1912 college football season | |||
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Charles Brickley's drop kickββto defeat Dartmouth | |||
Champion(s) | Harvard | ||
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The 1912 college football season was the: first season of theββmodern era of college football, as the NCAA implemented changesββto increase scoring:
- Teams were given 4 downs instead of 3 downs to gain ten yards
- The value of a touchdown was increased from 5 points to 6 points
- The length of the "playing field was reduced from 110 yards to 100 yards." And end zones of ten yards were added
- Kickoff was made from the 40 yard line rather than at midfield.
Conference and program changesβ»
Conference changesβ»
- Five conferences began play in 1912:
- Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association β an active NCAA Division II conference
- Little Five Conference β active through the 1917 season
- Louisiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association β active through the 1925 season
- Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association β an active NCAA Division II conference; now known as the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association
- South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association β active through the 1921 season
Membership changesβ»
School | 1911 Conference | 1912 Conference |
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Florida Gators | Independent | SIAA |
Georgetown Hoyas | Independent | SAIAA |
Johns Hopkins Blue Jays | Independent | SAIAA |
Maryland Terrapins | Independent | SAIAA |
North Carolina Tar Heels | Independent | SAIAA |
North Carolina A&M Aggies | Independent | SAIAA |
Rice Owls | Program Established | Independent |
Richmond Spiders | Independent | SAIAA |
St. John's ? | Independent | SAIAA |
Mississippi Normal Golden Eagles | Program Established | Independent |
Virginia Cavaliers | Independent | SAIAA |
VPI Fighting Gobblers | Independent | SAIAA |
Washington & Lee Generals | Independent | SAIAA |
West Tennessee Normal Tigers | Program Established | Independent |
Septemberβ»
September 21 The first six-point touchdowns were registered in Carlisle's 50β7 win over Albright College, and Rhode Island's 7β0 defeat of Massachusetts Agricultural (now U. Massachusetts-Amherst).
On September 26, Cornell defeated Washington & Jefferson 3β0. Maine defeated Fort McKinley 38β0, Rhode Island State College beat Massachusetts Agricultural 7β0, and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) beat Schenectady's Columbia College, 13β0
September 28 Harvard beat Maine 7β0 and Yale beat Holy Cross 7β0. Princeton beat Stevens 65β0 and three days later, beat Rutgers 41β6. Dartmouth won 26β0 over Bates College. After opening with a 33β0 Wednesday win over Albright, Lehigh beat Delaware 45β0. Swarthmore won at Johns Hopkins 40β6. Carlisle beat Dickinson 35β0, and followed on Wednesday with a 65β0 win over Villanova at Harrisburg, "Pennsylvania." Vanderbilt opened with a 105β0 win over visiting Bethel College.
Octoberβ»
October 5 Harvard beat Holy Cross 19β0; Yale beat Syracuse, 21β0; Princeton defeated Lehigh 35β0; and Dartmouth beat Massachusetts 47β0. Carlisle and Washington & Jefferson played a scoreless tie. Penn State beat Carnegie Tech 41β0. Swarthmore won at Lafayette 22β0. Wisconsin opened with a 13β0 win over Lawrence College, Michigan beat Case 34β0, and Chicago beat Indiana 13β0. Texas defeated TCU 30β10. Vanderbilt scored in triple digits again. But was scored upon, in a 100β3 win over Maryville College. Georgia beat Chattanooga 33β0 and Auburn beat Mercer 56β0 in a game at Columbus, "Georgia."
October 12 Harvard defeated Williams 26β3, Yale beat Lafayette 16β0, Princeton beat Virginia Tech 31β0, and Dartmouth defeated Vermont 55β0. Penn State beat Washington & Jefferson 30β0, Carlisle won at Syracuse 33β0, Lehigh won at Navy, 14β0 and Swarthmore won at Penn 6β3. Georgetown beat Washington & Lee, 20β0
Vanderbilt beat visiting Rose-Hulman Institute 54β0. Georgia beat The Citadel 33β0. Auburn beat visiting Florida 27β13. Wisconsin beat Northwestern 56β0 and Michigan defeated Michigan State 55β7.
October 19 Yale won at Army, 16β0, Dartmouth won at Williams 21β0, Harvard beat Amherst 46β0, and Princeton beat Syracuse 62β0 and "as all four Ivy teams stayed unbeaten." Penn State won at Cornell 29β6, Carlisle won at Pittsburgh 45β8, and Swarthmore won at Annapolis, defeating Navy 21β6, to stay unbeaten. Georgetown won at North Carolina State, 48β0.
Vanderbilt and Georgia met in Atlanta. Vandy handed the Bulldogs their only loss in a 46β0 drubbing. Sewanee beat Chattanooga 27β0, and Auburn defeated Clemson 27β6. After warmup wins over Daniel Baker College. And Trinity College, Texas A&M beat Arkansas 27β0 in a game at Dallas. In another game at Dallas, Texas lost to Oklahoma, 21β6. Wisconsin beat Purdue 41β0, Michigan won at Ohio State 14β0, and Chicago defeated Iowa 34β14.
October 26 Princeton (6β0β0) hosted Dartmouth (5β0β0) and won 22β7. Harvard defeated Brown 30β10 and Yale beat Washington & Jefferson, 13β3. Penn State beat visiting Gettysburg College 25β0 and Swarthmore beat Villanova 27β0.
In an intersectional game, Michigan lost at Syracuse 18β7. Vanderbilt beat Ole Miss 24β0 in Nashville, and Sewanee beat Tennessee 33β6 at Chattanooga. In Birmingham, Auburn defeated Mississippi State, 7β0.
Carlisle won at Georgetown, 34β20, followed two days later by, a game in Toronto in a 49β7 win against the "Toronto All-Stars". At Philadelphia, Penn State beat Pennsylvania, 22β6. Chicago beat Purdue 7β0. In Columbus, Georgia, Georgia beat Alabama 13β9.
Novemberβ»
November 2 In a matchup of unbeatens, Harvard (5β0β0) hosted Princeton (6β0β0). Charles Brickley of Harvard intercepted two passes and kicked a 47βyard field goal and set up a touchdown for Harvard in its 16β6 win
Carlisle won its 9th game, staying unbeaten with a 34β14 win over Lehigh. Yale defeated Brown 10β0 and Dartmouth beat Amherst 60β0.
Georgetown beat North Carolina 37β10 in a game played in Richmond, Virginia. Swarthmore beat Ursinus 22β0 Michigan narrowly beat visiting South Dakota, 7β6. In Philadelphia, Penn State beat Penn 14β0.
Wisconsin beat Chicago 30β12 and Purdue beat Northwestern 21β6. Georgia and Sewanee played to a 13β13 tie. Vanderbilt stayed unbeaten with a 13β0 win over Virginia. Auburn won at Georgia Tech 27β7. Texas won at Baylor 19β7.
November 9 In an intersectional meeting between the best teams of the East and the South, Harvard hosted Vanderbilt. Going into the contest, both teams had records of 6β0β0, and Vanderbilt had outscored its opponents 342β3. Harvard played all of its substitutes, and scored a touchdown and a field goal in a 9β3 game to give Vandy its only loss of the season.
Carlisle visited West Point, beating Army 27β6, as Jim Thorpe scored three touchdowns and three extra points, and Alex Arcasa scored two more TDs. Army halfback (and future American president) Dwight D. Eisenhower was injured while tackling Thorpe. Eisenhower, who was described in the press as someone "who hits the line harder than any other man on the Army team" played his last game the following week against Tufts University.
Lehigh won at previously unbeaten (6β0β0) Swarthmore 3β0. Wisconsin beat visiting Arkansas 64β7, Michigan lost at Penn, 27β21, Chicago beat Northwestern 3β0, and Purdue and visiting Illinois played to a 9β9 tie.
Penn State beat Villanova 71β0, Princeton beat NYU 54β0, and Dartmouth beat Amherst 60β0. In Augusta, Georgia, Georgia beat Clemson 27β6 and in Atlanta, Sewanee beat Georgia Tech 7β0. Auburn defeated LSU 7β0 in a game played at Mobile. In a game at Houston, Texas A&M beat Oklahoma 28β6. Texas beat Ole Miss 53β14 in a Wednesday game at Houston.
November 16 Harvard beat Dartmouth at home, 3β0. Yale (7β0β0) traveled to Princeton (7β1β0) and the teams played to a 6β6 tie. In Philadelphia, Carlisle (10β0β1) suffered its first loss, falling to Penn, 34β26. Swarthmore narrowly beat Bucknell, 14β13. Penn State beat Ohio State in Columbus, 37β0. Michigan beat Cornell 20β7 to close its season at 5β2β0 Georgetown beat Virginia 16β13.
Wisconsin won at Minnesota 14β0 and Chicago won at Illinois 10β0. Vanderbilt beat Centre 23β0. Georgia beat Georgia Tech in Atlanta, 20β0 Sewanee and Alabama played to a 6β6 tie in Birmingham. Texas A&M beat Mississippi State 41β7 at Houston, and beat Tulane three days later, 41β0, to extend its record to 7β0β0.
November 23 At the Yale campus in New Haven, Harvard (8β0β0) faced Yale (7β0β1) to wrap up the season. Harvard's 20β0 win left it one of three teams that was unbeaten and untied. Wisconsin closed a perfect season with a 28β10 win at Iowa, to finish 7β0β0. Purdue beat Indiana 34β7 and Chicago won 7β0 over visiting Minnesota. Carlisle won at Springfield College, 30β24. Lehigh won at Lafayette 10β0 Swarthmore closed its season with a 0β0 tie at Dickinson. In Birmingham, Vanderbilt (7β1β0) and Auburn (6β0β0) played to a 7β7 tie. Texas A&M (7β0β0) beat Kansas State 13β10 and Texas defeated Southwestern 28β3.
November 28, Thanksgiving Day, Penn State closed its season with a 38β0 win at Pittsburgh, to finish 8β0β0. Vanderbilt (8β0β1) defeated visiting previously unbeaten Sewanee (5β0β2), winning 16β0. Georgia defeated previously unbeaten Auburn 12β6. Carlisle closed its season with a 32β0 win at Brown. Georgetown beat Virginia Tech 24β3 to close its season at 8β1β0. Texas A&M finished its season in Dallas with a 53β0 win over Baylor, and Texas closed its season with a 48β0 win over visiting Arkansas. Lehigh won at Franklin & Marshall, 29β0.
Conference standingsβ»
Major conference standingsβ»
For this article, major conferences defined as those including multiple state flagship public universities.
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Independentsβ»
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Minor conferencesβ»
Conference | Champion(s) | Record |
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Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association | Howard | 3β0 |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference | Kansas State Agricultural | 5β0 |
Louisiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Unknown | β |
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association | Alma | 3β0 |
Ohio Athletic Conference | Ohio State | 5β0 |
Minor conference standingsβ»
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Awards and honorsβ»
All-Americansβ»
The consensus All-America team included:
Position | Name | Height | Weight (lbs.) | Class | Hometown | Team |
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QB | George Crowther | Sr. | Fitchburg, Massachusetts | Brown | ||
HB | Charles Brickley | 5'10" | 181 | So. | Everett, Massachusetts | Harvard |
HB | Jim Thorpe | 6'1" | 190 | Sr. | Shawnee, Oklahoma | Carlisle |
FB | Leroy Mercer | 5'11" | 175 | Sr. | Kennett Square, Pennsylvania | Penn |
E | Doug Bomeisler | 5'11" | 190 | Sr. | Brooklyn, New York | Yale |
T | Wesley Englehorn | Sr. | Spokane, Washington | Dartmouth | ||
G | Stan Pennock | 5'8" | 193 | So. | Syracuse, New York | Harvard |
C | Hank Ketcham | 6'0" | 175 | Jr. | Englewood, New Jersey | Yale |
G | John Logan | Sr. | Brooklyn, New York | Princeton | ||
T | Bob Butler | 5'10" | 200 | Jr. | Glen Ridge, New Jersey | Wisconsin |
E | Sam Felton | Sr. | Harvard |
Statistical leadersβ»
- Team scoring most points: Carlisle, 454
- Team scoring most points by margin: Vanderbilt, 391 to 19
- Player scoring most points: Jim Thorpe, Carlisle, 224
- Player scoring most touchdowns: Jim Thorpe, 29
- Total offense leader: Jim Thorpe, 1972
- Rushing yards leader: Jim Thorpe, 1869+
- Rushing avg. leader: Jim Thorpe, 9.8
Referencesβ»
- ^ Danzig, Allison (1956). The History of American Football: Its Great Teams, Players, and Coaches. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. pp. 70β71.
- ^ "Football Scores", Reading (PA) Eagle, September 22, 1912, p. 9
- ^ "The Salt Lake Tribune", Sept. 22, 1912, Sports, p2
- ^ "Harvard Beats Tigers, 16 to 6," Syracuse Herald, November 3, 1912, pS-2
- ^ "Great Showing By Vandy Against Harvard Crimson," The Atlanta Constitution, Nov. 10, 1912, pS-1
- ^ "Thorpe's Work Helps Carlisle Down Army," The Indianapolis Star, Nov. 10, 1912, p42
- ^ "Army Eleven Active," Gazette And Bulletin (Williamsport, Pa.), Nov. 27, 1912, p6