The 1896 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season was the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

games played by the members schools of the

Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conferen ...

as part of 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 season began on October 3. Coach

Pop Warner Glenn Scobey Warner (April 5, 1871 – September 7, 1954), most commonly known as Pop Warner, was an American college football coach at various institutions who is responsible for several key aspects of the modern game. Included among his inn ...

's conference champion Georgia team beat

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 ...

24–16 in a close game. "For the first time in Southern football history the football supremacy of Virginia and North Carolina was successfully challenged." Against

John Heisman John William Heisman (October 23, 1869 – October 3, 1936) was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College ...

's Auburn team, Georgia also had the first successful

onside kick In gridiron football, an onside kick is a kickoff deliberately kicked short in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a typical kickoff, in which the kicking team intends to give the ball to the o ...

in the South. The LSU Tigers, led by coach

Allen Jeardeau Allen Wilson Jeardeau (April 1, 1866 – April 10, 1900) was an American college football and college baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at the Platteville Normal School—now the University of Wisconsin–Platteville—in 1895 ...

, went undefeated and were the SIAA co-champions.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Key PPG = Average of points scored per game PAG = Average of points allowed per game

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Regular season

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

Week Ten

Week Eleven

References