The 1906 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 member 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

1906 college football season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

. The season began on September 29. At the end of 1905 football looked about to be abolished due to all of the reoccurring violence during games. Football was a sport that had degenerated into dangerous tactics such as: the

flying wedge A flying wedge (also called flying V or wedge formation, or simply wedge) is a configuration created from a body moving forward in a triangular formation. This V-shaped arrangement began as a successful military strategy in ancient times when inf ...

, punching, kicking, piling-on, and elbows to the face. Almost any violent behavior was allowed. Fatalities and injuries mounted during the 1905 season. As a result, the 1906 season was played under a new set of rules. The rules governing intercollegiate football were changed to promote a more open and less dangerous style of play. An intercollegiate conference, which would become the forerunner of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

, approved radical changes including the legalization of the

forward pass In several forms of football, a forward pass is the throwing of the ball in the direction in which the offensive team is trying to move, towards the defensive team's goal line. The forward pass is one of the main distinguishers between gridiron ...

, allowing the punting team to recover an on-side kick as a live ball, abolishing the dangerous flying wedge, creating a neutral zone between offense and defense, and doubling the first-down distance to 10 yards, to be gained in three downs. According to Fuzzy Woodruff, Davidson tossed the first legal forward pass in the South in the win over Georgia. Clemson and Vanderbilt tied for the SIAA title, but few writers chose the Tigers over the vaunted Commodores. Coach Dan McGugin called the Carlisle victory "the crowning feat of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association season." For some, Vanderbilt's eleven was the entire All-Southern team. Running back

Owsley Manier John Owsley Manier (March 18, 1887 – September 1, 1956) was an American college football player and coach and physician. He played at Vanderbilt University as a Fullback from 1904 to 1906 and at the University of Pennsylvania in 1908 as a ...

was the first Southern player chosen third-team All-American by Walter Camp.

Results and team statistics

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

Regular season

SIAA teams in bold.

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Week Six

Week Seven

Week Eight

Week Nine

Week Ten

Awards and honors

All-Americans

*FB –

, Vanderbilt (WC-3)

All-Southern team

The composite All-Southern eleven representing the consensus of newspapers as published in

Fuzzy Woodruff Lorenzo Ferguson "Fuzzy" Woodruff (May 27, 1884 – December 7, 1929) was an early 20th-century American sportswriter known throughout most of the southeast for his vivid writing. He was also a music and drama critic. He began his newspaper c ...

's ''A History of Southern Football 1890–1928'' included:

Notes

References

* {{SIAA football seasons navbox