1896 Princeton Tigers football
National champion (Billingsley, Helms, Houlgate)
Co-national champion (NCF, Davis)
ConferenceIndependent
Record10–0–1
Head coach
CaptainGarrett Cochran
Seasons
← 1895
1897 →
1896 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Fordham   –   1 – 0 – 0
Lafayette   –   11 – 0 – 1
Princeton   –   10 – 0 – 1
Washington & Jefferson   –   8 – 0 – 1
Penn   –   14 – 1 – 0
Yale   –   13 – 1 – 0
Pittsburgh College   –   11 – 2 – 0
Buffalo   –   9 – 1 – 2
Villanova   –   10 – 4 – 0
Bucknell   –   5 – 2 – 1
Harvard   –   7 – 4 – 0
Boston College   –   5 – 3 – 0
Storrs   –   5 – 3 – 0
Cornell   –   5 – 3 – 1
Syracuse   –   5 – 3 – 2
Temple   –   3 – 2 – 0
Army   –   3 – 2 – 1
Rutgers   –   6 – 6 – 0
Carlisle   –   5 – 5 – 0
Holy Cross   –   2 – 2 – 2
Brown   –   4 – 5 – 1
Wesleyan   –   4 – 5 – 1
Frankin & Marshall   –   3 – 4 – 2
Geneva   –   3 – 4 – 0
Penn State   –   3 – 4 – 0
Colgate   –   3 – 4 – 1
Amherst   –   3 – 6 – 1
Western Univ. Penn.   –   3 – 6 – 0
Lehigh   –   2 – 5 – 0
Tufts   –   2 – 6 – 1
Swarthmore   –   2 – 6 – 0
New Hampshire   –   1 – 4 – 0
Drexel   –   1 – 5 – 0
Massachusetts   –   0 – 4 – 0
Rhode Island   –   0 – 4 – 0

The 1896 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University as an independent during the 1896 college football season. The team finished with a 10–0–1 record, shut out 10 of 12 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 266 to 5.[1] Franklin Morse was the head coach, and Garrett Cochran was the team captain.

There was no contemporaneous system in 1896 for determining a national champion. However, Princeton was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, and Houlgate System, and as a co-national champion with Lafayette by the National Championship Foundation (NCF) and Parke H. Davis.[2] In head-to-head competition, Princeton and Lafayette played to a scoreless tie on October 7, 1896.[3]

Four Princeton players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1896 All-America team: halfback Addison Kelly; fullback John Baird; center Robert Gailey; and tackle William W. Church.[4] Other notable players included quarterback F. L. Smith, halfback William Bannard, end Garrett Cochran, and guard Edward Crowdis.

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
October 3RutgersPrinceton, NJ (rivalry)W 44–0[5]
October 7at Lafayette
T 0–05,000[3]
October 10LehighPrinceton, NJW 16–0[6]
October 14CarlislePrinceton, NJW 22–6[7]
October 173:20 p.m.at Army
W 11–05,000[8]
October 21VirginiaPrinceton, NJW 48–0> 6,000[9]
October 24Penn StatePrinceton, NJW 39–01,000[10]
October 26Lawrenceville SchoolPrinceton, NJW 46–0[11]
October 31CornellPrinceton, NJW 37–06,000[12]
November 7at Harvard
W 12–020,000[13]
November 21vs. Yale
W 24–635,000–50,000[14][15]

[1]

References

  1. ^ a b "1896 Princeton Tigers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
  2. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 107. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Princeton 0, Lafayette 0". The Boston Globe. October 8, 1896. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  5. ^ "Tigers Score 44 Points". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 4, 1896. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Princeton, 16; Lehigh, 0". The Philadelphia Times. October 11, 1896. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Princeton, 22; Carlisle, 6". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 15, 1896. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Cadets Worry the Tigers: Princeton's Men Compelled to Play Hard to Win". The Sun. New York, N.Y. October 18, 1896. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Princeton 48, Virginia 0". The Boston Globe. October 22, 1896. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Princeton, 39; P.S.C., 0". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 25, 1896. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Princeton 46, Lawrenceville 0". The Boston Globe. October 27, 1896. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Tigers Made a Hearty Meal: Cornell Was Beaten by a Score of 37 to 0". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. November 1, 1896. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Princeton, 12; Harvard, 0". Boston Post. November 8, 1896. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Nassau Beats Eli: Princeton Football Players Bowled Over Yale's Warriors and Won Easily on Manhattan Field". The New York Times. November 22, 1896. pp. 1, 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Princeton Won at Manhattan Field and the Blow Almost Killed Eli". The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 22, 1896. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
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