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1886 college football season

Last updated: 2025-07-29 12:50:51

1886 college football season

The 1886 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Princeton and Yale as having been selected national champions.[1]

Conference and program changes

School1885 Conference1886 Conference
California Golden BearsProgram establishedIndependent

Season notes

On Thanksgiving Day in Princeton, NJ, undefeated teams from Yale and Princeton met. The game started late due to the absence of a referee, and heavy rain caused the game to be called on account of darkness with Yale leading 4–0 in the second half. Under the rules of the time, the game was declared "no contest" by the substitute referee, and the final score was declared to be 0–0. After a special meeting of the Intercollegiate Football Association held to review the game, the Association issued a two-part resolution - that (1) Yale should have been acknowledged the winner, but that (2) under their existing rules, the Association did not have the authority to award the game to them.[2]

The first intercollegiate game in the state of Vermont happened on November 6, 1886, between Dartmouth and Vermont at Burlington, Vermont. Dartmouth won 91 to 0.[3] Vermont was the last state in New England yet to have a football contest.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1886 Northern Intercollegiate Football Association standings
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
Williams $   –  5 –1 –1
Tufts   –  0 –8 –0
  • $ – Conference champion

Independents

1886 Eastern college football independents records
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
Yale   –  9 –0 –1
Princeton   –  7 –0 –1
Harvard   –  12 –2 –0
Lafayette   –  10 –2 –0
Williams   –  5 –1 –1
Massachusetts   –  2 –1 –0
Penn   –  9 –7 –1
Lehigh   –  4 –3 –1
Dartmouth   –  2 –2 –0
Amherst   –  3 –4 –0
Rutgers   –  1 –3 –0
Wesleyan   –  2 –6 –0
MIT   –  2 –6 –1
Vermont   –  0 –1 –0
Stevens   –  0 –7 –1
Tufts   –  0 –8 –0
NYU   –  0 –3 –0
Swarthmore   –    –  
Trinity (CT)   –    –  
1886 Midwestern college football independents records
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
Cincinnati   –  2 –0 –0
Michigan   –  2 –0 –0
Wabash   –  2 –0 –1
Albion   –  1 –2 –0
Northwestern   –  0 –1 –0
Minnesota   –  0 –2 –0
1886 Southern college football independents records
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
Navy   –  3 –3 –0
Johns Hopkins   –  2 –2 –1
Richmond   –  1 –1 –0
Randolph–Macon   –    –  
1886 Western college football independents records
Conf.Overall
TeamW L TW L T
California   –  6 –2 –1
Colorado College   –  1 –0 –0

References

  1. ↑ Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book (PDF). Indianapolis, IN: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2009. p. 70. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
  2. ↑ "No Football Champions.; But Princeton Challenges Yale To Another Game On Saturday". The New York Times. November 28, 1886.
  3. ↑ "College Football Games". New York Times. November 7, 1886. p. 3. Retrieved March 27, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon

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