1889 college football season


The 1889 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1889–90 academic year.
The 1889 Princeton Tigers football team, led by team captain Edgar Allen Poe, compiled a perfect 10–0 record and was recognized as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H. Davis.
In the South, defeated Furman in the first intercollegiate game played in the state of South Carolina. The game featured no uniforms, no positions, and the rules were formulated before the game.
As the popularity of the program increased, new football programs were established in 1889 at Iowa and Washington.
All eleven players selected by Caspar Whitney for the first All-America college football team came from the Big Three. Four of the honorees have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: fullback Knowlton Ames, end Amos Alonzo Stagg, tackle Hector Cowan, and guard Pudge Heffelfinger.

Conference and program changes

School1888 Conference1889 Conference
Delaware footballProgram establishedIndependent
Iowa College PioneersProgram establishedIndependent
State University of Iowa HawkeyesProgram establishedIndependent
Washington footballProgram establishedIndependent

Awards and honors

All-Americans

The consensus All-America team included:
PositionNameHeightWeight ClassHometownTeam
QBEdgar Allan PoeJr.Baltimore, MarylandPrinceton
HBRoscoe Channing141Sr.New York, New YorkPrinceton
HBJames P. LeeJr.New York, New YorkHarvard
FBSnake Ames5'10"157Sr.Chicago, IllinoisPrinceton
EAmos Alonzo StaggSr.West Orange, New JerseyYale
THector CowanSr.Hobart, New YorkPrinceton
GPudge Heffelfinger6'4"178So.Minneapolis, MinnesotaYale
CWilliam GeorgeSr.Princeton
GJohn CranstonJr.Sheridan, New YorkHarvard
TCharles O. GillSr.Walpole, MassachusettsYale
EArthur CumnockJr.Danielson, ConnecticutHarvard

Statistical leaders

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

Independents