1900 Clemson Tigers football team

Before the season

Walter Riggs led the effort to raise the $415.11 to hire Auburn's football coach John Heisman, the first Clemson coach who had experience coaching at another school. Heisman once described his style of play at Clemson as "radically different from anything on earth".

The team took the field in jerseys and stockings bearing distinctive orange and purple stripes. Norman Walker was team captain.

Schedule

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Game summaries

Davidson

Clemson opened the season at home in Calhoun on October 19, winning over Davidson 64–0, then the largest score ever made in the South.

Wofford

The Tigers beat Wofford 21–0 on October 22. Clemson agreed that every point scored after the first four touchdowns would not count.

South Carolina

Going into the South Carolina game, Clemson had been strong on offense, but weak on defense. Kinsler and Douthit were both injured. The Tigers rolled up a 51–0 score on South Carolina.

Georgia

Athens, GA Before the game with Georgia, students in the dorms barraged Clemson players with bits of coal. Clemson went on to beat the Bulldogs for the first time, pulling away in the second half to overwhelm the Bulldogs 39–5, and achieve the season's first great victory.

The starting lineup was Bellows (left end), Dickerson (left tackle), George (left guard) Kinsley (center), Woodward (right guard), Walker (right tackle), Lynah (right end), Lewis (quarterback), Forsyth (left halfback), Hunt (right halfback), Douthit (fullback).

V. P. I.

Charlotte, NC In Charlotte, Clemson beat VPI 12–5 in the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The game was shortened due to darkness. Hunter Carpenter starred for VPI.

Alabama

Birmingham, AL The season closed on Thanksgiving against the Alabama Crimson White, Clemson's first meeting with Alabama, at Birmingham's North Birmingham Park. The Tigers won 35–0. Clemson back Claude Douthit scored four touchdowns.

After the Tigers forced an Alabama punt to open the game, Douthit scored three consecutive touchdowns for Clemson en route to an 18–0 lead. Douthit scored first on a 5-yard run, next on a short reception and finally on a second short touchdown run. Buster Hunter then scored for Clemson on a long run just before the break and made the halftime score 23–0. In the second half, the Tigers extended their lead to 35–0 behind a long Jim Lynah touchdown run and Douthit's fourth score of the day on a short run. With approximately four minutes left in the game, both team captains agreed to end the game early due to an unruly crowd and impending darkness.

Postseason

The Tigers ended the season with the outright SIAA title. It was both Clemson and Heisman's first conference championship and undefeated, untied season. The season saw "the rise of Clemson from a little school whose football teams had never been heard of before, to become a football machine of the very first power."

Players

Depth chart

The following chart provides a visual depiction of Clemson's lineup during the 1900 season. The chart mimics the offense in a T formation.

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Line

Backfield

Substitutes

Notes

References

Books

References

1. (2016). "2016 FOOTBALL MEDIA GUIDE". Clemson Athletics.
2. Bourret, Tim. "2010 Clemson Football Media Guide". [[Clemson University]].
3. "Clemson Game by Game Results". College Football Data Warehouse.
4. "The Tiger News".
5. {{Harvnb. Riley. 2002
6. As Riggs recalled, "By [[1899 Clemson Tigers football team. 1899]] the Clemson football team had risen steadily until its material was equal to that of any southern college, and the time had come to put on the long-planned finishing touch."{{Harvnb. Blackman. 2016
7. {{Harvnb. Blackman. 2001
8. "Heisman Connection". ClemsonTigers.com.
9. {{harvnb. 2010 Media Guide
10. Reel, Jerome. "The High Seminary".
11. (October 22, 1900). "Clemson sixty-four, Davidson College zero; The biggest score ever made in the South". The State.
12. (October 23, 1900). "Yes'erday on the gridiron". The News and Observer.
13. (November 2, 1900). "51 to 0, the score of the Carolina-Clemson football game". The Greenville News.
14. (November 11, 1900). "Athens has it rubbed in - Clemson rolls up a big score". The Montgomery Advertiser.
15. (November 25, 1900). "Clemson Defeats Blacksburg". [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]].
16. (November 30, 1900). "Clemson won out with ease from University team". The Birmingham News.
17. (October 23, 1900). "Yesterday on the Gridiron". News and Observer.
18. (October 3, 1900). "Some Facts About The Great Football Game". The Watchman and Southron.
19. "Full text of "Clemson University Football Programs"". Clemson University.
20. (November 11, 1900). "How Football Games Resulted Yesterday". The Atlanta Constitution.
21. {{Harvnb. Woodruff. 1928
22. "Clemson vs. Virginia Tech Football Game Notes".
23. {{Harvnb. Blackman. 2001
24. (October 2010). "Hunter Carpenter's Virginia Sports HOF Profile". [[Virginia Sports Hall of Fame]].
25. "The first 115 seasons of football at Virginia Tech". [[Virginia Tech]].
26. "1900 Season".
27. (November 30, 1900). "Alabama's line toppled before onslaught of South Carolina". NewsBank: America's Historical Newspapers.
28. "CU's Conference Championships".
29. {{Harvnb. Blackman. 2016
30. {{Harvnb. Woodruff. 1928
31. "2008 Clemson Football".
32. (1901). "Clemsonian". Clemson University.
33. King, Kyle. (2013). "Fighting like cats and dogs". Clemson University.
34. (1893). "Full text of "Clemson University Catalog"". Clemson University.