The 1911 college football season was the last one before major reforms were made to the American game in 1912. In 1911, touchdowns were worth five points, the field was 110 yards in length, and a team had three downs within which to advance the ball ten yards. The

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

(Navy) finished with a record of 6 wins and 3 ties (6–0–3). Two of the ties were 0–0 games with the other major unbeaten teams,

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

(8–0–1) and

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 ...

(8–0–2). Other teams that finished the season unbeaten were Minnesota (6–0–1) and Florida (5–0–1). The

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 ...

, founded in 1936, declared retroactively that Princeton had been the best team of 1911

Rules

The rules for American football in 1911 included: *Field 110 yards in length *Kickoff made from midfield *Three downs to gain ten yards *Touchdown worth 5 points *Field goal worth 3 points *Forward pass legal, but subject to penalties: A pass could not be caught beyond the goal line, nor more than 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.

Conference and program changes

September

September 23

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

beat Lebanon Valley 53–0, and in a Wednesday (Sep. 27) game beat Muhlenberg 32–0 *Lafayette beat Bloomsburg College 53–0 *Brown beat New Hampshire 56–0

September 30

*Brown beat Rhode Island 12–0 *

beat Stevens 37–0, and three days later, beat Rutgers 37–0 *

beat Dickinson 17–0 *Lafayette beat Ursinus College 3–0 *

beat Geneva College 57–0 *Arkansas beat visiting Southwest Missouri State College, 100–0 *

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

beat Alabama Presbyterian 51–0 *

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

opened its season with a 5–0 win over Iowa State. * Vanderbilt opened with a 40–0 win over visiting Birmingham College *

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 ...

beat Bates 15–0

October

October 7

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

beat Johns Hopkins 27–5, and on Wednesday the 11th, beat St. John's College of Maryland, 21–0 *

beat Villanova 31–0 and on October 11, played Lehigh to a 6–6 tie *

beat Mount St. Mary's 46–5 *

beat Gettysburg 31–0 *

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

beat Vermont 12–0 *After a 39–0 win against the Seamen Gunners, Georgetown beat William & Mary 66–0 *

beat Holy Cross 8–0 *

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

beat Case 24–0 *

beat South Dakota 5–0 *

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

beat Indiana 23–6 *

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

beat Southwestern 22–0. * Vanderbilt beat Maryville 46–0 *

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

beat The Citadel 15–3 *

beat South Carolina 38–0 *

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

beat Kingfisher 104–0

October 14

(4–0) won at Georgetown 28–5 *

beat Washington & Jefferson 16–0 *

won 5–0 at Cornell *

beat Rutgers 18–0 *

beat Austin College 33–0 * Vanderbilt beat visiting Rose-Hulman Institute 33–0 and *

defeated Alabama at Birmingham, 11–3 *

beat Williams 18–0 *

won 15–3 at Michigan State. *

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beat Purdue 11–3 *

beat Colgate 31–0

October 21

*At Annapolis,

and

played to a 0–0 tie. *

won at Pittsburgh 17–0 *

defeated Amherst 11–0 *

beat Villanova 18–0 *

beat Yale 6–0 *

and South Carolina played to a 6–6 tie, and three days later, the Gators won at Clemson, 6–5. * Vanderbilt beat visiting Centre College 45–0; in its first four games, Vandy had outscored its opposition 164–0. *

beat visiting Sewanee 12–3. *

beat Auburn 16–0 *

beat Ohio State 19–0 * Georgetown won at Richmond 65–0 *

stayed unbeaten with a 21–3 win over Nebraska *

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defeated Illinois 24–0

October 28

*In an intersectional meeting of unbeaten teams,

edged visiting Vanderbilt, 9–8 *

and Western Reserve played to a 0–0 tie. *

beat Lafayette 19–0 *At Philadelphia,

beat Pennsylvania, 22–6. *

beat Lehigh 20–0 * Georgetown beat St. John's College of Maryland, 20–0. *

beat Holy Cross 20–0 *

won at Iowa 24–6. *

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, after shutouts against Lawrence (15–0), and Ripon (24–0) *Colorado College (26–0) won at Northwestern 28–3 *

was defeated by visiting Brown, 20–6 *

beat Mercer 8–5 *In a Friday game,

beat Ole Miss, 17–0

November

November 4

and Georgetown played to a 0–0 tie. *

won its 8th game, 16–0 over Penn. *

and Syracuse played to a 6–6 tie. *

beat North Carolina State 17–6 *

beat St. Bonaventure 46–0 *

beat (5–0) Harvard 8–6 *

(5–0) hosted

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(3–0) and won 30–0 *

beat Iowa 12–0 * Vanderbilt beat visiting (5–0–0)

17–0. Georgia beat Clemson three days later at Augusta, 22–0 *

beat visiting Columbia College 9–0 in a Friday game.

November 11

(8–0) handed

(5–1) its second straight loss, winning 18–15 *

beat West Virginia 32–0. *

was scored upon for the first time in six games, as it beat Bucknell 20–2. *

(4–0–1) lost at Cornell, 6–0 *

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won at Northwestern 9–3 *

beat Colgate 17–9 *

beat Dartmouth 3–0 *

won at Stetson 27–0 * Vanderbilt beat Kentucky 18–0 *On Monday the 13th,

lost to Texas 6–0

November 18

*At Annapolis,

(7–0–0) and

(5–0–2) played to a 0–0 tie. *Syracuse handed

its first defeat, winning 12–11 *

beat Penn 11–9 *

beat Yale 6–3 to close its season at 8–0–2 *

beat Colgate 12–6 * Georgetown beat Virginia 28–3 *The

Army–Navy Game The Army–Navy Game is an American college football rivalry game between the Army Black Knights of the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York, and the Navy Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy (USNA) at Annapo ...

was played in Philadelphia on Friday, November 24, between unbeatens, (5–0–3)

and (6–0–1)

, with Navy winning 3–0 *

(5–0–0) and

(5–0–1) played to a 6–6 tie. *

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

beat Cornell 6–0 * Vanderbilt beat Ole Miss 21–0. *

beat Georgia Tech 5–0 *

beat Dartmouth 5–3.

November 25

beat Illinois 11–0 *

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

beat

5–0 *Michigan and Nebraska 6–6 tie *

won at Johns Hopkins, 29–6 *

and Yale played to 0–0 tie. *

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

travels to

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

for a 3–3 tie in what is widely considered the first

homecoming Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States, Canada and Liberia. ...

game. More than 1,000 people gathered in downtown

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas River, Kansas and Waka ...

, to watch a mechanical reproduction of the game while it was being played with the information reported by

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

November 29

*On Wednesday, November 29, in Savannah,

and Auburn played to a 0–0 tie.

November 30 (Thanksgiving)

won at Pittsburgh 3–0, to finish the season 8–0–1. *

closed its season with a 12–6 win at Brown. * Georgetown beat Lehigh 28–3. *

beat Charleston 21–0. * Vanderbilt defeated visiting Sewanee 31–0.

January 1912

The last five-point American football touchdown was scored on January 1, 1912, in a game played in Havana, Cuba. Mississippi A&M College (now

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

) defeated the Club Atletico de Cuba, 12–0.

Conference standings

Major conference standings

Independents

Minor conferences

Minor conference standings

Awards and honors

All-Americans

The consensus

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

team included:

Statistical leaders

* Rushing yards leader:

Jim Thorpe James Francis Thorpe ( Sac and Fox (Sauk): ''Wa-Tho-Huk'', translated as "Bright Path"; May 22 or 28, 1887March 28, 1953) was an American athlete and Olympic gold medalist. A member of the Sac and Fox Nation, Thorpe was the first Native ...

, Carlisle, 899 * Rushing avg. leader: Jim Thorpe, 8.0

References

{{NCAA football season navbox