The 1903 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

1903 college football season The 1903 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Michigan and Princeton as having been selected national champions. Conference standings Major conference standings ...

. In their first season under head coach

Art Hillebrand Arthur Ralph Thomas "Doc" Hillebrand (March 9, 1876 – December 14, 1941) was an American football and baseball player and coach. He played college football as a tackle for Princeton University. Hillebrand served as head football coach at the U ...

, the Tigers compiled a perfect 11–0 record, shut out 10 of 11 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 259 to 6. John DeWitt was the team captain. There was no contemporaneous system in 1903 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 ...

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 Parke H. Davis, and as a co-national champion 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).

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 ...

was co-champion by the NCF. Three Princeton players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1903 All-America team: halfback Dana Kafer; end

Howard Henry Howard Houston Henry (June 19, 1882February 12, 1919) was an American football player. He played college football for the Princeton Tigers football team and was selected as a consensus All-American at the halfback position in 1903. Before Prin ...

; and guard John DeWitt. DeWitt was later inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

. Other notable players included end

Ralph Tipton Davis Ralph Tipton Davis (c. 1880May 23, 1934) was an American football player. He played college football at Princeton University and was a consensus All-American in 1901. He also played for Princeton's baseball and track teams. In 1902, he won the i ...

Schedule

References

External links

Video of Yale game
{{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 ...