1908 college football season The 1908 college football season ran from Saturday , September 19 , until November 28 . The Quakers of the University of Pennsylvania and the Crimson of Harvard University finished the season unbeaten , though each had been tied once during the season . The Tigers of Louisiana State University ( LSU ) went unbeaten and untied against a weaker opposition . Both teams were named national champions retroactively by various organizations . Both Pennsylvania and Harvard claim a national championship for this season ; Harvard had the stronger strength - of - schedule . Although there was no provision for a national championship , major teams played their regular schedules before facing their most difficult matches late in the season . " The real championship contests are ushered in with the month of November , " the " New York Times " reported on September 6 , " and on the seventh day of that month the final try - outs will be witnessed . " The most eagerly anticipated games were Yale at Princeton ( November 14 ) and Harvard at Yale ( November 21 ) . In addition , " intersectional games " were of special interest , with Cornell at Chicago , and Penn at Michigan . Rules . " With the modernized plays that are being brought into the game , " noted one writer , " football is , in its present state , the national game in the fall the same as baseball in the summer . " . Rules for the forward pass , which had been legalized only two years earlier , were modified , and passing was still a risky play . " If the ball on the forward pass is touched and then freed , and is touched by another player on the passer ' s side , it will be given to the opponents at the point where the ball was illegally touched , " and it was noted that the rule change was to stop the practice of a passer throwing the ball high " with the hopes that some one of his teammates would get the ball in the general scramble that followed , " . In addition , halftime was extended from ten minutes to fifteen The rules for American football in 1908 were significantly different than the ones of a century later , as many of the present rules ( 100 yard field , four downs to gain ten yards , 6 - point touchdown and the 3 - point field goal ) would not be adopted until 1912 . The rules in 1908 were : September . On September 19 , Brown defeated New Hampshire 34 - 0 , and Carlisle had a practice game against its prep school program , Conway Hall . Carlisle played its first college opponent on September 23 , with a 39 - 0 win over Lebanon Valley on Wednesday afternoon . On September 26 , in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania defeated West Virginia 6 - 0 by completing two forward passes to score a touchdown with five minutes left in " oppressively warm " weather in Philadelphia Carlisle beat Villanova 10 - 0 ; and Vanderbilt beat Southwestern Presbyterian 11 - 5 . September 30 In Wednesday afternoon games , Harvard struggled as it opened the season with a 5 - 0 win over Bowdoin , scoring on a touchdown in the second half . " Harvard tried the forward pass , line plunges and end runs , but showed poor team work , " a dispatch from Cambridge noted . Dartmouth defeated Vermont , 11 - 0 , Yale defeated Wesleyan 16 - 0 , Brown beat Bates , 35 - 4 , and Penn defeated Ursinus , 30 - 0 . October . October 3 , Harvard beat Maine , 16 - 0 and Penn defeated Bucknell by the same score . Yale was held to a touchdown by Syracuse , 6 - 0 . Annapolis defeated Rutgers 18 - 0 , and beat St . John ' s 22 - 0 the following day , while West Point beat Tufts 5 - 0 . Cornell beat Hamilton College , 11 - 0 . Princeton beat the Springfield Training School , 18 - 0 , to raise its record to 2 - 0 - 1 . Dartmouth defeated Massachusetts Agricultural , 28 - 0 . Further west , Carlisle and State University ( later referred to as Penn State ) met at Wilkes - Barre , PA , with Carlisle winning 12 - 5 . Pittsburgh defeating little Mount Union College ( now a Division III school , from Athens , Ohio ) , 34 - 4 . Michigan beat Case , 16 - 6 . Chicago beat Purdue , 39 - 0 . Wooster College defeated Ohio State 8 - 0 . In the South , Tennessee beat North Carolina , 12 - 0 and Auburn beat Howard College ( not to be confused with Howard University ) , 18 - 0 . Georgia Tech defeated Gordon College , 32 - 0 . At the end of the first Saturday in October , seven schools remained unbeaten , untied and unscored upon against college oppoinents : Harvard and Penn , both at 3 - 0 - 0 ; Yale , Annapolis ( Navy ) and Cornell , at 2 - 0 - 0 ; the University of Chicago , Auburn , and Tennessee . October 10 Following a Wednesday ( Oct . 7 ) afternoon win over Villanova ( 11 - 0 ) , Penn beat State College ( Penn State ) 6 - 0 . Harvard defeated Williams , 10 - 0 . Annapolis won 22 - 0 over Dickinson , and West Point beat Tufts , 33 - 0 . Cornell dropped from the ranks of the unscored upon , but defeated Oberlin , 23 - 10 . Yale beat Holy Cross , 18 - 0 . Further west , Chicago was scored on in its 29 - 6 win over Indiana . In Buffalo , Carlisle defeated Syracuse , 12 - 0 . Pittsburgh beat Marietta College 7 - 0 . At East Lansing , Michigan and Michigan State played to a 0 - 0 tie , and Princeton and Lafayette played a scoreless draw as well . Wisconsin opened its season with a 35 - 0 win over Lawrence College . , In the south , Auburn shut out Georgia ' s Gordon College 42 - 0 . Tennessee beat Maryville College , 39 - 5 . Vanderbilt defeated visiting Rose Polytechnic ( later Rose - Hulman ) , 32 - 0 . Unbeaten , untied and unscored upon were Harvard , Penn , Yale , Navy , Auburn , and Wisconsin . In Wednesday afternoon games ( October 14 ) , Annapolis won at Maryland , 57 - 0 . Penn stayed unbeaten , but was scored upon for the first time , when Gettysburg College managed a field goal ; the final score was 23 - 4 . October 17 In New Haven , Yale faced West Point in a meeting of unbeatens , and won 6 - 0 . In Philadelphia , Penn ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) faced Brown ( 4 - 0 ) and won , 12 - 0 . Annapolis beat Lehigh , 16 - 0 , and Harvard beat Springfield Teachers College , 44 - 0 . Pitt defeated cross - town rival Carnegie Tech , 22 - 0 , and Princeton beat Virginia Tech , 10 - 4 . Cornell beat Colgate , 9 - 0 . Carlisle was idle . Further west , Michigan beat Notre Dame 12 - 6 , and Chicago beat visiting Illinois , 11 - 6 . St . Louis University advanced its record to 4 - 0 - 0 with a 24 - 0 win over visiting Arkansas . In the South , Tennessee defeated Kentucky , 7 - 0 ; Auburn won at Mercer , 23 - 0 ; Vanderbilt beat Clemson 41 - 0 . Georgia Tech beat Mississippi State , 23 - 0 , and LSU beat Texas A & M , 26 - 0 . On Wednesday afternoon , October 21 , Princeton defeated Fordham , 17 - 0 , to extend its record to 4 - 0 - 1 . October 24 saw several big matchups between college football ' s unbeaten teams . In Philadelphia , Penn ( 7 - 0 - 0 ) hosted Carlisle ( 5 - 0 - 0 ) , while Harvard and Navy , both unbeaten , untied and unscored upon in five games , met at Annapolis . A crowd of 20 , 000 turned packed Franklin Field to watch the Penn game , with the Quakers taking an early 6 - 0 lead . The Indians tied the game in the second half on a touchdown and extra point by Jim Thorpe . Thorpe missed on three field goal tries , and the game ended in a 6 - 6 tie . In Annapolis , Navy scored a touchdown five minutes into the game , but in the second half , Richardson fumbled and Nourse ran the ball back for a score , and the game ended as a 6 - 6 tie . Yale stayed unbeaten , untied , and unscored on against visiting Washington and Jefferson , taking a 21 - 0 lead in the first half and winning 38 - 0 . . Pitt defeated Bucknell , 22 - 0 Princeton was tied again , in a 0 - 0 game against visiting Syracuse . Cornell beat Vermont 9 - 0 . In the West , Michigan won at Ohio State , 10 - 6 , while Chicago was idle . St . Louis University won at Wabash College on a field goal , 4 - 0 . Down south , Tennessee defeated Georgia 10 - 0 , Georgia School of Technology ( Georgia Tech ) beat Alabama 11 - 6 , Vanderbilt beat Ole Miss 29 - 0 , and in Birrmingham , Auburn beat Sewanee 6 - 0 , and LSU beat Rhodes , 55 - 0 In a Wednesday afternoon game on October 28 , Navy handed George Washington University its first loss , 17 - 0 . October 31 saw the first major intersectional games of the season . The Pittsburgh Panthers and the St . Louis Billikens , both unbeaten at 5 - 0 - 0 , met at St . Louis , with Pitt winning 13 - 0 . Vanderbilt ( 5 - 0 - 0 ) traveled to Michigan ( 3 - 0 - 1 ) , with the home team winning 24 - 6 . Unbeaten and once - tied , Carlisle ( 5 - 0 - 1 ) and Navy ( 7 - 0 - 1 ) met at Annapolis , with the Indians handing the Midshipmen their first loss , 16 - 6 , as Mike Balenti kicked four field goals , which at that time were worth 4 points apiece Yale stayed unscored upon , with a 49 - 0 win over Massachusetts , with Ted Koy scroing four of the Elis ' nine touchdowns . Including 4 points after , the score would have been 58 - 0 under modern rules . Cornell defeated Penn State 10 - 4 . Pennsylvania beat Carnegie Tech 25 - 10 in Pittsburgh . Harvard defeated Brown 6 - 2 . At West Point , Princeton and Army played to a 0 - 0 tie in the snow ; Princeton drove to within six yards on three occasions , and Army held each time . Auburn and Louisiana State , both unbeaten at 4 - 0 - 0 , met at Auburn , Alabama , and LSU won 10 - 2 . It would prove to be Auburn ' s only loss of 1908 , and LSU ' s biggest win en route to a 10 - 0 - 0 finish . Another meeting of unbeatens happened in Atlanta , as Tennessee and Georgia Tech , both 4 - 0 - 0 , faced off . Both scored touchdowns , but Tennessee ' s extra point gave it a 6 - 5 win . The loss would be the first of three for Tech . Chicago beat Minnesota 29 - 0 . November . November 7 Yale ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) hosted a ( 4 - 3 - 0 ) Brown team and ended up being tied . Brown scored a touchdown early in the game , but missed the point after , and Yale ' s Ted Koy connected on 30 yard field goal . In the second half , Yale scored a TD and the extra point , to take the lead . Later in the game , Dennie of Brown intercepted Philbin ' s pass and returned in 40 yards to tie the game , but the point after failed . Under today ' s rules , Brown would have won 12 - 10 . In 1908 , however , a 4 point field goal , and 6 points for a touchdown and conversion , were equal to Brown ' s two five - point touchdowns . The game ended in a 10 - 10 tie . . Pitt stayed unbeaten with an 11 - 0 win over visiting West Virginia , and Cornell defeated Amherst , 6 - 0 . At New York ' s Polo Grounds , a crowd of 10 , 000 watched unbeaten Princeton ( 5 - 0 - 3 ) face Dartmouth ( 5 - 0 - 1 ) . The Princeton Tigers lost in what was considered an upset , 10 - 6 . . Harvard and Carlisle , both unbeaten at 6 - 0 - 1 , met at Cambridge , and the Indians suffered their first loss , 17 - 0 . . Penn beat Lafayette , 34 - 4 . Navy beat Villanova 30 - 6 and Army edged Springfield , 6 - 5 . In intersectional games , Michigan beat visiting Kentucky , 62 - 0 , while St . Louis hosted Sewanee and the two played to a 6 - 6 tie . In Indianapolis , Notre Dame defeated Indiana 11 - 0 . In the South , Vanderbilt handed visiting Tennessee its first loss , 16 - 9 . LSU beat visiting Mississippi A & M 50 - 0 , and in Atlanta , Auburn beat Georgia Tech 44 - 0 . In a game on Wednesday , November 10 , LSU defeated Baylor , 89 - 0 November 14 In a major intersectional game between two unbeaten and untied teams , Cornell ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) visited Chicago ( 4 - 0 - 0 ) . Playing in a snowstorm , Cornell took the lead before the Maroons , coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg tied the game with five minutes left on a triple pass play , finishing with a 6 - 6 store . Pennsylvania ( 9 - 0 - 1 ) visited Michigan ( 5 - 0 - 1 ) and won 29 - 0 . Ohio State handed visiting Vanderbilt its second loss , 17 - 6 . The previously unbeaten and untied ( 6 - 0 - 0 ) Pitt lost to visiting , 6 - 1 - 1 Carlisle , falling 6 - 0 . Navy beat Penn State , 5 - 0 and Army tied Washington & Jefferson , 6 - 6 . Brown beat Vermont 12 - 0 . At Omaha , St . Louis beat Creighton , 6 - 0 . In the South , Tennessee edged Clemson , 6 - 5 ; won at Georgia Tech 6 - 0 , and Georgia and Alabama played to a 6 - 6 tie , Harvard ( 7 - 0 - 1 ) hosted Dartmouth ( 6 - 0 - 1 ) and won , 6 - 0 . Yale ( 6 - 0 - 1 ) visited 5 - 1 - 3 Princeton before a crowd of 30 , 000 and won 11 - 6 . Both Harvard and Yale stayed unbeaten , a week away from their November 21 meeting in Cambridge . November 21 The biggest game of the season was in New Haven , Connecticut , as Harvard ( 8 - 0 - 1 ) visited Yale ( 7 - 0 - 1 ) . A crowd of 35 , 000 turned out to watch the Crimson vs . Blue contest , and the " New York Times " reported on the front page the next day that the game " would have been seen by 75 , 000 if the Stadium could hold that many , for that number of applications was received , " Harvard won 4 - 0 , with Vic Kennard kicking a 25 yard field goal for the win Pitt beat Gettysburg College 6 - 0 . In intersectional games , Carlisle lost at Minnesota , 11 - 6 , while Michigan suffered its second straight loss , losing at Syracuse , 28 - 4 . In St . Louis , Vanderbilt defeated Washington University 28 - 0 . Cornell beat visiting Trinity , 18 - 6 . Navy defeated Virginia Polytechnic Institute ( Virginia Tech ) 15 - 4 . Army beat Villanova 25 - 0 . Unbeaten Chicago faced unbeaten and untied ( 5 - 0 - 0 ) Wisconsin and won 18 - 12 . St . Louis traveled to Minnesota to face Carleton College and played to a 0 - 0 tie . Tennessee beat Chattanooga 35 - 6 . On Thanksgiving Day afternoon ( November 28 ) , a crowd of 25 , 000 turned out in Philadelphia to watch unbeaten Pennsylvania host unbeaten Cornell . Quarterback Albert Miller guided Pennsylvania to a 17 - 4 win . Though Penn " found the boys from the shores of Lake Cayuga a harder proposition than she looked for " , wrote a New York " Times " reporter , they " closed the season without once drinking from the bitter cup of defeat , and to - night her followers are claiming at least equal rank with Harvard . " . Pitt fell to Penn State , 12 - 6 . Carlisle won at St . Louis , 17 - 0 . Carlisle would play two more games out west , a 37 - 6 win at Nebraska on December 2 , and an 8 - 4 win at Denver on December 5 . In the South , LSU finished its season unbeaten with a 36 - 4 win over Arkansas at Little Rock . Vanderbilt and played to a 6 - 6 tie . In Montgomery , Alabama , Auburn beat Georgia , 23 - 0 . Two days later , at their annual game , Army beat Navy , 6 - 4 . On September 19 , 1908 , Washington & Jefferson College became the college football first team to wear numbered uniforms in a game against Denison University . Final standings . Though neither of them had won all their games , Pennsylvania and Harvard were both unbeaten and once - tied after playing strong schedules . " The college football championship for 1908 must be divided between Harvard and Pennsylvania , " wrote the New York " Times " on November 29 , " as these two elevens easily outclassed all others . " EAST WEST / SOUTH Conference standings . The following is an incomplete list of conference standings :