1905 college football season

Harvard–Yale game.

Total # of teams

82^[1]

Number of bowls

College football seasons
« 1904	1906 »

The 1905 college football season had the Chicago Maroons retroactively named as national champion by the Billingsley Report, the Helms Athletic Foundation, the National Championship Foundation, and the Houlgate System, while Yale was named champion by Parke H. Davis and Caspar Whitney. Chicago finished the season 11-0, while Yale finished 10-0. The Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listed both Chicago and Yale as having been selected national champions.^[2]

Notable games

Chicago vs. Michigan game

In the final game of the season on November 30, 1905, Amos Alonzo Stagg's Chicago team and Fielding Yost's Michigan squad met in a battle of undefeated Western Conference powerhouses. The teams played at Chicago's Marshall Field in front of 27,000 spectators, at that time the largest crowd to view a football game. Michigan was 12–0 and had a 56-game undefeated streak on the line, while Chicago was 10–0.

The game was a punting duel between Chicago's All-American Walter Eckersall and Michigan's John Garrels and was scoreless until early in the third quarter when a Michigan punt and Chicago penalty pinned Chicago inside their own ten-yard line. On third down, as Eckersall attempted to punt, he encountered a fearsome rush, but evaded the Michigan tacklers and was able to scramble to the 22-yard line and a first down. After three more first downs, the drive stalled and Chicago was forced to punt again. Eckersall's booming punt carried into the end zone where it was caught by Michigan's William Dennison Clark who attempted to run the ball out. He advanced the ball forward to the one-yard line, but was hit hard by Art Badenoch and then was brought back inside his own end zone by Mark Catlin for a two-point safety. Under the rules of the time, forward progress was not credited, and a ball carrier could be carried backwards or forwards until he was down. The rest of third and fourth quarters continued as a defensive stalemate. Chicago's 2–0 victory snapped Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak and gave Chicago the consensus national championship for 1905.

As a tragic note to this game, Clark received the blame for the Michigan loss, and in 1932 he shot himself through the heart. In a suicide note to his wife he reportedly expressed the hope that his "final play" would be of some benefit in atoning for his error at Marshall Field.

Night football

During the season, the first night football game west of the Mississippi was played in Wichita, Kansas between Fairmount College (now Wichita State University and Cooper College (now Sterling College). The Coleman Company provided lights for the game.^[3]

Rule experiment

On December 25 in Wichita, Kansas an experimental game was played between Fairmount College and Washburn University. The game tested a rule change that required the offense to earn a first down in three plays instead of four. Football legend John H. Outland officiated the game and commented, "It seems to me that the distance required in three downs would almost eliminate touchdowns, except through fakes or flukes."^[4] The Los Angeles Times reported that there was much kicking and that the game was considered much safer than regular play, but that the new rule was not "conducive to the sport."^[5] Some of the rules for this game were based on the Burnside rules which govern the Canadian game.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1905 Big 9 football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Chicago $	7	–	0	–	0	11	–	0	–	0
Michigan	2	–	1	–	0	12	–	1	–	0
Minnesota	2	–	1	–	0	10	–	1	–	0
Purdue	1	–	1	–	1	6	–	1	–	1
Wisconsin	1	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Indiana	0	–	1	–	1	8	–	1	–	1
Iowa	0	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	0
Northwestern	0	–	2	–	0	8	–	2	–	1
Illinois	0	–	3	–	0	5	–	4	–	0

$ – Conference champion

1905 SIAA football standings
	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
Vanderbilt $	6	–	0	–	0	7	–	1	–	0
Georgia Tech	4	–	0	–	1	6	–	0	–	1
LSU	2	–	0	–	0	3	–	0	–	0
Davidson	1	–	0	–	0	2	–	5	–	0
Texas	2	–	1	–	0	5	–	4	–	0
Clemson	3	–	2	–	1	3	–	2	–	1
Sewanee	2	–	2	–	1	4	–	2	–	1
Alabama	4	–	4	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
Cumberland	2	–	2	–	0	4	–	4	–	0
Auburn	2	–	4	–	0	2	–	4	–	0
Mississippi A&M	1	–	3	–	0	3	–	4	–	0
Tennessee	0	–	4	–	1	3	–	5	–	1
Texas A&M	0	–	1	–	0	7	–	2	–	0
Tulane	0	–	1	–	0	0	–	1	–	0
Ole Miss	0	–	1	–	0	0	–	2	–	0
Nashville	0	–	2	–	0	0	–	2	–	0
Georgia	0	–	4	–	0	1	–	5	–	0

$ – Conference champion

References

↑ http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1905.htm
↑ Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book (PDF). Indianapolis, IN: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2009. p. 70. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
↑ "FIRST LIGHT (1900 – 1929)". Coleman Company. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
↑ New York Times "Ten Yard Rule a Failure" December 26, 1905
↑ Los Angeles Times "New Football Rules Tested" December 26, 1905

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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