1911 COLLEGE FOOTBALL YEAR-IN-REVIEW

As has been mentioned previously, in the early days of college football, when the game was still changing on an almost yearly basis (more changes were coming in 1912!), the strongest teams were centered in and around Pennsylvania. That was still the case in 1911 when a trio of Pennsylvania schools dominated the sport. Centerville, with their "pugnacious" coach and stellar halfback, played all comers and won a whole lot more than they lost (11-1-0); Philadelphia-based George Fox was 9-1-0; and the Liberty College Bells went unbeaten and untied at 9-0-0, allowing just 22 points for the season to be named (retroactively in 1936 by the Omni Sports Bureau) as the national champions.

Centerville and Coach Pug Johnston had the nation's best player (in most opinions) in junior halfback Jack Oxendine. Oxendine was the featured player in the team's game plan and was a dominant player both offensively and defensively. Though everyone played both ways, it was common that most players were more talented in one facet than the other - such was not the case with Oxendine whose athleticism made him a terror on both sides of the ball. With Oxendine leading the way Centerville downed quality teams such as Eastern Virginia (30-6), Dickson (17-3), St. Pancras (16-7) and Ellery (33-0) with their lone loss coming to a spirited St. Matthew's squad on October 14th, falling 17-10 in a game Oxendine played on a sprained ankle. Coach Pug wasn't happy to have failed to go unbeaten, but he was a hard man to please.

George Fox also had a star played in wingback Elwood "Tuffy" Danvers. Tuffy wasn't as fast as Oxendine, but he was strong - and mean. With Danvers running over and through opponents, the Reds whipped Hartford Wesleyan 48-0 to get their season started, followed that with a 34-0 whipping of St. Patrick's before winning a grueling 7-0 grudgefest over St. Pancras on October 7th. Their lone loss came the next week (the same day Centerville was defeated) when Chesapeake State matched Tuffy's physicality and won easily 27-3. After that, George Fox got back on a roll, heading south to down Rome State 14-0, then taking down a pair of New York schools: Empire State back in Philly 24-10, and Bigsby in New York by a 17-7 margin. Three straight Academia foes followed - and all were hard-fought games that Fox won: 20-0 over Ellery on 11/11; 12-10 over Sadler on the 18th and a season-ending 6-3 victory over Dickson on the 25th.

But it was Liberty College who stole everyone's thunder in 1911. With a solid all-around squad good on both sides of the ball that featured three All-Americans, the Bells rung up victory after victory. After the usual pair of cupcakes to start the season, Liberty faced Brunswick and won 14-3 on October 14th. Penn Catholic fell the next week 30-7; two more small schools fell 37-0 and 40-0 the next two weeks as tuneups for Liberty's stretch run: 28-3 over Empire State; 10-0 over Annapolis Maritime; and a 59-0 whipping of Philadelphia Central, who folded their program following the defeat.

While the three Pennsylvania schools were leading the headlines, there was good football going on in the rest of the nation as well. College of Omaha posted an 8-0-0 record and Chesapeake State had a 7-0-2 record that included their big win over George Fox. Noble Jones was 8-1-0 as John Christian continued to innovate in Augusta. St. Andrews was 8-2 in Tennessee; Central Carolina was 7-1; Arkansas A&T was 8-1; Eastern State was 8-2. The rising midwestern programs Detroit City College (6-2) and Chicago Poly (5-0-2) started to draw more attention as well. 

Mott's All-American Team for 1911:

1910 YEAR-IN-REVIEW

Several changes were unveiled to the rule book for the 1910 season in collegiate football. For one thing, the forward pass rule was modified (again). Now, only the ends were eligible to catch a pass and it could be no further than 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. And at the time the pass was thrown the passer had to be at least five yards behind the line and all the players except the ends had to be at least one yard behind the line. The "flying tackle" (a favorite teaching point of Centerville coach Pug Johnston) was outlawed; now "the man making a tackle must have at least one foot on the ground." It was also now illegal for team mates to aid (ie., push or pull) a ballcarrier.

Aside from the rule changes, the 1910 season would be interesting in large part thanks to two coaching legends: John Christian and Edward "Pug" Johnston.

In 1909, coach John Christian had left Nobel Jones College to take over as the coach of Minnesota Tech. Noble Jones had a terrible season while Tech went undefeated. So in 1910, Noble Jones made a very generous offer to Mr. Christian. And in a move that was both unprecedented and never repeated, Christian took the Noble Jones job and kept his Tech job too. How? Well, Tech's season started earlier than Noble Jones - largely due to the differences in the weather between Minnesota and Georgia. Christian would run the Tech squad through the first game of the season before heading south to handle Noble Jones for the remainder. Christian had a hand-picked assistant who would stay in Minnesota and with whom he'd be in frequent contact, who would handle the Lakers during games. In the meantime, Christian would remake Noble Jones into a powerhouse.

While Coach Christian was doing double-duty, his counterpart in central Pennsylvania was busy correcting his charges. The 1909 Centerville Chiefs had finished 8-4-0 - a good showing by most standards, but not by that to which Coach Pug Johnston held his teams. With a team that played several games more than any other top-level collegiate program of the time, Pug's men were in top shape, and he had a not-so-secret weapon in sophomore standout Jack Oxendine. The Chiefs were expected to be "back in fighting trim" for 1910 - and that prediction turned out to be true.

Typically Centerville "got in first" with an early game before most schools played - but the Central Carolina Lions beat them to the punch with a September 17th game against Durham College (the game was a boring 9-0 win for the Lions). Centerville played the first of its 14 (yes 14) games on the 21st, a "tune-up" against the Lebanon Valley town club that had beaten them in 1909. Pug had his players in a lather and they easily handled the opposition this time with a 28-0 cakewalk. Three days later they were at it again, with their first Saturday game, a 10-0 victory over Penn Catholic. The Chiefs revenge tour was on - or so everyone thought. In point of fact, the Chiefs let down their guards twice - both against inferior competition and were tied by Clarion College 10-10 and then outright defeated by Gettysburg 10-3. Other than that, Centerville was dominant, finishing 12-1-1. But Pug's squad could have been better - and this was something their coach would not forget.

Meanwhile, the Noble Jones Colonels were rolling under John Christian. The first game wasn't until October 1st, but they won that one by a 54-3 margin (over tiny Mobile City College). Next up was Jacksonville Baptist (a 41-7 victory) and then Alabama Baptist fell 51-3. Cumberland - the team's first real challenge - was a 22-3 victory and the Colonels closed their perfect October with a 27-7 win over Macon State on the 29th. In November, they faced St. Andrew's (a 44-17 win), followed by Coastal State (55-16), Georgia Baptist (17-7) and in the team's biggest game, a season-ending 31-6 victory over a tough Opelika State Wildcat team in Alabama during Thanksgiving week. The Colonels' 9-0-0 season earned them recognition in the 1936 Omni Sports Bureau's "retroactive" national champions list, but Christian didn't wait for that - he claimed the title immediately after defeating Opelika State. 

Unfortunately for Christian and the Colonels, several other teams also claimed the national championship, even if their credentials were not quite up to par with Noble Jones College's claim. Lubbock State and Central Carolina each posted 8-0-0 marks while Liberty College was 7-0-1. All three claimed to be champs. Christian's "other" team - Minnesota Tech - went 6-1-0 with Christian mailing his game plan to his assistant, a fellow named Pete Stenhouse, who would someday turn out to be a pretty good coach on his own.

There was a bit of controversy surrounding the All-American team as announced by Daniel Mott after the season. Sophomore sensation Jack Oxendine was left off the squad. Not because he wasn't worthy - virtually everyone agreed he was among the top players not just of 1910, but of all-time. But Mott left him off because he was a sophomore. "I am not fond of naming juniors to the team, let alone a raw sophomore, regardless of his so-called credentials," he wrote in his article that accompanied the team's announcement in The Sporting Way magazine. The decision, dubious as it was, prevented Oxendine from making history. It would be one of the few times this would be the case for the talented Centerville halfback.

Mott's All-American Team for 1910: