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1920 college football season

American college football season


American college football season

FieldValue
year1920
imageWonder_Team_Cropped.jpg
image_size250
image_captionCal's "Wonder Team"
preseason_ap
regular_season
number_of_bowls2
bowl_end
champion[California](1920-california-golden-bears-football-team)
[Princeton](1920-princeton-tigers-football-team)
heismanNot awarded until [1935](1935-college-football-season)

Princeton The 1920 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing California, Georgia, Harvard, Notre Dame, and Princeton as national champions. Only California and Princeton claim national championships for the 1920 season. Andy Smith's Pacific Coast Conference champion California "Wonder Team" was the first national champion from the Pacific Coast. Princeton and Harvard were undefeated and with one tie to each other. Notre Dame was led by its first Walter Camp All-American, George Gipp, who died before the year was over.

In the south, fans of either side in Georgia were happy. Georgia and Georgia Tech were both undefeated in Southern play. Georgia Tech lost to Pitt, which was undefeated with two ties. No team scored through Georgia's line, and its backfield was known as the "ten second backfield". Jimmy Leech of VMI's "Flying Squadron" led the nation in scoring. One writer claimed "he is one of the greatest broken field runners the country has ever seen."

The Southwest Conference saw an undefeated Texas team with the same 9-0 record as the champions cited above. Texas shut out six of the nine teams they faced and scored 282 points while allowing only 13. The final game of the year for Texas against Texas A&M was cited as the real beginning of the storied rivalry between the two schools, which dates back to 1894 and featured 118 contests, in which Texas won 75 and tied 5.

In the Rose Bowl, Cal defeated Ohio State 28–0. Brick Muller completed a 53-yard touchdown pass to Brodie Stephens after receiving a toss from Pesky Sprott, at the time thought impossible.

Conference and program changes

Conference establishments

  • Two new conferences began play in 1920:
    • Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – an active NCAA Division III conference

Membership changes

School1920 Conference1921 Conference
Indiana State Normal Fightin' Teachers*Program Re-Established*Independent
Kent State Normal Silver Foxes*Program Established*Independent
Oklahoma SoonersSouthwestMissouri Valley
Phillips HaymakersIndependentSouthwest
UCLA BruinsIndependentSCIAC

Bowl games

California defeated Ohio State, 28–0, in the 1921 Rose Bowl. The first and only Fort Worth Classic was held on January 1, 1921, with Centre defeating TCU.

Conference standings

Major conference standings

Independents

Minor conferences

ConferenceChampion(s)Record
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association*No champion*
Inter-Normal Athletic Conference of WisconsinOshkosh Normal4–0–1
Kansas Collegiate Athletic ConferenceFriends (KS)
Louisiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association*Unknown*
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic AssociationAlbion4–0
Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceHamline2–1–1
Nebraska Intercollegiate Conference*Unknown*
Ohio Athletic ConferenceWooster7–0
Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference[Tulsa](1920-tulsa-orange-and-black-football-team)6–0–1
Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic ConferencePomona5–0
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic ConferenceMorehouse

Minor conference standings

Awards and honors

All-Americans

Main article: 1920 College Football All-America Team

The consensus All-America team included:

PositionNameHeightWeight (lbs.)ClassHometownTeam
QBDonold Lourie5'11"164Sr.Peru, Illinois**[Princeton](1920-princeton-tigers-football-team)**
HBGaylord Stinchcomb5'8"157Sr.Sycamore, Ohio**[Ohio State](1920-ohio-state-buckeyes-football-team)**
HBCharley Way5'8"144Sr.Embreeville, Pennsylvania**[Penn State](1920-penn-state-nittany-lions-football-team)**
FBGeorge Gipp6'1"180Sr.Laurium, Michigan**[Notre Dame](1920-notre-dame-fighting-irish-football-team)**
EChuck Carney6'1"190Jr.Chicago, Illinois**Illinois**
EBill Fincher6'0"182Sr.Atlanta, Georgia**[Georgia Tech](1920-georgia-tech-yellow-jackets-football-team)**
TStan Keck5'11"206Jr.Greensburg, Pennsylvania**[Princeton](1920-princeton-tigers-football-team)**
GTim CallahanSr.Lawrence, Massachusetts**[Yale](1920-yale-bulldogs-football-team)**
GTom WoodsSr.Boston, Massachusetts**[Harvard](1920-harvard-crimson-football-team)**
CHerb Stein6'1"186Jr.Warren, Ohio**[Pittsburgh](1920-pittsburgh-panthers-football-team)**
GIolas Huffman5'11"228Jr.Chandlersville, Ohio**[Ohio State](1920-ohio-state-buckeyes-football-team)**
TRalph Scott6'2"235Sr.Dewey, Wisconsin**[Wisconsin](1920-wisconsin-badgers-football-team)**
ELuke Urban5'8"165Sr.Fall River, Massachusetts**[Boston College](1920-boston-college-eagles-football-team)**

Statistical leaders

  • Player scoring most points: Jimmy Leech, VMI, 210
  • Player scoring most touchdowns, Jimmy Leech, 26
  • Total offense leader: Jimmy Leech, 1771
  • Rushing yards leader: Jimmy Leech, 1723
  • Rushing avg leader: Buck Flowers, Georgia Tech, 10.2
  • Receptions leader: Eddie Anderson, Notre Dame, 17
  • Receiving yards leader: Eddie Anderson, 293

Notes

References

References

  1. "Official 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision Records Book". The National Collegiate Athletic Association.
  2. "Football Championship History".
  3. "Notre Dame Archives: George Gipp".
  4. (2008). "About Them Dawgs!".
  5. (November 11, 1913). "Advent has ten-second backfield". [[The Cincinnati Post]].
  6. (December 14, 1920). "A Matter of Geography". The Washington Herald.
  7. "1920 Texas Longhorns Schedule and Results".
  8. "Great Games and Moments: Pre-1940s".
  9. "Winsipedia - Texas Longhorns vs. Texas A&M Aggies football series history games list".
  10. "Athlete, Officer in Law Enforcement and Administration, Governor of the Virgin Islands: Walter Gordon".
Info: Wikipedia Source

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