INTERCOLLEGIATE FOOTBALL RESEARCHERS ASSOCIATION ™ The College Football Historian ™ ISSN: 1526-233x Vol. 2 No. 5 Established: Jan. 2008 Tex Noel, Editor ([email protected] ) http://www.secsportsfan.com/college-football-association.html When determining National historical reality. If fifty people, Champions with computers today rate Michigan number one in 1901, Historical Reality is they can give the impression that Michigan was the consensus What Counts national champion that year, but this still has nothing to do with By Bob Kirlin historical reality and objective research. Using the story, Three Actual Polls from the 1901 season , from We need to know what the page 4 of The College Football football followers who were there Historian , Vol. 2, number 4 (May at the time were thinking. For 2009) the following is presented. example, Caspar Whitney really was there at the time. If the AP Observation: Is it really a poll poll existed in 1901, given the when the rankings are done by mindset of the voters then, who just one person? Perhaps the would have finished first? It New York Sun took a poll in doesn’t even matter who you or I 1901 or maybe they assigned think would win if Michigan just one person to rank the played Harvard in 1901. teams. What would the contemporary Also, perhaps Charles Patterson consensus say? Nothing else and the New York Sun were only represents historical reality. ranking eastern teams the way the Lambert Trophy voters do Bottom line: Of course, Harvard, today. Or perhaps they thought and not Michigan, is the that the top teams in the east historically accurate national were the top teams in the nation. champion of 1901. That’s because Harvard, not Michigan, Retroactive ratings by such was considered the contemporary sources as Helms, or anyone consensus national leading team today with a computer, have of 1901. Retroratings only muddy nothing to do with the search for the waters of historical research. The College Football Historian-2- 1877 Princeton 1907 1878 Princeton 1908 1879 Princeton 1909 1880 Princeton 1910 To give an idea of how Yale 1911 retroratings with computers have 1881 Yale 1912 nothing to do with how people 1882 Yale 1913 thought at the time consider 1883 Yale 1914 these rankings. 1884 Yale 1915 1885 Princeton 1916 Six well know selectors: Herman 1886 Yale 1917 Matthews, David Wilson, Ray 1887 Yale 1918 1888 Yale 1919 Waits, Jon Dokter, Kenneth 1889 Princeton 1920 Massey and Clyde Berryman, all 1890 Harvard 1921 rated Iowa as their No. 1 team in 1891 Yale 1922 1960, retroactively. 1892 Yale 1923 1893 Princeton 1924 But, the problem is that Iowa 1894 Yale 1925 was not considered national 1895 Pennsylvania 1926 champion by the people who 1896 Princeton 1927 1897 Pennsylvania 1928 lived in that year, nor did Iowa 1898 Harvard 1929 consider themselves national 1899 Princeton 1930 champions in 1960. It’s the 1900 Yale 1931 retroratings of this computer age 1901 Harvard 1932 that put them number one, not 1902 Yale 1933 historical reality. 1903 Princeton 1934 1904 Pennsylvania 1935 This was all in the Pre-Bowl poll * * * era; and because of such, Minnesota, despite losing in the Rose Bowl was named National THE ROSE BOWL – Champion by AP, UPI and THE GRANDADDY OF NFFHF; while Mississippi was selected by FWAA as its top THEM ALL!! team. Part II of IV Noted college football historian, Alexander Weyand, a former By Patrick M. Premo Army lineman, was the foremost authority on Historical Reality This article picks up where the National Champions —here’s his last one left off as we continue #1 teams. our chronological single game elimination tournament of Rose Historical Reality National Bowl champions. Season Champions 1905 Yale 1876 Yale 1906 Yale The College Football Historian-3- 1971 Stanford 24 1972 Stanford 17 1961 Washington 28 1962 Minnesota 31 In another battle of same schools, 1971 Stanford beat its The points continue to pile up 1972 counterpart by a with the Golden Gophers topping touchdown. the Huskies! 1973 USC 23 1963 USC 24 1974 Ohio St. 24 1964 Illinois 31 These two teams split in the Some might call this a minor 1973 and 1974 Rose Bowls, so upset as Illinois scored the go this was the “rubber match,” so ahead touchdown late in the to speak. It was a very close fourth quarter and time ran out game, but the Buckeyes on the Trojans. squeaked out a win. Some would call this an upset, but Ohio State 1965 Michigan 35 was a very good team in the 1973 1966 UCLA 28 season – and proved it. Deadlocked at the end of 1975 USC 35 regulation, Michigan scored in 1976 UCLA 58 overtime but UCLA was unable to put points on the board. This was a monumental upset – not so much that UCLA won, but 1967 Purdue 35 that they put up 58 points 1968 USC 34 against the Trojan defense!! USC seemed to have the game 1977 USC 30 won when Purdue threw up a 1978 Washington 24 Hail Mary pass as time expired-- it connected to tie the game. The USC was favored to win, but extra point was good and the trailed until late in the fourth Boilermakers won in a thriller! quarter when they drove for the winning touchdown. Washington 1969 Ohio St. 24 could not respond. 1970 USC 21 1979 USC 35 In one of the greatest comebacks 1980 USC 42 ever, Ohio St. came from 11 points down late in the fourth Another match-up of teams from quarter and scored two the same school – and what a touchdowns to pull out a victory. match-up it was. The two teams kept trading touchdowns – and it went right down to the wire with The College Football Historian-4- 1991 Washington 24 1992 Washington 23 each team scoring two touchdowns in the fourth Still another same school quarter. And the game ended up meeting resulted in a very close tied at 35 each. In the overtime, game, but 1991 Washington gave only the 1980 Trojans scored to up a safety as time ran out pull out the win. rather than take a chance on a punt deep in its own territory. 1981 Michigan 24 1982 Washington 18 1993 Michigan 18 1994 Wisconsin 21 Michigan held on the defeat Washington in one of the lower One of the few meetings of two scoring games! Big 10 teams saw another close game, but the Badgers pulled it 1983 UCLA 30 out. 1984 UCLA 20 1995 Penn St. 30 Once again two teams from the 1996 USC 15 same schools clashed – the 1983 Bruins won easier than the score Heavily favored Penn St. easily indicated. handled the Trojans. 1985 USC 17 1997 Ohio St. 3 1986 UCLA 34 1998 Michigan 27 UCLA easily defeated USC. Another Big 10 match-up saw favored Michigan win easily, to 1987 Arizona St. 20 the surprise of the Buckeye fans. 1988 Michigan St. 19 1999 Wisconsin 18 One of the lower scoring games 2000 Wisconsin 15 we’ve had saw newcomer Arizona St. pull this one out by the Yet another Big 10 meeting, this narrowest margin possible. time of same school teams. 1999 Wisconsin squeaked by the 2000 1989 Michigan 24 squad. 1990 USC 7 2001 Washington 20 Michigan out-defensed USC by 2002 Miami, FL 32 only allowing one touchdown while putting up three of their Heavily favored Miami had little own, plus a field goal. trouble with the Huskies. The College Football Historian-5- 2007 USC 21 2008 USC 10 2003 Oklahoma 28 2004 USC 31 Some thought this would be a much closer game, but 2008 This clash of titans saw the (2007 season) USC had a couple Trojans manhandle the Sooners’ bad breaks go their way and they vaunted defense to pull off the could not recover. win. Because of the odd number of 2005 Texas 34 teams who have won the Rose 2006 Texas 32 Bowl to date, the 2009 winner, USC, will get a bye in this round. The 2006 Texas team (from the 2005 season) was favored by over 2009 USC - BYE a touchdown, and looked like they had the game won with a 12 The stage is now set for Round point lead late in the fourth 2. See you next issue when we quarter. But 2005 Vince Young will continue in our quest to (from the 2004 season) worked crown the all-time Rose Bowl his magic by scoring two late champion! touchdowns, the second one with less than a minute to go. The 2006 Vince Young could not * * * answer in what was a surprising upset. A Backward Glance at Possibly, Christopher Columbus, looking for Calcutta, did fall upon the Forward Pass: America. Giving Credit Where Credit is DU! This kind of legend keeps going on. In "The Birth of the Modern © Anthony J. Lisska Passing Game, "the reader Denison University discovers that" the win Granville Historical Society revolutionized college football as the forward pass, a legal weapon Used by permission since 1906, gained popularity as a legitimate offensive tool." Perhaps General Abner Doubleday, putting aside his The Pigskin Post this fall noted battle plans, did invent baseball. the following: Notre Dame did not Maybe Benjamin Franklin, silly invent the forward pass but . man, did fly a kite in the rain. they perfected it. Up to this point, the forward pass was more The College Football Historian-6- and later eminent Cleveland attorney, George Roudebush, gimmick play and had never been passed with a high degree of used as a regular part of a team’s accuracy, especially in an offense.