The 1880 Princeton Tigers football team represented the College of New Jersey, then more commonly known as
Princeton College
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
, in the
1880 college football season. The team finished with a 4–0–1 record and was retroactively named co-
national champion by the
National Championship Foundation The National Championship Foundation (NCF) was established by Mike Riter of Hudson, New York. The NCF retroactively selected college football national champions for each year from 1869 to 1979, and its selections are among the historic national ch ...
and
Parke H. Davis.
This season was Princeton's tenth national championship and one of 11 in a 13-year period between
1869 and
1881. The captain of the team was
Francis Loney
Francis may refer to:
People
*Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome
* Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Francis (surname)
Places
* Rural ...
.
On November 13 at the
Polo Grounds
The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 through 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built fo ...
in New York City, Princeton defeated
Harvard
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
with between 3,000 and 4,000 in attendance. Princeton scored two goals and held Harvard to one goal. Princeton also had five touchdowns for safety to two for Harvard. ''The Sun'' of New York reported that the game, played under the new 1880 rules of the
Intercollegiate Football Association
The Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA), also known as the American Intercollegiate Football Association, was one of the earliest college football rules-making and scheduling organizations in existence; it was active from the 1873 to 1893 ...
, was football in name only, but "in reality a series of wrestling encounters for possession of a large leather globe."
Princeton ended the season as it did in
1879, with a 0–0 tie against
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
at a neutral site near New York.
Schedule
[
]
References
{{College Football National Champion pre-AP Poll navbox
Princeton
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...
Princeton Tigers football seasons
College football national champions
College football undefeated seasons
Princeton Tigers football
The Princeton Tigers football program represents Princeton University and competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I Football Championship, Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) level as a member ...