American college football season
The 1928 football season had both the: USC Trojans and theββGeorgia Tech Golden Tornado claim national championships. USC was recognized as champions under the Dickinson System, but the Rose Bowl was contested between the "No." 2 and "No." 3 Dickinson-rated teams, "California and Georgia Tech." The game was decided by, a safety scored after Roy "Wrong Way" Riegels ran 65 yards in the wrong direction. Vance Maree blocked the ensuing punt which gave Georgia Tech a safety deciding the 8β7 win.
The Florida Gators led the nation in scoring as a team, led by its "Phantom Four" backfield, with 336 points. They were remembered by many sports commentators as the best Florida football team until at least the 1960s. NYU halfback Ken Strong led the nation in scoring as an individual, "with 162 points." And tallied some 3,000 total yards from scrimmage.
Conference and program changesβ»
Conference changesβ»
- Six conferences began play in 1928:
- One conference played its final season in 1928:
Membership changesβ»
Septemberβ»
September 29β»
Army beat Boston University 35β0.
New York University (NYU) beat Niagara College 21β0.
Pennsylvania def Ursinus 34β0.
California beat Santa Clara 22β0 and USC beat Utah State, 40β12.
Texas beat its crosstown neighbor, Austin's St. Edward's College, 32β0.
Octoberβ»
October 6β»
Nebraska opened its season with a 12β0 win at Iowa State.
Army narrowly beat the visiting SMU Mustangs, 14β13.
NYU beat West Virginia Wesleyan, 26β7.
Pennsylvania def. Franklin & Marshall 46β0. Texas beat Texas Tech 12β0.
After losing 2 games out of 3ββto non-college opponents, Stanford won at Oregon 26β12; USC beat visiting Oregon State 19β0. California beat St. Mary's, 7β0
Wisconsin beat visiting Notre Dame, 22β6. Georgia Tech beat VMI, 13β0. Illinois beat Bradley, 33β6. Iowa played a Sunday game against Monmouth College, winning 26β0.
October 13β»
Stanford beat visiting UCLA 45β7, and California beat Washington State, 13β3. USC defeated St. Mary's, 19β6.
In New Orleans, Georgia Tech beat Tulane, 12β0, and in Dallas, Texas narrowly lost to Vanderbilt, 13β12.
Pennsylvania shut out Swarthmore 67β0.
NYU defeated Fordham* 34β7.
Army shut out Providence 44β0. Nebraska beat Montana State, 26β6.
Iowa won at Chicago, 13β0, while Illinois hosted Iowa's Coe College, winning 31β0
Wisconsin hosted Cornell College of Iowa, and North Dakota State University, with the varsity winning the first game 49β0, and the reserves beating the Dakotans 13β7.
October 20β»
In Berkeley, California and USC played to a 0β0 tie. With the exception of this game, USC played all of its other contests at home in Los Angeles in 1928.
Georgia Tech shut out Notre Dame at home, 13β0.
Army won at Harvard 15β0.
NYU beat Rutgers* 48β0.
Pennsylvania recorded its fourth shutout, beating Penn State 14β0.
In San Francisco, Stanford beat Idaho, 47β0.
Wisconsin and Purdue tied 19β19, and Illinois beat Indiana 13β7. Iowa beat Ripon College, 61β6. Nebraska edged visiting Syracuse, 7β6. Texas beat Arkansas, 20β7.
After its first two wins over Ashland College (65β0) and Thiel (38β13), Carnegie Tech beat Washington & Jefferson, 19β0.
October 27β»
Army won at Yale, 18β6.
NYU beat Colgate 47β6.
Pennsylvania (4β0β0) was upset by (1β3β0) Navy, 6β0. Prior to that, Penn had outscored its opponents 161β0. USC beat Occidental 19β0.
Stanford beat Fresno State, 47β0.
Wisconsin won at Michigan, 7β0, and Iowa beat Minnesota, 7β6, while Illinois beat Northwestern 6β0.
Carnegie Tech beat Pittsburgh, 6β0. Georgia Tech yielded its first points, winning at North Carolina, 20β7. Nebraska shut out Missouri, 24β0, and Texas won at Rice, 13β6. California lost to the Olympic Club of San Francisco, 12β0. Olympic, nominally an amateur team of former college players, had beaten Stanford 12β6 earlier.
Novemberβ»
November 3β»
In Los Angeles, USC (4β0β1) and Stanford (5β2β0) met, with the Trojans winning 10β0.
Wisconsin beat visiting Alabama, 15β0, while 4β0β0 Illinois suffered its first loss, at Michigan, 3β0.
California beat Oregon, 13β0. Nebraska won at Kansas, 20β0. Texas lost to visiting SMU, 6β2.
Pennsylvania won at Chicago, 20β13.
NYU and Georgetown University, both 5β0β0, with the Hoyas winning 7β2.
Army beat Indiana's DePauw College, 38β12. Iowa defeated visiting South Dakota, 19β0.
Carnegie Tech extended its streak, with a 32β0 win over Westminster College of Pennsylvania, and Georgia Tech beat visiting Oglethorpe College 32β7.
November 10β»
Army (6β0β0) hosted Notre Dame(4β2β0). A crowd of 90,000 packed the stands while 5,000 others in the Bronx watched from roofs and fire escapes within view of Yankee Stadium. Though the Fighting Irish weren't having good year, the score was 0β0 when Knute Rockne inspired his team at halftime by relating George Gipp's deathbed wish ("When the team's up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys—tell them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper"). Though Army scored a touchdown in the third quarter, touchdowns by Jack Chevigny and Johnny O'Brien gave the Irish a 12β6 lead. In the final minute, Army drove to within one foot of the goal line. But the whistle sounded before the Cadets could snap the ball.
In the New York Daily News the following Monday, reporter Francis Wallace first related the story in an article entitled, "Gipp's Ghost Beat Army."
The big game in the South was in Atlanta, where Vanderbilt (6β0β0) visited Georgia Tech (5β0β0), and the home team won 19β7. Texas won at Baylor, 6β0.
Wisconsin defeated Chicago, 25β0, and Iowa won at Ohio State, 14β7. In Indianapolis, Illinois beat Butler, 14β0.
Pennsylvania won at Harvard, 7β0 NYU beat Alfred University, 71β0. USC beat Arizona, 78β7, Stanford beat Santa Clara 31β0, and California won at Washington, 6β0. Carnegie Tech won at Georgetown, 13β7.
Nebraska, which had not played Oklahoma during the last two seasons, renewed a rivalry that became one of the most notable in college football. Playing at Oklahoma, the Cornhuskers won 44β6.
November 17β»
Iowa (6β0β0) hosted Wisconsin (6β0β1) in a meeting of unbeatens, with the visitors handing the Hawkeyes their first loss, 13β0. Illinois won at Chicago, 40β0.
Georgia Tech beat Alabama at home, 33β13.
Nebraska (6β0β0) hosted the (5β2β0) Pitt Panthers, and were tied, 0β0.
Pennsylvania beat Columbia 34β7 NYU beat Missouri, 27β6. Army beat Carleton, 32β7. Texas beat a strong TCU team, 6β0.
USC won again, defeating Washington State, 27β13, while Stanford beat Washington, 12β0, California rolled over visiting Nevada, 60β0.
(6β0β0) Carnegie Tech won at (5β2β0) Notre Dame, 27β7.
November 24β»
Carnegie Tech (7β0β0) and NYU (7β1β0) met at Pittsburgh. The Violets handed Tech its first defeat, 27β13. Ken Strong gained widespread fame. He threw two long touchdown passes, rushed for two touchdowns, and kicked three extra points, leading Grantland Rice to write:
This attack was led by a runaway buffalo, using the speed of a deer, and his name was Ken Strong. He ran all over a big, powerful team, smashed its line, ran its ends, kicked 50 and 55 yards, threw passes and tackled all over the lot. Today he was George Gipp, Red Grange and Chris Cagle rolled into one human form and there was nothing Carnegie Tech had that could stop his march.
Carnegie Tech coach Walter Steffen said of Strong's performance: "This is: the first time in my career that one man was good enough to run over and completely wreck an exceptionally good team. I can tell you he is better than Heston/Thorpe."
Georgia Tech crushed visiting Auburn, 51β0. Auburn won only 1 of its 9 games, and scored in only two of those contests.
Army (7β1β0) and Nebraska (6β0β1) met at West Point, with the Cadets beating the visiting Cornhuskers, 13β3.
Stanford and California tied at Berkeley, 13β13. USC beat Idaho, 28β7.
November 29β»
On Thanksgiving Day, Pennsylvania beat Cornell 49β0. Overall, the Penn Quakers had outscored their opponents 271 to 26, and finished 8β1β0. NYU closed its season with a 25β13 loss to visiting Oregon State, and finished 8β2β0.
Wisconsin hosted Minnesota, and suffered its first loss, a 6β0 defeat, to close at 7β1β1. After starting the season 6β0, Iowa closed with a second loss, at Michigan, 10β7, to finish 6β2β0. Illinois closed at 7β1β0 after beating visiting Ohio State, 8β0. Nebraska closed its season with an 8β0 win over Kansas State, and Texas wrapped with a 19β0 win over Texas A&M.
December 1β»
Army and Stanford met at Yankee Stadium, with Stanford shutting the Cadets out, 26β0. In Los Angeles, USC hosted Notre Dame, winning 27β14, to close its season at 9β0β1.
December 8β»
Georgia Tech hosted Georgia and won 20–6, closing regular play at 9–0, before the Yellow Jackets' trip to the Rose Bowl. The Jackets finished 7–0 in Southern Conference play, assuring themselves of at least a share of the conference title.
In one of the final games of the 1928 season, once-tied Tennessee hosted unbeaten Florida in Knoxville. For coach Charlie Bachman's Florida Gators, a share of the Southern Conference title was at stake; coach Robert Neyland's Tennessee Volunteers were playing for pride. Tennessee edged Florida, 13–12. Florida finished 8–1, Tennessee 9–0–1, and unbeaten and untied Georgia Tech won the conference championship outright.
Rose Bowlβ»
As the lone post-season college football game, the Rose Bowl matched the California Golden Bears, co-champions (with USC) of the Pacific Coast Conference, against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, nicknamed the "Golden Tornado" as well as the "champions of the South". In the second quarter, the Jackets were on their own 25 yard line, when Warner Mizell fumbled the football. Playing linebacker, California center Roy Riegels scooped up the fumble at the 34 and dashed, unimpeded, toward the end zone. Unfortunately, Riegels had gotten turned around and ran downfield toward the California goal. Though Riegels was not tackled in his own end zone, California chose to punt from there on first down, and Benny Lom's kick was blocked by Tech's Tom Jones, and Cal's Stan Barr fell on the ball for the safety. Georgia Tech's 2β0 lead at halftime was extended to 8β0 after Stumpy Thomason ran for 15 yards for a score, and the conversion failed. Lom's pass to Irv Phillips, and Barr's extra point, made it 8β7 with a minute left. An onside kick attempt failed, and Georgia Tech ran out the clock to win the other national championship.
Conference standingsβ»
For this article, major conferences defined as those including multiple state flagship public universities.
Major conference standingsβ»
Independentsβ»
Minor conferencesβ»
Minor conference standingsβ»
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1928 Wisconsin State Teachers College Conference football standings
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Conf |
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Overall
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Team |
W |
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L |
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T |
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W |
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L |
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T
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β»] +
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3
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– |
0
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– |
1 |
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5
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– |
0
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– |
1
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β»] +
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3
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– |
0
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– |
1 |
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6
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– |
0
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– |
2
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β»] +
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3
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– |
0
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– |
2 |
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5
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– |
1
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– |
2
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β»]
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3
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– |
1
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– |
1 |
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5
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– |
1
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– |
1
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β»]
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2
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– |
1
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– |
1 |
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4
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– |
1
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– |
1
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β»]
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2
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– |
2
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– |
0 |
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4
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– |
2
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– |
2
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β»]
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2
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– |
2
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– |
1 |
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3
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– |
2
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– |
1
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β»]
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1
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– |
4
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1 |
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2
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– |
5
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– |
1
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β»]
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0
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– |
4
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– |
0 |
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0
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– |
5
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– |
0
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β»]
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0
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– |
5
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– |
0 |
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0
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– |
6
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– |
0
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- + – Conference co-champions
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Dickinson Systemβ»
The AP sportswriters' poll would not begin continuously until 1936. (although, the first time was a one instance publishing in 1934) Frank G. Dickinson, an economics professor at the University of Illinois, had invented the Dickinson System to rank colleges based upon their records and the strength of their opposition. The system was originally designed to rank teams in the Big Nine (later the Big Ten) conference. Chicago clothing manufacturer Jack Rissman then persuaded Dickinson to rank the nation's teams under the system, and awarded the Rissman Trophy to the winning university.
The system awarded 30 points for a win over a "strong team", and 20 for a win over a "weak team". Losses were awarded points (15 for loss to a strong team, 10 for loss to a weak team). Ties were treated as half a win and half a loss (22.5 for a tie with a strong team, 15 for a tie with a weak team). An average was then derived by dividing the points by games played.
Final Dickinson rankingsβ»
Professor Dickinson concluded that the University of Southern California Trojans were "the national football champions of America for 1928". Unbeaten and untied Georgia Tech was ranked third because, Dickinson said, "its schedule was easier than the other contenders". On January 4, 1929, the Jack F. Rissman national intercollegiate trophy was presented by Professor Dickinson to the USC football squad, and Coach Howard Jones, at a student rally on the Los Angeles campus. For the benefit of the crowd, Dickinson added "that even had he taken into consideration the victory of Georgia Tech over California on New Year's Day that the University of Southern California would have still be, rated at the top," though Georgia Tech would have ranked second instead of third after its Rose Bowl win
Awards and honorsβ»
All-Americansβ»
The consensus All-America team included:
Position
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Name
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Height
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Weight (lbs.)
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Class
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Hometown
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Team
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QB
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Howard Harpster
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6'1"
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160
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Sr.
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Salem, Ohio
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Carnegie Tech
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HB
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Chris Cagle
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5'9"
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167
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Jr.
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De Ridder, Louisiana
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Army
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HB
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Chuck Carroll
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6'0"
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190
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Sr.
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Seattle, Washington
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Washington
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HB
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Paul Scull
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5'8"
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185
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Sr.
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Lower Merion, Pennsylvania
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Penn
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FB
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Ken Strong
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6'1"
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201
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Sr.
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West Haven, Connecticut
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NYU
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E
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Irvine Phillips
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6'1"
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188
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Sr.
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Salinas, California
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California
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T
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Otto Pommerening
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5'11"
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178
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Sr.
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
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Michigan
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G
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Seraphim Post
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6'0"
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190
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Jr.
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Berkeley, California
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Stanford
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G
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Don Robesky
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5'11"
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198
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Sr.
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Bakersfield, California
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Stanford
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C
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Peter Pund
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6'0"
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182
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Sr.
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Augusta, Georgia
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Georgia Tech
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G
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Edward Burke
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6'0"
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180
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Sr.
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Larksville, Pennsylvania
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Navy
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T
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Mike Getto
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6'2"
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198
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Sr.
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Irwin, Pennsylvania
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Pittsburgh
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E
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Wes Fesler
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6'0"
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185
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So.
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Youngstown, Ohio
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Ohio State
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Statistical leadersβ»
- Team scoring most points: Florida, 336 to 44.
- Player scoring most points: Ken Strong, NYU, 162
- Total offense leader: Ken Strong, NYU, 3000
Referencesβ»
- ^ "Dickinson Rating Gives U.S.C. National Grid Title," The Salt Lake Tribune, December 9, 1928, p21
- ^ Mark Purcell. "A Strong year at NYU" (PDF). College Football Historical Society. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 16, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- ^ "Notre Dame Upsets West Point in Sensational Duel," Syracuse Herald, November 11, 1928, p. XX-1.
- ^ Murray A. Sperber, Shake Down the Thunder: The Creation of Notre Dame Football (Indiana U., 2002), p. 285.
- ^ "A Football Giant and More: Strong Made Name As Two-Sport Star (part 1)". Hartford Courant. December 16, 1999. p. C1 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ken Strong Rated Greatest Player In Football History". The Baltimore Sun. September 6, 1939. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Lone Mistake Costs California Victory," Oakland Tribune, January 2, 1929, p20
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- ^ Herschel Nissenson Tales From College Football's Sidelines (Sports Publishing LLC, 2001), p93.
- ^ "The Dickinson system awards 30 points for a victory over a strong team, and 20 for victory over a weak team. Defeats count half as much as victories, and ties are consideredas games half won and half lost. Dividing this total by the number of games played gives the final rating, "ILLINOIS BEST FOOTBALL TEAM OF YEAR," The Syracuse Herald, Dec. 4, 1927, p23
- ^ "Trojans Awarded Rissman Trophy For Nation's Best Grid Eleven," The Helena (Mont.) Independent Jan. 8, 1929, p8