The 1896 Princeton Tigers football team was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

team that represented

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

as an independent during the

1896 college football season The 1896 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Lafayette and Princeton as having been selected national champions. Lafayette finished with an 11–0–1 record whil ...

. The team finished with a 10–0–1 record, shut out 10 of 12 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 266 to 5.

Franklin Morse Franklin Blake Morse (May 4, 1873 – May 27, 1929) was an All-American football player. Morse played Halfback (American football), halfback for Princeton University and was selected as an All-American in 1893. He also served as coach of Princet ...

was the head coach, and

Garrett Cochran Garrett Cochran (August 26, 1876 – July 8, 1918) was an American football player and coach. He played college football at Princeton University from 1894 to 1897 at the end position, and was twice named to the College Football All-America Team. ...

was the team captain. There was no contemporaneous system in 1896 for determining a national champion. However, Princeton was retroactively named as the national champion by the

Billingsley Report The Billingsley Report is a college football rating system developed in the late 1960s to determine a national champion. Billingsley has actively rated college football teams on a current basis since 1970. Beginning in 1999, Billingsley's ratings ...

Helms Athletic Foundation The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...

, and

Houlgate System The Houlgate System, also known as the Deke Houlgate collegiate football rating system, was a mathematical rating system for determining annual college football national championships. The ratings, which rated teams according to the strength of thei ...

, and as a co-national champion with

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

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 ...

(NCF) and

Parke H. Davis Parke Hill Davis (July 15, 1871 – June 5, 1934)"PARKE H. DAVIS BURIED.; Many Prominent Men at Funeral of Football Authority", special to ''The New York Times'', June 9, 1934 was an American football player, coach, and historian. Shortly befo ...

. In head-to-head competition, Princeton and Lafayette played to a scoreless tie on October 7, 1896. Four Princeton players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1896 All-America team: halfback

Addison Kelly Addison W. "King" Kelly (c. 1875 – March 23, 1942) was an American football and baseball player, coach of football, and stockbroker. He played college football and college baseball at Princeton University, from which he graduated in 1898. In 18 ...

; fullback John Baird; center

Robert Gailey Robert Reed Gailey (November 26, 1869 – January 18, 1950) was an American college football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Washington Agricultural College and School of Science—now known as Washington State University ...

; and tackle

William W. Church William Wells Church (December 17, 1874 – March 28, 1966) was an American football player and coach. A native of Chicago, he played college football at Princeton University, where he was selected as an All-American at tackle in 1896. He served ...

. Other notable players included quarterback F. L. Smith, halfback William Bannard, end

, and guard Edward Crowdis.

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 nine ...

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 ...