# 1890 college football season

The 1890 college football season was the season of American football played among colleges and universities in the United States during the 1890–91 academic year.
The 1890 Harvard Crimson football team compiled a perfect 11–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 555 to 12, 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 Midwest, the Baker Methodists defeated the Kansas Jayhawks by a score of 22–9 in the first college football game played in Kansas. In the South, Vanderbilt Commodores defeated Nashville (Peabody), 40–0, in the first college football game played in Tennessee.
As the popularity of the sport increased, several notable programs were established in 1890, including Ohio State,Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Vanderbilt.
All eleven players selected by Caspar Whitney for the 1890 All-America college football team came from the Big Three (Harvard Princeton, and Yale). Three of the honorees have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: Harvard's great tackle Marshall "Ma" Newell, Yale's guard Pudge Heffelfinger, and Yale's halfback Thomas "Bum" McClung.

## Conference and program changes

| School | 1889 Conference | 1890 Conference |
| Army Black Knights | Program established | Independent |
| Butler Bulldogs | Independent | IIAA |
| Colorado Silver and Gold | Program established | Independent |
| DePauw Tigers | Independent | IIAA |
| Earlham Hustlin' Quakers | Independent | IIAA |
| Hanover Panthers | Independent | IIAA |
| Illinois Illini | Program Established | Independent |
| Indiana State Normal Sycamores | Independent | IIAA |
| Indiana Hoosiers | Independent | IIAA |
| Kansas Jayhawks | Program Established | Independent |
| Missouri Tigers | Program Established | Independent |
| Nashville | Program Established | Independent |
| Nebraska Old Gold Knights | Program Established | Independent |
| Ohio State Buckeyes | Program Established | Independent |
| Purdue Boilermakers | Independent | IIAA |
| Rose Polytechnic Engineers | Independent | IIAA |
| Vanderbilt football | Program Established | Independent |
| Wabash Little Giants | Independent | IIAA |
| Western Reserve football | Program established | Independent |

## Awards and honors
### All-Americans

The consensus All-America team included:
| Position | Name | Height | Weight (lbs.) | Class | Hometown | Team |
| QB | Dudley Dean | | | Sr. | Lake Village, New Hampshire | Harvard |
| HB | Bum McClung | 5'10" | 165 | Jr. | Knoxville, Tennessee | Yale |
| HB | John J. Corbett | | | Fr. | Boston, Massachusetts | Harvard |
| FB | Sheppard Homans, Jr. | | | Jr. | Englewood, New Jersey | Princeton |
| E | Frank Hallowell | | | So. | Medford, Massachusetts | Harvard |
| T | Marshall Newell | 5'7" | 168 | Fr. | Great Barrington, Massachusetts | Harvard |
| G | Pudge Heffelfinger | 6'4" | 178 | Jr. | Minneapolis, Minnesota | Yale |
| C | John Cranston | | | Sr. | Sheridan, New York | Harvard |
| G | Jesse Riggs | | | Jr. | Baltimore, Maryland | Princeton |
| T | William Rhodes | | | Sr. | Cleveland, Ohio | Yale |
| E | Ralph Warren | | | Jr. | Montclair, New Jersey | Princeton |

### Statistical leaders

* Player scoring most points: Philip King, Princeton, 145

## Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:
1890 Colorado Football Association standings :
| 1890 Colorado Football Association standings vteConfOverall TeamW L TW L T Colorado Mines $ 3 –0 –06 –0 –0 Denver 2 –1 –03 –2 –0 Colorado College 1 –2 –02 –3 –0 Colorado 0 –3 –01 –6 –0 $ – Conference champion | 1890 Eastern Intercollegiate Football Association standings vteConfOverall TeamW L TW L T Williams $ 4 –0 –08 –2 –0 Amherst 3 –1 –07 –6 –1 Dartmouth 1 –2 –04 –4 –0 MIT 0 –2 –03 –4 –2 Bowdoin 0 –3 –04 –4 –0 $ – Conference champion | 1890 Indiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings vteConfOverall TeamW L TW L T Butler $ 3 –0 –13 –0 –1 Purdue 2 –1 –03 –3 –0 Wabash 0 –3 –00 –3 –0 $ – Conference champion |

### Independents

1890 Eastern college football independents records :
| 1890 Eastern college football independents records vteConfOverall TeamW L TW L T Harvard   –  11 –0 –0 Yale   –  13 –1 –0 Princeton   –  11 –1 –1 Franklin & Marshall   –  8 –2 –0 Navy   –  5 –1 –1 Penn   –  11 –3 –0 Washington & Jefferson   –  2 –1 –0 Cornell   –  7 –4 –0 Syracuse   –  7 –4 –0 Springfield YMCA   –  5 –3 –0 Lehigh   –  6 –4 –0 Rutgers   –  5 –5 –1 Penn State   –  2 –2 –0 Colgate   –  1 –1 –0 Wesleyan   –  5 –6 –0 Tufts   –  2 –3 –0 NYU   –  2 –4 –0 Western Univ. Penn   –  1 –2 –0 Lafayette   –  2 –5 –1 Brown   –  2 –5 –0 Bucknell   –  1 –4 –1 Fordham   –  1 –3 –1 Massachusetts   –  1 –4 –0 Columbia   –  1 –5 –1 Army   –  0 –1 –0 Geneva   –  0 –1 –0 | 1890 Midwestern college football independents records vteConfOverall TeamW L TW L T Nebraska   –  2 –0 –0 Washington University   –  2 –0 –0 Minnesota   –  5 –1 –1 Michigan   –  4 –1 –0 Northwestern   –  4 –1 –1 Missouri   –  2 –1 –0 Cincinnati   –  2 –1 –1 Lake Forest   –  5 –3 –0 Baker   –  1 –1 –0 Iowa   –  1 –1 –0 Illinois   –  1 –2 –0 Kansas   –  1 –2 –0 Ohio Wesleyan   –  1 –3 –0 Wisconsin   –  1 –3 –0 Ohio State   –  1 –4 –0 Doane   –  0 –1 –0 Washburn   –  0 –1 –0 Western Reserve   –  0 –3 –0 | 1890 Southern college football independents records vteConfOverall TeamW L TW L T Furman   –  2 –0 –0 Vanderbilt   –  1 –0 –0 Virginia   –  5 –2 –0 Navy   –  5 –1 –1 Delaware   –  3 –2 –0 Georgetown   –  3 –3 –1 Columbian   –  2 –3 –0 Johns Hopkins   –  0 –1 –0 Nashville   –  0 –1 –0 Trinity (NC)   –  0 –1 –0 Richmond   –  0 –3 –0 | 1890 Far West college football independents records vteConfOverall TeamW L TW L T California   –  4 –0 –0 Washington   –  0 –0 –1 Colorado   –  0 –4 –0 |