911	30-Sep	Harvard	15	Bates	0	Non-title
	7-Oct	Harvard	8	Holy Cross	0	Non-title
	14-Oct	Harvard	18	Williams	0	Non-title
	21-Oct	Harvard	11	Amherst	0	Non-title
	28-Oct	Harvard	20	Brown	6
	4-Nov	Princeton	8	Harvard	6
	11-Nov	Princeton	3	Dartmouth	0
	18-Nov	Princeton	6	Yale	3
1912	28-Sep	Princeton	65	Stevens	0	Non-title
	2-Oct	Princeton	41	Rutgers	6	Non-title
	5-Oct	Princeton	35	Lehigh	0
	12-Oct	Princeton	31	Virginia Tech	0
	19-Oct	Princeton	62	Syracuse	0
	26-Oct	Princeton	22	Dartmouth	7
	2-Nov	Harvard	16	Princeton	6
	9-Nov	Harvard	9	Vanderbilt	3
	16-Nov	Harvard	3	Dartmouth	0
	23-Nov	Harvard	20	Yale	0
1913	27-Sep	Harvard	34	Maine	0	Non-title
	4-Oct	Harvard	14	Bates	0	Non-title
	11-Oct	Harvard	23	Williams	3	Non-title
	18-Oct	Harvard	47	Holy Cross	7	Non-title
	25-Oct	Harvard	29	Penn State	0
	1-Nov	Harvard	23	Cornell	6
	8-Nov	Harvard	3	Princeton	0
	15-Nov	Harvard	37	Brown	0
	22-Nov	Harvard	15	Yale	5
1914	26-Sep	Harvard	44	Bates	0	Non-title
	3-Oct	Harvard	44	Springfield	0	Non-title
	10-Oct	Harvard	10	Washington & Jefferson	9
	17-Oct	Harvard	13	Tufts	6	Non-title
	24-Oct	Harvard	13	Penn State	13	Tie
	31-Oct	Harvard	7	Michigan	0
	7-Nov	Harvard	20	Princeton	0
	14-Nov	Harvard	0	Brown	0	Tie
	21-Nov	Harvard	36	Yale	0
1915	25-Sep	Harvard	39	Colby	6	Non-title
	2-Oct	Harvard	7	Massachusetts	0	Non-title
	9-Oct	Harvard	29	Carlisle	7
	16-Oct	Harvard	9	Virginia	0
	23-Oct	Cornell	10	Harvard	0
	30-Oct	Cornell	45	Virginia Tech	0
	6-Nov	Cornell	34	Michigan	7
	13-Nov	Cornell	40	Washington & Lee	21
	25-Nov	Cornell	24	Pennsylvania	9
1916	7-Oct	Cornell	26	Gettysburgh	0	Non-title
	14-Oct	Cornell	42	Williams	0	Non-title
	21-Oct	Cornell	19	Bucknell	0
	28-Oct	Harvard	23	Cornell	0
	4-Nov	Harvard	51	Virginia	0
	4-Nov	Harvard	3	Princeton	0
	18-Nov	Brown	21	Harvard	0
	25-Nov	Colgate	28	Brown	0
1917	13-Oct	Colgate	24	Bucknell	0
	20-Oct	Colgate	20	Cornell	0
	27-Oct	Brown	7	Colgate	6
	3-Nov	Syracuse	6	Brown	0
	10-Nov	Syracuse	42	Bucknell	0
	17-Nov	Syracuse	27	Colgate	7
	24-Nov	Syracuse	21	Michigan State	7	Non-title
	29-Nov	Syracuse	10	Nebraska	9
1918	26-Oct	Syracuse	13	Navy Transport	0
	3-Nov	Syracuse	34	Dartmouth	6
	10-Nov	Syracuse	53	Brown	0
	16-Nov	Michigan	15	Syracuse	0
	23-Nov	Michigan	21	Michigan State	6
	30-Nov	Michigan	14	Ohio State	0
1919	4-Oct	Michigan	34	Case	0	Non-title
	18-Oct	Michigan	26	Michigan State	0
	25-Oct	Ohio State	13	Michigan	3
	8-Nov	Ohio State	20	Purdue	0
	15-Nov	Ohio State	3	Wisconsin	0
	22-Nov	Illinois	9	Ohio State	7