1908 Harvard Crimson football
National champion (Billingsley)
ConferenceIndependent
Record9–0–1
Head coach
Home stadiumHarvard Stadium
Seasons
← 1907
1909 →
1908 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Penn   –   11 – 0 – 1
Harvard   –   9 – 0 – 1
Cornell   –   7 – 1 – 1
Fordham   –   5 – 1 – 0
Yale   –   7 – 1 – 1
Dartmouth   –   6 – 1 – 1
Carlisle   –   10 – 2 – 1
Washington & Jefferson   –   10 – 2 – 1
Army   –   6 – 1 – 2
Pittsburgh   –   8 – 3 – 0
Lafayette   –   6 – 2 – 2
Princeton   –   5 – 2 – 3
Syracuse   –   6 – 3 – 1
Brown   –   5 – 3 – 1
Temple   –   3 – 2 – 1
Colgate   –   4 – 3 – 0
Lehigh   –   4 – 3 – 0
Dickinson   –   5 – 4 – 0
Amherst   –   3 – 3 – 2
Holy Cross   –   4 – 4 – 0
Penn State   –   5 – 5 – 0
Vermont   –   3 – 3 – 3
Wesleyan   –   3 – 4 – 2
Springfield Training School   –   3 – 4 – 1
NYU   –   2 – 3 – 2
Frankin & Marshall   –   4 – 6 – 1
Bucknell   –   3 – 5 – 2
Rutgers   –   3 – 5 – 1
Boston College   –   2 – 4 – 2
Carnegie Tech   –   3 – 7 – 0
Geneva   –   1 – 6 – 2
Tufts   –   1 – 6 – 1
Villanova   –   1 – 6 – 0
Drexel   –   0 – 7 – 0

The 1908 Harvard Crimson football team was an American football that represented Harvard University as an independent during the 1908 college football season. In their first season under head coach Percy Haughton, the Crimson finished with a 9–0–1 record, shut out eight of ten opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 132 to 8.[1]

There were no polls at the time to determine a national championship. However, in later analyses, Harvard was recognized as the 1908 national champion by the Billingsley Report. Most of the later analyses (Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, Parke H. Davis) designated Penn as the national champion. The National Championship Foundation chose Penn and LSU as co-national champions.[2]

Three Harvard players were consensus first-team picks on the 1908 All-America college football team: halfback Hamilton Corbett; center Charles Nourse; and tackle Hamilton Fish III.[3] Five other Harvard players also received All-American honors: quarterback Johnny Cutler (first-team honors from The New York Times and The Christian Science Monitor, second-team from Walter Camp); halfback Ernest Ver Wiebe (first-team honors from The Christian Science Monitor, second-team from Camp); end Gilbert Goodwin Browne (first-team honors from Philadelphia Press); tackle Robert McKay (first-team from The Christian Science Monitor); and guard Samuel Hoar (first-team from New York World, Tad Jones, and Philadelphia Press).[4][5]

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentSiteResultAttendanceSource
September 30Bowdoin
W 5–0[6]
October 3Maine
  • Harvard Stadium
  • Boston, MA
W 16–0> 10,000[7]
October 7Bates
  • Harvard Stadium
  • Boston, MA
W 18–0[8]
October 10Williams
  • Harvard Stadium
  • Boston, MA
W 10–012,000–15,000[9]
October 173:00 p.m.Springfield Training School
  • Harvard Stadium
  • Boston, MA
W 44–015,000[10][11][12]
October 24at Navy
T 6–68,000[13]
October 31Brown
  • Harvard Stadium
  • Boston, MA
W 6–217,000[14]
November 7Carlisle
  • Harvard Stadium
  • Boston, MA
W 17–0> 25,000[15]
November 14Dartmouth
  • Harvard Stadium
  • Boston, MA (rivalry)
W 6–035,000[16]
November 21at Yale
W 4–0[17]

References

  1. ^ "1908 Harvard Crimson Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2022.
  2. ^ 2018 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2018. pp. 113, 120. Retrieved January 4, 2019.
  3. ^ "Football Award Winners" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2016. p. 6. Retrieved October 21, 2017.
  4. ^ Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide 1909. pp. 23, 25, 27.
  5. ^ "Another All-American. Tad Jones of Yale Picks Best Football Team". The Philadelphia Inquirer. December 5, 1908.
  6. ^ "Much To Be Recommended In Harvard's Play in Its Opening Game". The Boston Globe. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Harvard Downs Maine, 16 to 0: Contest an Exhibition of the Old Game Under New Rules". The Boston Globe. October 4, 1908. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Bates a Game Little Team: With a Bit of Luck It Would Have Scored". The Boston Globe. October 8, 1908. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Burr's Kicking Helps the Harvard Team Win, 10 to 0". The Boston Globe. October 11, 1908. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Harvard Plays Training School". The Boston Daily Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. October 17, 1908. p. 4. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  11. ^ "Harvard Runs Up 44 Points Against Training School". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. October 18, 1908. p. 1. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  12. ^ "Harvard's Play Is Fast And Sure". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. October 18, 1908. p. 11. Retrieved April 5, 2022 – via Newspapers.com Open access icon.
  13. ^ "Navy 6; Harvard 6: Eight Thousand Persons See Biggest Football Tussle At Annapolis; The Crimson Outplayed". the Baltimore Sun. October 25, 1908. p. 11.
  14. ^ "Harvard Is a Winner, 6-2: Brown Forces the Crimson To Make a Safety". The Boston Globe. November 1, 1908. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Harvard 17, Carlisle 0: Indians Outplayed From Start to Finish". The Boston Globe. November 8, 1908. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Victory for the Crimson: Dartmouth Beaten 6 to 0 Before Crowd of 35,000". The Boston Globe. November 15, 1908. pp. 1, 11 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Melville E. Webb Jr. (November 22, 1908). "Crimson Triumphs: Yale Outplayed and Beaten, 4 to 0; Kennard Gets Field Goal Late in First Half". The Boston Globe. pp. 1, 10 – via Newspapers.com.


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