The 1888 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing

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 ...

as having been selected

national champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...

. October 18 saw the first intercollegiate game in the state of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

when Wake Forest defeated

6–4. The first "scientific game" occurred on Thanksgiving of the same year when North Carolina played Duke (then Trinity). Duke won 16 to 0.

Conference and program changes

Statistical leaders

*Player scoring most points:

Knowlton Ames Knowlton Lyman "Snake" Ames (May 27, 1868 – December 23, 1931) was an American football player and coach. He played for Princeton University from 1886 to 1889, and the Chicago Athletic Association, in 1892. Playing for the Princeton Tigers, Am ...

, Princeton, 243

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

Independents

References

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