1917 college football season

{{Infobox college football season

| year = 1917

| image_size= 250

| image = 1917 Georgia Tech backfield.jpg

| image_caption = Georgia Tech's backfield

| number_of_teams =

| preseason_ap =

| regular_season =

| number_of_bowls = 1

| bowl_start =

| bowl_end =

| champion = Georgia Tech

| heisman = Not awarded until 1935

}}

The 1917 college football season ended with six undefeated teams in Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Williams, and Washington State.

The Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book lists only Georgia Tech as national champions, the South's first.{{cite book | url=http://web1.ncaa.org/web_files/stats/football_records/DI/2009/2009FBS.pdf | title=Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book | pages=76–77 | publisher=The National Collegiate Athletic Association | date=August 2009 | location=Indianapolis, IN | access-date=2009-10-16}}

Tech coach John Heisman challenged Pitt coach Pop Warner to a postseason contest to determine a national champion, but as such a match did not occur until the next season. The Golden Tornado was invited to play a 4–3 Oregon team in the Rose Bowl, but by then many players had joined the war effort.

In the second week of play, Georgia Tech beat Penn 41–0. Bernie McCarty called it "Strupper's finest hour, coming through against powerful Penn in the contest that shocked the East." By comparison, Pitt defeated Penn 14–6.{{cite web|url=http://www.databasefootball.com/College/teams/teamyear.htm?TeamID=83&Season=1917 |title=1917 Pittsburgh Panthers |work=databaseFootball.com |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151130221601/http://www.databasefootball.com/College/teams/teamyear.htm?TeamID=83&Season=1917 |archive-date=2015-11-30 }}

Conference and program changes

=Conference changes=

One conference changed its name for the 1917 season:
Michigan rejoined the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (commonly known as the Big Nine Conference) after a nine-year absence. As such, the league was first unofficially coined the Big Ten, the name it possesses today.

=Membership changes=

class="wikitable sortable" ! School !! 1916 Conference !! 1917 Conference
style="text-align:center;" \| Michigan Wolverines	Independent	Big Ten (was Big Nine)
style="text-align:center;" \| Montana Agricultural Bobcats	Independent	Rocky Mountain
style="text-align:center;" \|Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels	Program Established	Independent
style="text-align:center;" \| Southwestern (TX) Pirates	Southwest	Independent
style="text-align:center;" \|Toledo Blue and Gold	Program Established	Independent

September

September 29

In a doubleheader, Georgia Tech beat Furman and then Wake Forest; 25–0 and 33–0 respectively. Navy beat Davidson 27–6. Pitt beat West Virginia 14–9.

October

October 6

Georgia Tech beat Penn at home 41 to 0. Centre beat KMI 104–0. West Virginia beat Navy 6–0. Williams beat Cornell 14–10. Texas A&M defeated Austin College 66-0.

October 7

Georgia Tech beat Cumberland at home 222–0. http://www.espn.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/124864/100-years-ago-georgia-techs-222-0-victory

October 13

Georgia Tech beat Davidson 32–10, its closest game all season. DePauw beat Centre 6–0. Syracuse beat Rutgers 14–10. Wisconsin tied Notre Dame 0–0. Texas A&M beat the University of Dallas 98-0.

October 20

Georgia Tech beat Washington & Lee 63–0. Auburn beat Clemson 7–0. Pittsburgh beat Syracuse 28–0. Nebraska beat Notre Dame 7–0. Washington State beat Oregon 26–3.

October 27

Undefeated Pittsburgh beat Penn on the road 14 to 6. Auburn beat Mississippi A&M 13–6. Texas A&M beat LSU 27-0.

November

November 3

Georgia Tech gave Vanderbilt its worst ever beating, 83–0.{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/stream/fottballsgreates00pope#page/344/mode/2up|title=Football's Greatest Coaches|page=344|author=Edwin Pope|year=1956 |author-link=Edwin Pope}} Auburn crushed Florida 68–0. Centre beat Kentucky 3–0. Texas A&M beat Tulane 35–0. Wisconsin beat Minnesota 10–7. Illinois tied Chicago 0–0. Rutgers tied West Virginia 3–3.

November 10

A freshman Buck Flowers at Davidson upset Auburn 21–7. All of Georgia Tech's backs rushed for 100 yards in a 48–0 defeat of Tulane.{{cite news|url=https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/26133/1917-11-13_07_07.pdf?sequence=1|newspaper=The Technique|title=Tech Swamps Tulane|page=4|date=November 13, 1917}} Texas A&M beat Baylor 7–0. Ohio State beat Wisconsin 16–3. Navy beat Georgetown 28–7.

November 17

Georgia Tech beat Carlisle 98–0. Penn beat Michigan 16–0. Ohio State beat Illinois 13–0.

November 24

Auburn fought undefeated Ohio State to a scoreless tie. Coach Heisman of Georgia Tech (who previously coached at Auburn) and his players were at the game, rooting for the Tigers. Minnesota beat Illinois 27–6.

November 29

Georgia Tech beat Auburn 68 to 7. Davidson beat Clemson 21–9. Mississippi A&M beat Haskell 7–6. Texas A&M beat Rice 10-0, wrapping up an undefeated, untied and unscored-upon season, a feat they would replicate two years later. The Aggies outscored their opponents 270-0 in eight games in 1917.

Rose Bowl

The Mare Island Marines defeated Camp Lewis, 19–7, in the 1918 Rose Bowl.

Conference standings

=Major conference standings=

cellpadding="5"

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Big Ten Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Missouri Valley Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Northwest Conference football standings}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Pacific Coast Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Rocky Mountain Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Southwest Conference football standings}}

=Independents=

cellpadding="5"

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 military service football records}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Eastern college football independents records}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Midwestern college football independents records}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Southern college football independents records}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Western college football independents records}}

=Minor conferences=

class="wikitable" width="60%"

!style="background:#0054B3; color:#FFFFFF;" |Conference

!style="background:#0054B3; color:#FFFFFF;" |Champion(s)

!style="background:#0054B3; color:#FFFFFF;" |Record

align="left"

| Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association

| Virginia Union

| 2–0

align="left"

| Inter-Normal Athletic Conference of Wisconsin

| La Crosse Normal

| 3–0

align="left"

| Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference

| Kansas State Normal
Kansas State Normal–Fort Hays

| 5–0–1
5–0

align="left"

| Louisiana Intercollegiate Athletic Association

| Southwestern Louisiana Industrial

| 5–0

align="left"

| Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

| Alma

| 4–0

align="left"

| Nebraska Intercollegiate Conference

| Unknown

| —

align="left"

| Ohio Athletic Conference

| Miami (OH)

| 5–0–1

align="left"

| Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference

| No champion

| —

align="left"

| Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

| Pomona–Pitzer

| 4–0

align="left"

| Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

| Tuskegee

| —

=Minor conference standings=

cellpadding="5"

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Eastern Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football standings}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Ohio Athletic Conference football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings}}

|valign="top" width=25em|{{1917 Wisconsin Normal Athletic Conference football standings}}

Rankings

Awards and honors

=All-Americans=

The consensus All-America team included:

class="wikitable" style="font-size: 90%"

!Position

!Name

!Height

!Weight (lbs.)

!Class

!Hometown

!Team

|Benny Boynton

|5'9"

|163

|So.

|Waco, Texas

|Williams

|Elmer Oliphant

|5'7"

|180

|Sr.

|Bloomfield, Indiana

|Army

|Everett Strupper

|5'7"

|148

|Sr.

|Columbus, Georgia

|Georgia Tech

|Chic Harley

|5'11"

|171

|Jr.

|Ohio State

|Sr.

|Ohio State

|5'10"

|185

|Jr.

|Williamsport, Pennsylvania

|Penn

|George Hauser

|Sr.

|Council Bluffs, Iowa

|Minnesota

|Dale Sies

|6'1"

|203

|Sr.

|Ames, Iowa

|Pittsburgh

|Jock Sutherland

|Sr.

|Coupar Angus, Scotland

|Pittsburgh

|Frank Rydzewski

|6'1"

|220

|Sr.

|Chicago, Illinois

|Notre Dame

|Eugene Neeley

|Sr.

|Dallas, Texas

|Dartmouth

|Alf Cobb

|5'11"

|210

|Sr.

|Athol, Massachusetts

|Syracuse

|Paul Robeson

|6'3"

|219

|Jr.

|Princeton, New Jersey

|Rutgers

Statistical leaders

Team scoring most points: Georgia Tech, 491
Player scoring most points: Bill Ingram, Navy, 162
Player scoring most touchdowns: Albert Hill, Georgia Tech, 23
Player scoring most goals after touchdown: Bill Fincher, Georgia Tech, 49
Rushing yards leader: Everett Strupper, Georgia Tech, 1150
Rushing avg. leader: Everett Strupper, 10.1

1917 college football season

Conference and program changes

=Conference changes=

=Membership changes=

September

October

November

Rose Bowl

Conference standings

=Major conference standings=

=Independents=

=Minor conferences=

=Minor conference standings=

Rankings

Awards and honors

=All-Americans=

Statistical leaders

References