The 1872 college football season is considered to be the third season ever played of intercollegiate football competition, due to no season taking place (no games played) in
1871. Much like in the first and second years,
1869
Events
January–March
* January 3 – Abdur Rahman Khan is defeated at Tinah Khan, and exiled from Afghanistan.
* January 5 – Scotland's oldest professional Soccer, football team, Kilmarnock F.C., is founded.
* January 20 & ...
and
1870
Events
January–March
* January 1
** The first edition of ''The Northern Echo'' newspaper is published in Priestgate, Darlington, England.
** Plans for the Brooklyn Bridge are completed.
* January 3 – Construction of the ...
, the rules were still considered in flux, and were decided on in a game-to-game basis. However, the rules used likely did not resemble anything that a modern football observer would recognize, being that of a mix of
soccer and
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
.
In addition to the three teams competing in the
1870 season (, , 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 ni ...
), there were the two additional teams of
Stevens Tech and
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 ...
competing, to bring the total number of teams up to five.
Regular season
The five game season began on November 2, 1872, with the first college football game tie, in a 0–0 contest between Rutgers and Columbia on Columbia's campus. Organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
on November 16. It was the first game in New England. The game was essentially soccer with 20-man sides, played on a field 400 by 250 feet. Yale won 3–0, Tommy Sherman scoring the first goal and Lew Irwin the other two.
The season ended on November 23, 1872, with the fifth and final game of the year, a 6–0 win of Columbia over Stevens Tech in Stevens Tech's first official game that they played as an institution. Over the course of the season, there were only 5 total games played.
1872 saw the first time that two teams finished with an undefeated record (both 1–0).
1872 NCAA Division IA Football Power Ratings
/ref> Princeton and Yale are generally considered to have (retroactively) split the college football national championship for play during the 1872 season. The Billingsley Report and the National Championship Foundation named Princeton as the national champion, while football research historian Parke H. Davis named it a split title.
Standings
References
{{NCAA football season navbox