1906 college football season The 1906 college football season was the first in which the forward pass was permitted . Although there was no national championship , there were two teams that had won all nine of their games as the 1906 season drew to a close , the Princeton Tigers and the Yale Bulldogs , and on November 17 , 1906 , they played to a 0 - 0 tie . St . Louis University finished at 11 - 0 - 0 . The Helms Athletic Foundation , founded in 1936 , declared retroactively that Princeton had been the best college football team of 1906 . Rules . The American Intercollegiate Football Rules Committee met at the Murray Hill Hotel in New York City beginning January 12 , 1906 , to create measures “ for squelching brutality and all forms of unnecessary roughness . ” Numerous changes were made , the primary one being the legalization of the forward pass . Various persons are given credit for the suggestion . Georgia Tech coach John Heisman had seen the play attempted in 1895 in a Georgia vs . North Carolina game , and lobbied for its legalization starting in 1903 . John C . Bell , Sr . , and Dr . J . William White were later credited with designing rules that would permit a pass , yet still be acceptable to a majority on the rules committee . Among the other rule changes made for the ' 06 season included : Even with the approval of a forward pass , the rules for American football in 1906 were still 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 3 - point field goal ) were adopted in 1912 . The rules in 1906 were : Although a forward pass was made legal , that play in 1906 was still a risky business , because an incomplete attempt would result in stiff penalties — 15 yards back from the spot from which the pass was thrown on first or second down . If the defense committed a foul , the 15 yard penalty didn ' t apply to the offense , but the defending team was not penalized either . In addition , a pass could not be caught more than 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage , nor beyond the goal line ( the end zone had not yet been invented ) . The passing game in the west ( typified by St . Louis University ) was closer to today ' s version than that in the east ; the quarterback would fire the ball directly to an open receiver . The style used by Yale and Harvard , recounted later by a referee of the day , Lt . H . B . Hackett , was " the ball is thrown high in the air and the runner who is to catch it is protected by several of his teammates forming an interference for him . " . Not everyone was impressed with the improved version of college football , particularly in California . " I do not believe the present experiment in American college football can survive , " said the President of the University of California at Berkeley , Jack Wheeler . He added , " In my opinion , the whole country will within five years be playing the Rugby game . " September . The Yale Bulldogs had enjoyed a 10 - 0 - 0 record in 1905 , shutting out all of their opponents except for the Princeton Tigers , whom they had allowed a touchdown . In the West , the Michigan Wolverines , coached by Fielding " Hurry Up " Yost , had shut out their first 12 opponents , before playing the 9 - 0 - 0 University of Chicago Maroons . Chicago not only avoided a shutout , but handed Michigan a 2 - 0 loss . In the South , Georgia Tech had gone 6 - 0 - 1 September 5 marked the first use of the forward pass in a college football game . In its 22 - 0 win over Carroll College in Waukesha , Wisconsin on a Wednesday afternoon , St . Louis University unveiled a new offensive style . SLU ' s coach , Eddie Cochems , had his team secretly practice the play . Though the first attempt was incomplete ( resulting in a turnover ) , the next one was successful , as Bradbury Robinson threw to Jack Schneider , who then ran the rest of the way for a touchdown . St . Louis would go on to an 11 - 0 - 0 record , outscoring its opponents 407 - 31 , including Marquette ( 30 - 0 ) , Kansas ( 34 - 2 ) , Drake ( 32 - 9 ) and Iowa ( 39 - 0 ) . The season began in earnest on September 22 , with some of the more powerful teams holding their lesser opposition scoreless , and on their home field . Harvard beat Williams 7 - 0 , Carlisle over Villanova 6 - 0 , Dartmouth defeated Norwich 5 - 0 . Penn State had a 24 - 0 win over Lebanon Valley . In the west , Kansas had an 18 - 0 victory over William Jewell College . In one of the few games where both teams scored , Holy Cross hosted Massachusetts in Philadelphia and won 6 - 4 . Harvard played a midweek game on September 26 , beating Bowdoin 10 - 0 . On September 29 , Princeton opened its season with a 24 - 0 win over Villanova , and Penn beat Lehigh 32 - 6 . At West Point , the United States Military Academy ( " Army " ) won 12 - 0 over Tufts . The universities of Maine , Vermont , New Hampshire and Massachusetts were all shut out by , respectively , Harvard ( 17 - 0 ) , Dartmouth ( 8 - 0 ) , Brown ( 12 - 0 ) and Williams ( 5 - 0 ) . Penn State , Swarthmore and Dickinson all registered 26 - 0 wins over , Allegheny , Johns Hopkins and Lebanon Valley , respectively . Pitt defeated Westminster 17 - 0 . Colgate and Cornell played to a 0 - 0 tie at Ithaca , while out west , another Cornell ( of Iowa ) lost to Iowa State , 81 - 0 . Carlisle went one better , beating Albright 82 - 0 . In the South , Georgia Tech and Maryville tied 6 - 6 in Atlanta , and Davidson and North Carolina were scoreless . October . October 6 Harvard won its fourth game , but its 27 - 6 win over Bates took the Crimson out of the ranks of the unscored upon . Meanwhile , other teams recorded their third consecutive shutouts . Swarthmore beat visiting Villanova 4 - 0 , and Penn State won at Carlisle by the same 4 - 0 score . Dartmouth bested Holy Cross , 16 - 0 and Princeton beat Stevens 22 - 0 . Army over Trinity ( 24 - 0 ) , Yale had opened its season midweek ( October 3 , 21 - 0 over Wesleyan ) and then beat Syracuse ( 51 - 0 ) ( Wesleyan itself lost 17 - 0 to Brown ) . In the west , Iowa State ' s team beat Coe College 36 - 0 on Friday , then Des Moines 45 - 0 the next day . Maryville , at that time a regular southern opponent powerhouse , lost at Alabama , 6 - 0 ; two days earlier , it had lost to Ole Miss 16 - 6 . Michigan opened its season with a 28 - 0 win over visiting Case . October 13 Princeton , Yale , Dartmouth , and Brown remained unscored upon , as did Lafayette , Pittsburgh and Swarthmore . Playing on 3 Saturdays and 2 Wednesdays , the Princeton Tigers played five games in fifteen days ( Sep 29 to Oct 13 ) , beating Villanova , Stevens , Washington & Jefferson , Lehigh ( 52 - 0 ) , and in Annapolis on this date , a 5 - 0 win over Navy . Brown had beaten Massachusetts 17 - 0 on a Wednesday afternoon . Yale defeated Holy Cross 17 - 0 and Maine 4 - 0 . Swarthmore eked out a win at Penn , 4 - 0 . Harvard , 5 - 0 - 0 but not scorefree , defeated Massachusetts 21 - 0 . Army and Colgate played to a 0 - 0 tie . In the West , Kansas defeated Arkansas 37 - 5 and Nebraska beat Drake 5 - 0 . In the South , Vanderbilt defeated Ole Miss at home , 29 - 0 and Texas beat TCU 22 - 0 . Georgia Tech beat Tennessee - Chattanooga 18 - 0 to reach 2 - 0 - 1 . Clemson opened its season with a 0 - 0 tie with visiting Virginia Tech . Other colleges stayed unscored upon , but against smaller opponents ( Iowa State 32 - 0 over Morningside , Mississippi State 62 - 0 over Marion ) . October 20 Yale stayed unscored - on with a 10 - 0 win over Penn State , and Dartmouth beat Massachusetts 26 - 0 . Princeton , however , gave up points in a 32 - 4 win over Bucknell . Swarthmore beat GWU 17 - 0 . Harvard had a 44 - 0 win over Springfield . Lafayette won at North Carolina , 28 - 6 . Brown was handed its first defeat , a 14 - 0 loss at Pennsylvania , while Pitt lost to Carlisle , 22 - 0 . After warming up with small colleges , Iowa State won at Nebraska , 14 - 2 , while Kansas beat visiting Oklahoma 20 - 4 . Michigan won at Ohio State , 6 - 0 . In the South , Vanderbilt handed Alabama a 78 - 0 loss . After tuneup wins against Mooney and Rhodes , won at Georgia Tech , 16 - 0 . Clemson beat Georgia 6 - 0 , and played a Thursday afternoon 0 - 0 tie against NC State . October 27 Yale stayed unscored on , with a 12 - 0 win over Amherst . Harvard won at Army , 5 - 0 . Swarthmore yielded a score in a 19 - 4 win over Gettysburg . Lafayette beat Colgate 17 - 6 . Dartmouth and Williams College played to a 0 - 0 tie . Kansas beat Colorado , 16 - 0 but Iowa State lost at Minnesota , 22 - 4 , and Missouri lost its first outing against a large school , falling 26 - 4 at Iowa . Michigan beat visiting Illinois , 28 - 9 . Vanderbilt beat Texas , 45 - 0 . Mississippi State and LSU played to a 0 - 0 tie . had beaten Auburn 10 - 5 in a Friday afternoon game at Birmingham . Georgia Tech beat Davidson 4 - 0 . November . November 3 The Yale Bulldogs traveled to West Point , and finally yielded some points , with the Army Cadets taking a 6 - 0 lead at halftime . Yale made no first downs , but won the game anyway . Clarence Alcott blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown to tie the game 6 - 6 on the point after . With two minutes left , Bigelow of Yale kicked a 35 yard field goal ( for 4 points ) from a steep angle , and a 10 - 6 win . Unbeaten Princeton ( 7 - 0 - 0 ) and Dartmouth ( 5 - 0 - 1 ) met in New Jersey , and it was no contest . The Princeton Tigers shut down the Big Green , 42 - 0 with seven touchdowns . Harvard beat Brown 9 - 5 ( on a field goal with three minutes left ) to reach 8 - 0 - 0 as well . Swarthmore defeated Amherst , 21 - 0 , and Lafayette beat Washington & Jefferson 14 - 6 , to stay unbeaten . Carlisle defeated Syracuse , 9 - 4 in a game in Buffalo . Out West , previously unbeaten Kansas traveled to meet St . Louis to match their rushing game against Eddie Cochem ' s pass attack . St . Louis made all the points , including the safety , for a 34 - 2 win . Vanderbilt ( 4 - 0 ) traveled to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan ( 3 - 0 ) , and lost , 10 - 4 . visited Tennessee at won , 17 - 0 , while Georgia Tech pasted Auburn 11 - 0 . Clemson had its 3rd 0 - 0 tie , this one with Davidson , for a 1 - 0 - 3 record . November 10 In the East , the number of unbeaten and untied teams went from five to just three : Harvard , Princeton and Yale . Lafayette and Penn played to a 0 - 0 tie in Philadelphia ; the Quakers drove 59 yards to the one , but were held by Lafayette ' s goal line defense . At Annapolis , Swarthmore lost at Navy , 5 - 4 , the result of a touchdown against a field goal . Before a crowd of 25 , 000 Harvard beat visiting Carlisle , 5 - 0 , and Yale beat Brown by the same score Princeton won at West Point , 8 - 0 . In the South , stayed unbeaten with a 35 - 0 win in New Orleans over Tulane ( followed two days later by a 24 - 0 in over Ole Miss in Memphis ) . Vanderbilt beat Rose - Hulman College , 33 - 0 to reach 5 - 1 - 0 and Georgia Tech won at Georgia , 17 - 0 . Clemson beat Tennessee 16 - 0 . Texas A & M played TCU a second time ; the first time around , TCU lost 42 - 0 , and the second contest was a 22 - 0 loss . November 17 The big game of the season ( making the front pages the next day ) was at Princeton , New Jersey , where 26 , 000 watched Yale and Princeton ( both 8 - 0 - 0 ) faced off at Osborns Field . Both teams tried out the forward pass , described in the New York Times as " these spectacular new - fangled plays " . Yale crashed the Princeton line in the final minutes , gaining at least 4 yards on each carry , but time ran out just as the Bulldogs reached the ten yard line , and the game ended in a 0 - 0 tie . Harvard became the last unbeaten and untied team , as its 22 - 9 win over Dartmouth gave it a record of 10 - 0 - 0 . Princeton ' s season was over , but the annual Harvard - Yale game was still to be played . Cornell ( 7 - 1 - 1 ) hosted Swarthmore ( 7 - 1 - 0 ) and came away with a 28 - 0 victory . Previously unbeaten Lafayette ( 6 - 0 - 1 ) hosted 4 - 3 - 0 Syracuse and was upset , 12 - 4 . Penn State beat Dickinson in Williamsport , PA , 6 - 0 . In Philadelphia , 15 , 000 watched the visiting Michigan Wolverines lose 17 - 0 to the Pennsylvania Quakers . In the West , Kansas played at Nebraska , winning 8 - 6 to extend its record to 7 - 1 - 1 . Iowa State beat Grinnell 25 - 6 to reach 7 - 1 - 0 . Carlisle visited Minnesota and won 17 - 0 In the South , beat Maryville to reach an 8 - 0 - 0 record , and Vanderbilt beat Georgia Tech 37 - 6 to reach 6 - 1 - 0 . Their annual game was set for Thanksgiving Day , which in 1907 fell on November 29 . Texas A & M won at Tulane , 18 - 0 , and two days later won at LSU , 22 - 12 , to reach 5 - 0 - 0 . The Alabama - Auburn game ended with Bama winning 10 - 0 . November 24 The big game of the season was Harvard ( 10 - 0 - 0 ) at Yale ( 8 - 0 - 1 ) . A crowd of 32 , 000 in New Haven saw the Crimson - Blue meeting , described as " a game as has seldom been seen on any field , " with both sides relying heavily on the forward pass . Paul Veeder threw a pass and Clarence Alcott jumped high to catch it at the 3 yard line for a first down . Two plays later , Tom Roome forced his way through the line for Yale ' s touchdown . A Harvard fumble in the closing minutes was recovered by the Bulldogs , who were 12 yards from goal when the whistle blue . Final score : Yale 6 , Harvard 0 . With that final game , both Yale and Princeton closed their seasons with identical 9 - 0 - 1 records , nine wins each and their own 0 - 0 tie . Other games played that day were Lafayette ' s 33 - 0 win over Lehigh , and Penn State 10 - 0 over West Virginia . Thanksgiving Day , November 29 , 1907 , was the next best thing to post - season play , as rivals met on the holiday . Cornell and Penn played to a 0 - 0 tie and Lafayette beat Dickinson 26 - 6 and Penn State won at Pittsburgh , 6 - 0 , giving both teams an 8 - 1 - 1 finish . In the West , Iowa State won at Drake , 7 - 0 , and Texas beat Texas A & M 24 - 0 . Both teams finished at 9 - 1 - 0 . Further West , college football wasn ' t yet played on the Pacific Coast ; the big game there had been Stanford ' s 6 - 3 win at Berkeley over California — in a rugby game attended by 10 , 000 fans In Nashville , ( 8 - 0 - 0 ) and Vanderbilt ( 7 - 1 - 0 ) met on Thanksgiving for the South ' s biggest game . Vandy , whose only loss was its visit to Michigan , handed the Sewanee Tigers a 20 - 0 defeat . Alabama crushed Tennessee , 51 - 0 , to finish 5 - 1 - 0 , while the Vols ' record was 1 - 6 - 2 ; the win , and one of the ties , was against American College . Clemson won at Georgia Tech , 10 - 0 , closing its season unbeaten , though not untied ( 4 - 0 - 3 ) . Final standings . East Western Conference South