The1910 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with theOfficial NCAA Division I Football Records Book listingHarvard andPittsburgh as having been retrospectively selectednational champions, by four "major selectors" in about 1927, 1947, 1970 and 1980.[1] Harvard claims a national championship for the 1910 season.
Cartoon byRyan Walker on the ongoing attempt to make a brutal sport more effete through rules changes.
Rule changes were made prior to the 1910 season to permit more use of the forward pass, with complicated limitations:[2]
The only eligible receivers were the two ends, who could catch a pass no more than 20 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, and could not be interfered with until the ball was caught.
A legal pass could not be thrown unless the quarterback was at least 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage and the rest of the players, except the two ends, were at least 1 yard behind the scrimmage line.
On kickoffs and punts, the kicking team's players could not be touched until they had advanced 20 yards
Flying tackles were outlawed, and "the man making a tackle must have at least one foot on the ground".
The ballcarrier could no longer be aided in any way by his teammates.
Games were now played as four quarters, each 15 minutes long, rather than two halves of 35 minutes each[3]
The season ran from September 24 untilThanksgiving Day (November 24).[5] Prior to Thanksgiving, the season's death toll was 22; theprevious season's was 30.[6]
