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Top 25 Rankings 1901-1935
1915 National Championship
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1915College Football Top 25
Cornell's first national championship was carried home by superstar quarterback Charley Barrett(carrying the ball in the picture above). Cornell finished 9-0, andin a season full of contenders, they are the consensus choice for the1915 mythical national championship, and would have run away with #1had there been an AP poll that season. I covered Cornell and 6 other potential 1915 MNC contenders in detail in my1915 national championship article, including 8-0 Pittsburgh, 8-0 Nebraska, 7-0 Washington State, 7-0 Washington, 10-0 Oklahoma, and 7-0 Colorado State.
Cornell #1.#2: Pittsburgh vs. Nebraska vs. Harvard
8-1 Harvardwould easily have finished 2nd in a 1915 AP poll, and that works fine.Their loss came to #1 Cornell, their only loss since 1911. Theironly close win was 10-6 at 6-2 Princeton (will be ranked #8), and theyalso defeated 8-1 Virginia (#14) and 7-2 Penn State (nearly rated).
8-0Pittsburgh vs. 8-0 Nebraska is a more difficult prospect. I suspectthat Pitt would have edged Nebraska out for #3, but it isn't clear, andNebraska had the bigger win, over 7-1 Notre Dame (#9), while Pitt'sbest came over 8-1-1 Washington & Jefferson (#16), a team that wastied by unrated 5-2-1 West Virginia. The rest of Nebraska's wins wererouts, whereas Pitt had one poor performance in a 14-7 win at unrated3-5-2 Penn. For those reasons, I'm going with Nebraska at #3.
Pitt'sother notable wins came against a pair of nearly-rated teams, 20-0 over7-2 Penn State and 28-0 over 7-1 Carnegie. Nebraska won 21-0 at 6-2Iowa State and 33-0 at 6-2 Kansas.
Harvard #2, Nebraska #3, and Pittsburgh #4.
Minnesota, Illinois, and Washington State
Comingin nextin an AP poll would have been 6-0-1 Minnesota, followed by 5-0-2Illinois, followed by, I'm guessing, 7-0 Washington State. Minnesota'swins were all dominating, including 20-7 over 5-2 Chicago (will berated #18), 20-3 at 4-3 Wisconsin (#19), and 34-6 over 6-2 Iowa State,but their MNC hopes were dashed in a 6-6 tie at 5-0-2 Illinois. Thiswas the 2nd of 3 straight seasons that Minnesota's sole blemish came toIllinois.
5-0-2 Illinois was a defending MNC, and they were also dominatingin their wins, but unfortunately for them, in addition to Minnesota,they were tied at 5-1-1 Ohio State (#20). They won 17-3 over 4-3Wisconsin (#19) and 10-0 at 5-2 Chicago (#18).
7-0 WashingtonState was dominating as well, winning all their games by more than atouchdown, and this high rating would have been secured by thepublicity they received after beating 5-4-1 Brown 14-0 in the RoseBowl. Now, Brown was not particularly good, not close to being top 25caliber, but it was actually big news thatany team from the Northwest could defeat a winning major Eastern team.
Andthat wasn't the only game that raised the profile of Northwesternfootball, because 5-3 Oregon State also won 20-0 at 5-1 Michigan Stateduring the regular season, and MSU won the rest of their games by anaverage score of 52-4. Largely because of that game, 7-2 Oregon findsitself at #24 in this top 25, Oregon State at #25, and that does giveWSU a pair of victories over rated opponents, if barely. They beatOregon 28-3 and Oregon State 29-0. Heck, maybe WSU was even the bestteam in the country this year, but unfortunately, their schedule simplyleft no way for us to be able to tell one way or the other.
Minnesota #5, Illinois #6, and Washington State #7.
Princeton,Notre Dame, Syracuse, and Dartmouth
Nextup for a1915 AP poll would have been 6-2 Princeton, and though 7-1 Notre Dame had a betterrelevant record,I think Princeton will do for #8. They lost 10-6 to #2 Harvard, a gameeffort, but they also took a loss at 4-5 Yale in their finale, a pooreffort, albeit in a rivalry game. On the plus side, Princeton racked upa healthy number of impressive wins:3-0over 9-1-2 Syracuse (will be ranked #10), 30-7 over 7-1-1 Dartmouth(#11), 10-0 over 7-1 Rutgers (#22), 13-0 over 7-2 Georgetown, and 40-3over 8-3 Lafayette. Notre Dame didn't take an upset loss, but they alsodidn't defeat a single top 25 team.
9-1-2 Syracuse also played a tougher schedule than 7-1 Notre Dame,but their wins were not as impressive as Princeton's, so their case forbeing rated higher than Notre Dame is weaker. Syracuse took a pair ofupset ties, to 7-1-1 Dartmouth and at 2-2-2 Montana. Montana, as onemight expect, was awful, but to be fair, Syracuse was "homered" in thatgame to a degree that made the entire result something of a joke. Butthe Dartmouth tie is also damaging, because like Notre Dame, Dartmouthdid not beat a single top 25 team. But unlike Notre Dame, who lost to#3 Nebraska by just 1 point on the road, Dartmouth's loss was ugly,30-7 at #8 Princeton. Dame also beat 4 winning teams, 3 on the road,while Dartmouth beat 3, 1 on the road.
So 7-1 Notre Dame should be rated higher than 7-1-1 Dartmouth, andtherefore Syracuse tying Dartmouth is a problem for them. Still,Syracuse did pile up a nice amount of strong wins:38-0 over 5-1 Colgate (#13), 28-0 at 5-3 Oregon State (#25), 35-0 at7-1 Occidental, 6-0 at 5-4-1 Brown, and 14-7 at 4-3-1 Michigan.However, they also edged a very bad 2-6-3 Bucknell team 6-0 at home,and those scores against Brown and Michigan were also not impressive.And while Colgate will be rated highly in this top 25, that ratingcomes sheerly from reputation, as they, like Notre Dame, did not beat asingle top 25 team this season.
It's a close call, to be sure, but I'm going with 7-1 NotreDame and their lack of an upset loss or tie over 9-1-2 Syracuse andtheir tougher schedule.
Princeton #8, Notre Dame #9, Syracuse #10, and Dartmouth #11.
Princeton
Princetonwas coached by John "Speedy" Rush in 1915 and 1916, and he went 6-2 ineach season, ranking #8 this season and #11 the next. But that wasn'tgood enough, because the 2 losses in each season were to Harvard andYale (this season's game at the Yale Bowl pictured above).Unacceptable, so he was not invited back after 1916. He coached onemore year, going 3-5 at Cornell in 1919, then left the professionbehind.
Princeton fielded 6 players who would make first-team All American lists during their careers:end Jack "Red" Lamberton, guard Frank Hogg (consensus AA in 1916),halfback Dave Tibbott, fullback Edward Driggs, tackle William McLean,and center Alfred Gennert. In addition, quarterback and team captainFrank Glick was All-Eastern and made Walter Camp's Honorable Mention AAlist.Washington, Colgate, Virginia, Vanderbilt,and Washington & Jefferson
Who knows where7-0 Washington would have been ranked in a 1915 AP poll? On the plusside, this was their 8th straight unbeaten season, a streak for whichthey were nationally known. And Washington State's Rose Bowl win overBrown and Oregon State's win at 5-1 Michigan State raised the esteemwriters had for the entire Northwest. But on the other hand, Washingtondidn't play Washington State, or Oregon State, or Oregon this year.Those teams refused to play Washington this season because foryears, Washington had been refusing to play any of them on their homefields. Which partially helps to explain that 8-year unbeaten streak.Point is, Washington's schedule was completely worthless this season.As little as Dartmouth accomplished, it was still far more than thataccomplished by Washington, so we'll bring Washington in here, behindDartmouth.
5-1 Colgate is a similar story. This is about wherethey would have been ranked, largely because of how they performed theprevious 2 seasons, but their schedule left their ranking as guesswork.They got trounced by #10 Syracuse, but they were dominating in alltheir wins, and though none of them were top 25, they beat a couple ofdecent opponents, 13-0 at 5-3-1 Army and 15-0 at 4-5 Yale (who beat #8Princeton).
8-1 Virginia did not have the reputation Colgate didwith the football press, and unlike Colgate they struggled to beat anunrated team, winning 9-7 at 5-2-2 Georgia, but at least they beat arated team, routing 9-1 Vanderbilt 35-10 at home. Still, I'll let thehypothetical AP voters of 1915 have Colgate over Virginia, based on theone poor performance. Also, Colgate won 15-0 at Yale, and Virginia won10-0 at Yale, so there's another edge, however tiny, for Colgate.
9-1Vanderbilt was certainly embarrassed at Virginia, but they crushedevery other team they played, including 17-0 over 6-2 Auburn (nearlyrated).
8-1-1 Washington & Jefferson may have been ratedhigher than all the teams in this section, based on reputation, butthey were tied at unrated 5-2-1 West Virginia, and none of these otherteams took an upset, so W&J will have to settle for coming inbehind Vanderbilt. W&J's loss came 19-0 at #4 Pittsburgh. They didnot beat a top 25 opponent, and struggled to get past the likes ofGeneva and West Virginia Wesleyan. They're lucky to be rated where theyare, but can stay here because the next team in line, Oklahoma, didn'teven beat anyone as good as 5-2-1 West Virginia anyway.
Washington #12, Colgate #13, Virginia #14, Vanderbilt #15, and Washington & Jefferson #16.
Virginia
Virginiawas coached by Harry Varner, who had played for Virginia 5 years prior.This was his only season coaching, after which he spent the rest of hislife being a surgeon. The star player was halfback Eugene "Buck" Mayer(pictured), the first consensus All American from a Southern school. Hestill holds a number of school records. In 1914, he scored 142 pointson 21 touchdowns, and for his career he totaled 312 points and 48touchdowns. He won a Rhodes scholarship, and is enshrined in theVirginia Sports Hall of Fame.
Oklahoma, Chicago, Wisconsin, and Ohio State
Here comes 10-0Oklahoma to take their token spot in the top 25. How good were they?Well, this season we have a better idea than most when it comes tothese token unbeatens from outlying regions, because this year #9 NotreDame actually went down and won 36-7 at 6-3 Texas and 55-2 at 5-3 Rice.Oklahoma beat Texas 14-13. Also, #2 Nebraska won 33-0 at 6-2 Kansas,and Oklahoma beat Kansas 23-14 at home. So we have good reason to believe that Oklahoma was not a top 10 team.
Next we'll bring in some Western Conference (Big 10) teams who aremore used to being ranked, starting with 5-2 Chicago. They lost theirlast 2 games to #5 Minnesota and #6 Illinois, and neither game wasclose. They won 14-13 over 4-3 Wisconsin, but also struggled to get bybad teams like 2-5 Northwestern, 3-3-1 Indiana, and 3-3-1 Purdue. Theirperformances were so consistently poor that there is little problemwith ranking Oklahoma higher.
In addition to Chicago, Wisconsinalso lost their last 2 games to #5 Minnesota and #6 Illinois, and alsoby big scores. But at least Wisconsin was impressive in their wins, thebig one being 21-0 over 5-1-1 Ohio State.
Speaking of 5-1-1 OhioState, they pulled off a huge 3-3 tie with #6 Illinois at home, thoughthey didn't actually beat a good team, and they performed quite poorlyin a 10-9 home win over 3-3-1 Indiana.
Oklahoma #17, Chicago #18, Wisconsin #19, and Ohio State #20.
Georgia Tech, Rutgers, Colorado State, Oregon, and Oregon State
I'mgoing to finish out this top 25 with the following teams, in this order: 7-0-1 Georgia Tech, 7-1 Rutgers, 7-0 Colorado State, 7-2 Oregon, and5-3 Oregon State.
7-0-1 Georgia Tech earns their first-ever top 25 finish thisseason, and this was just the beginning. They would also go unbeatenover the following 2 seasons. This year's #1 team, Pittsburgh, was on asimilar trajectory, and would also go unbeaten until 1918. Georgia Techwent up and played Pitt that year, and Pitt ended their unbeatenstreak. Pitt's unbeaten streak would end a week later against amilitary camp team. This year, GT took an upset tie against unrated5-2-2 Georgia, but they beat 5 winning opponents, including 36-7 at 6-2LSU, 21-7 over 6-2 Alabama, and most importantly, 7-0 over 6-2 Auburn(nearly rated) in their finale. Auburn would likely occupy this spototherwise.
7-1 Rutgers lost 10-0 at #8 Princeton, and though they didn't beatanyone of value, they demolished every other opponent (average score inthose games 50-3). So like Colgate, Rutgers' rating is based largely onwhat they had done the previous season.
7-0 Colorado State is our token Rocky Mountain team, as they wouldbe again in 1916. They won every game by more than a touchdown, and Icovered them in some detail in my1915 national championship article.
Then we get to our Northwestern teams, 7-2 Oregon and 5-3 OregonState. Oregon took their losses to #7 Washington State and to theMultnomah Athletic Club, a team of former college players, in theiropener. They avenged that loss with a 15-2 win over Multnomah in theirfinale. Their wins all came by more than a touchdown, including 9-0over Oregon State. OSU took their other losses to #7 Washington Stateand to #10 Syracuse, both in routs, but they pulled off a hugeintersectional win when they went out to 5-1 Michigan State and won bythe shocking score of 20-0.
MSU won all the rest of their games by huge margins (average scorein those games 52-4), though the only significant win was 24-0 at 4-3-1Michigan. OSU's win over them mostly mattered because MSU had been astrong "mid-major" type team for years, and likely would have beenranked 6 times in the previous 7 seasons. If not for this game, MSUwould certainly have been ranked again this year.
Oregonwould go to the Rose Bowl the next season and defeat a much moreimpressive Eastern representative than WSU did this year, landingOregon in the top 10 for1916.
Georgia Tech #21, Rutgers #22, Colorado State #23, Oregon #24, and Oregon State #25.
Oregon State
Oregon State was coached by Edward "Doc" Stewart 1913-1915, whowent 15-5-5. Stewart next moved on to Nebraska, then Clemson, thenTexas, and overall he was 76-42-14 at 7 schools. The star player washalfback Herman Abraham, who made Walter Camp's 3rd team AA list.
OthersReceiving Votes
Hereare the teams closest to making this top 25. Columbia, who had droppedfootball after the 1905 season, started playing the sport again thisyear and went 5-0, but they were too far removed from major collegefootball play to be considered for ranking.
Penn State 7-2
This 7-2 PennState team in 1915 was very similar to the 8-2 Penn State that I haveranked #20 for 1916, so it's strange to see them not ranked this time.This season they took their losses 13-0 at #2 Harvard and 20-0 at #4Pittsburgh, and they did not beat a particularly good team. They hadone poor performance, a 7-0 win over mediocre 6-4 Lehigh, and theirbest win was 33-3 at 8-3 Lafayette. The problem with Lafayette is thatthey didn't beat anyone good (their best win was over theaforementioned mediocre Lehigh), and they performed poorly againstminor schools to start the season.
In 1916, 8-2 PennState similarly lost big to the 2 rated teams they played (#1 Pittand #13 Penn), and they similarly didn't beat any good teams, and theysimilarly posted their only close win over Lehigh (6-2-1 that year). Sowhy are they #20 for 1916 and unranked this season?
The realdifference between 1915 and 1916 as far as PSU is concerned is that theteams ranked #20-25 in 1915 were stronger than those in 1916. Thisseason, we had 5-1-1 Ohio State at #20, who tied #6 Illinois,obviously far more than PSU accomplished. After that, we have 7-0-1Georgia Tech instead of 1916's 8-0-1 Tennessee, and GT 1915 performedbetter and beat more winning teams than did Tennessee 1916. Obviously,CSU 1915 was 7-0, while CSU 1916 was 6-0-1. And then our last 2 teamsthis year, Oregon and Oregon State, are boosted by OSU's big win atMichigan State, which was a far better win than any PSU accomplished.
It'spossible that Penn State was a top 25 team power-wise this season, buttheir schedule wasn't good enough to really let us know one way or theother.Auburn 6-2
Here we haveanother team that might have been top 25 power-wise. 6-2 Auburn'slosses came 17-0 to #15 Vanderbilt and 7-0 at #21 Georgia Tech. Theywon 26-0 over 5-2-1 Mississippi State and 12-0 at 5-2-2 Georgia (whotied Georgia Tech). They had one poor performance, 7-0 over 4-3 Florida.
Michigan State 5-1
Aspreviouslynoted, 5-1 Michigan State (then known as Michigan Agricultural College,or MAC) lost 20-0 to #25 Oregon State at home, butthey won the rest of their games by an average score of 52-4, includinga 24-0 win at 4-3-1 Michigan. They were probably a better team thanPenn Stateand Auburn (MSU beat PSU 6-3 on the road the previous season), and infact, this might be the best team ever that didn't make a top 25.
Quite a few of these players also played on Michigan State's very strong1913MNC contender, including halfback/fullback Jerry DaPrato (consensusAA), end/halfback Blake Miller (nonconsensus AA), and tremendoustackles Hugh Blacklock and Gideon Smith. DaPrato scored 18 points inthe 24-0 win at Michigan on 2 touchdowns, 2 extra points, and a fieldgoal. For the season, he scored 124 points (15 touchdowns, 28 extrapoints, and 2 field goals) in just 6 games, making him the nation'sleader in points per game. Blake Miller rushed for 109 yards onMichigan.
This was the last year of an amazing stint for coachJohn Macklin, who went 29-5 here 1911-1915. He retired from coaching,and with him went Michigan State, as they had been top 25 for 6 of the7 years previous to this, but wouldn't be again until 1932.
Carnegie 7-1
7-1 Carnegie wasa minor team that took their loss 28-0 at #4 Pittsburgh, but routed therest of their opponents (average score 45-5 in those games), thoughthey were all minor teams. The coach was Walter Steffen (pictured), who had been a Hall of Fame quarterback for Chicago's1908MNC-contending team, and later became a judge in Chicago who commutedto Pittsburgh to coach Carnegie 1914-1917 and 1919-1932, going 88-53-8.
Carnegiewould prove to be quite pesky under Steffen. They started to becomecompetitive with major schools in the 1920s, actually fielded top 25teams 3 times 1926-1930, and pulled off a number of huge upset winsover the likes of Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.
Trinity (Connecticut) 5-0-2
5-0-2 Trinity(Connecticut) doesn't really belong on this list, but they wentunbeaten, and we have a shorter "Others Receiving Votes" list thanusual for this season, so what the heck. Trinity was tied by 5-4-1Brown (Washington State's Rose Bowl opponent) and by 5-1-2 Tufts. Theirbig win came by an extra point, 7-6 over 6-3 Amherst (who beat Brown).
1915Top 25
1)Cornell 9-0
2) Harvard 8-1
3) Nebraska 8-0
4) Pittsburgh 8-0
5) Minnesota 6-0-1
6) Illinois 5-0-2
7) Washington State 7-0
8) Princeton 6-2
9) Notre Dame 7-1
10) Syracuse 9-1-2
11)Dartmouth 7-1-1
12) Washington 7-0
13) Colgate 5-1
14) Virginia 8-1
15) Vanderbilt 9-1
16) Washington & Jefferson 8-1-1
17) Oklahoma 10-0
18) Chicago 5-2
19) Wisconsin 4-3
20) Ohio State 5-1-1
21) Georgia Tech 7-0-1
22) Rutgers 7-1
23) Colorado State 7-0
24) Oregon 7-2
25) Oregon State 5-3
OthersReceiving Votes:
Penn State 7-2
Auburn 6-2
Michigan State 5-1
Carnegie 7-1
Trinity (Connecticut) 5-0-2
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