1869 college football season

Total # of teams

Regular season

November 6 - November 13

Number of bowls

College football seasons
	1870 »

The 1869 college football season was the first season of intercollegiate football in the United States. While played using improvised rules resembling soccer and rugby as much as the modern American sport, it is traditionally considered the inaugural college football season. However, there is momentum shifting towards the 1874 Harvard Crimson being the first to play by rules that led to what became gridiron football. The 1869 season consisted of only two total games, both of which occurred between Rutgers University and Princeton University; The first was played on November 6 at Rutgers' campus, and the second was played on November 13 at Princeton's campus. These games were comparable to soccer.

The first ever college football national championship awarded (retroactively) was split between the only two participants in 1869, Rutgers and Princeton. Princeton was named the champion by the Billingsley Report and the National Championship Foundation, while college football research historian Parke H. Davis named the two teams co-champions. Various other ratings and retrospectives have rated the teams differently.

The two games were played with rules very different from what is currently understood as American football, and also played under home field rules that differed from each other. However, what developed into a more rugby-style play and eventually into the football known by current fans had its beginnings in 1874, when McGill (Montreal) visited Harvard to play "The Boston Game" and British rugby.

First intercollegiate football game ever played

See 1869 New Jersey vs. Rutgers football game

In what some regard as the very first game ever played of intercollegiate football, a contest was held between teams from Rutgers College (now Rutgers University) and the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University).^[1]^[2] The 1869 game between Rutgers and Princeton is important in that it is the first documented game of intercollegiate game called football between two American colleges. Rutgers won the game by a score of 6–4^[3]

The Princeton/Rutgers game was undoubtedly different from what we today know as American football, as there was no running with the ball, each team included 25 players, and the ball was perfectly spherical. The first game which included running with the ball, 11-man sides, an oval-shaped ball, and tackling to end a play occurred on June 4, 1875, between Harvard University and Tufts University.^[4]^[5]

Second and final game of 1869

A rematch was played at Princeton a week later under Princeton rules. One of the biggest differences in rules was the awarding of a "free kick" to any player that caught the ball on the fly. This rule seriously affected the speed advantage of Rutgers that had allowed them to win the first contest. Princeton won the second game by a score of 8 to 0.

Aftermath of the 1869 games

The two schools had originally scheduled to meet three times in 1869, but the third 1869 game never took place, reportedly because of the officials at both programs who complained about more emphasis being put on the contests rather than academics and studying.^[6] Other sources claim that it may have been canceled due to disagreement over what set of rules to play under.^[7] Due to each team winning one game, the inaugural football "season" ended with Princeton and Rutgers each tied at 1-1, and therefore each received a partial share of the college football national championship awarded (retroactively) for the 1869 season.

Rutgers players from the first ever game were honored fifty years later in a ceremony at their home-coming. The last surviving member of this Rutgers team was George H. Large, who died in 1939. The last surviving member for Princeton was Robert Preston Lane, who died in 1938.

References

↑ http://www.historyoffootball.net/
↑ "1800s". Rutgers Through The Years. Rutgers University. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
↑ DeLassus, David. "Princeton Yearly Results (1869)". College Football Data Warehouse. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
↑ Carzo, Rocco J. "Jumbo Footprints: A History of Tufts Athletics", Medford, MA: Tufts University Gallery, 2005; summarized in Another 'Pass' At History by Tufts University eNews on 27 September 2004. Accessed 2 January 2012.
↑ Citing Research, Tufts Claims Football History is on its Side Boston Globe Article, 23 September 2004, Accessed 1 January 2012.
↑ "Rutgers - The Birthplace of College Football: The First Intercollegiate Game - November 6, 1869" at scarletknights.com, published by the Rutgers University Athletic Department. Retrieved 2014-10-4.
↑ "NO CHRISTIAN END! The Beginnings of Football in America" published by the Professional Football Research Association (no further authorship information available). Retrieved 2014-10-4.

External links

Record of 2 games played

NCAA football seasons

Pre-regulation	1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905

IAAUS/NCAA	1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955

NCAA University Division/ Division I	1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977

NCAA Division I-A/FBS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

NCAA Division I-AA/FCS	1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

NCAA Division II	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

NCAA Division III	1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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