1916 COLLEGE FOOTBALL YEAR-IN-REVIEW

In an era where there was no official National Champion it was understandable that there would be a bit of contentious debate about just who the best team in college football was in any given year. 1916 was certainly no different as a slew of teams went unbeaten. Possibly (no one knows for sure as there are several versions of the story) because of this, a group of promoters in southern California decided to host an annual "East vs West" game pitting "top teams" against each other. It might also have been just to grow the sport, or for simple financial gain. As mentioned above, there are several conflicting stories. What is known is that the first of the "Bowl Games" was born in this way: the East-West Game (which today is just known as the Festival Bowl. 

The game would ultimately pit Pierpont, representing the East, against Portland Tech, representing the West. It was a bit of a letdown - Pierpont was not very good (they were in fact, 2-8 that season) but Grafton (7-2), St. Blane (9-0) and St. Matthew's (9-0) had all turned down the trip to Los Angeles. Portland Tech, however, was good - they posted an 8-0 mark and were clearly the class of the west. So the game turned out to be (as expected) a one-side affair with Portland Tech winning 27-0. 

As far as naming a champion, the AIAA officially recognizes two teams: Liberty College and Lubbock State, both of whom went 10-0. Georgia Baptist, St. Blane, Bluegrass State and St. Matt's all were 9-0, and Portland Tech was 8-0. Noble Jones, having graduated Joe Barrell and Park Donaldson, two pillars of recent success, managed to go 8-1 despite scoring just 96 points while allowing 82, a credit to the coaching (or possibly luck) of Head Coach John Christian. At the other end of the spectrum, former power Eastern State struggled to a 3-6 mark, joining the likes of Pierpont and Lincoln (1-6) amongst the once mighty who had fallen low.

Empire State featured one of the first truly gifted passers in football history: Ted Crane. Crane had been starring for the Centurions since 1914, but really polished his passing ability in 1916. In this era, quarterbacks played a wide variety of roles: blocking, kicking, running and passing. Crane was excellent in all facets, but he was an accurate passer, which was rare for the era. He went on to become on the first stars of professional football as well before entering the coaching profession. 

Crane headed up Mott's list of All-Americans for 1916. There was one repeat appearance, by Herman Hart of Pittsburgh State who had made the 1915 team as a sophomore. One other name appeared who would go on - like Barrell, Crane and some others we'll see soon - in becoming a professional star: Ellery halfback Russell "Rusty" White.

Mott's All-American Team for 1916: