1907 YEAR-IN-REVIEW
Coming into the 1907 season, the impact of the forward pass rule introduced the year before was still evolving, and this would continue to be the case for several more seasons. Some coaches, such as Noble Jones College's John Christian, were big proponents of the rule and employed the pass as a weapon despite the risk involved due to the 15-yard-penalty for failure to complete the pass. Ed "Pug" Johnston, whose Centerville team had been 12-0-0 the season before, dubbed the pass a "gimmick" and promised his team would continue to play a "traditional" style.
Along with Centerville, both Sadler and Eastern Virginia had also been unbeaten in 1906, and came into the new season as favorites in the east. And like Sadler, the other schools who would one day make up the Academia Alliance, such as Ellery, Brunswick and George Fox were all expected to be strong teams. Elsewhere in the East, the Liberty College Bells and the Centerville Chiefs (who featured the popular Alfred Trumaine as their star back) were expected to do well. In the South, the Bayou State Cougars and the St. Andrew's Barons, along with Nobel Jones were expected to be strong. The Laclede Trappers members of the Western Alliance (later the Great Lakes Eight), and coached by the soon-to-be-legendary Alphonse Trumbull), and the (then) independent Detroit City College, coached by Fred Young, were considered to be among the stronger teams in the Midwest.
Among the big September contests, the opening week of September 21st saw Ellery top Gilman 15-3 and several other of the more prominent schools defeat small college competition easily. Centerville cruised 28-0 over Penn Catholic on September 28, and Ellery beat Bay State, 14-0. Empire State, which would later be a contender but had lost to a small Schenectady school the week before, downed West Corners (NY) 10-3, and Eastern State topped Central Carolina 17-10.
October 2nd - a Wednesday - saw the first contests for George Fox (30-0 over Hartford Wesleyan), Dickson (21-9 over Penobscot State) and Annapolis Maritime (24-0 over Delaware Teachers College) and those were quickly followed up by three more games within 12 days for each of those schools. Ellery and Dickson were both stunned in the rain on October 5th, Ellery finishing with a 3-3 tie with tiny Trinity Bible College of NJ and Dickson tying Presbyterian College of Trenton 7-7 while Sadler cruised over Hartford Wesleyan 59-0. The biggest game that day was a 24-10 win by Centerville over Liberty College with Trumaine having a big game.
But the biggest news was happening out west where the College of Omaha Raiders started with a pair of tiny, non-competitive opponents (winning 44-3 and 37-0) before a string of impressive wins: 27-7 over Poweshiek (10/12), 21-7 over Minnesota Tech (10/19), 31-3 over Boulder State (10/26), a hard-fought 24-14 win over Iowa A&M (11/2), a 51-0 demolition of Lawrence State (11/9) and 31-0 whitewashing of Mile High State (11/16) before wrapping up an undefeated/untied season with a 33-6 win over local rival Lincoln A&T on 11/23 and a season-ending 22-7 win over Laclede. The Raiders 10-0-0 record and 321-53 point differential made them the Omni Sports Bureau's pick as retroactive National Champions for 1907.
Disputing that would be the adherents of Centerville and Sadler. The Chiefs posted a 10-0-1 record, their lone non-victory being a 26-26 tie with... Sadler. The Sadler Bluecoats, for their part, finished 8-0-2, tying with George Fox 14-14 on November 23rd. A slew of one-loss teams included George Fox (8-1-1), Bayou State (9-1-0), St. Andrews (8-1-0), Ellery (8-1-1), Brunswick (8-1-1), and Eastern Virginia (8-1-1). Other schools who were picked as potential powerhouses such as Leclede (8-2-0) and Liberty College (8-2-0) did finish with good records. Detroit City College, playing largely local, small schools, was 4-2 against top-level competition. Noble Jones was 6-2 as the offense managed only 99 points - in some part thanks to an overabundance of pass attempts resulting in penalties - undeterred, Coach Christian pledged to continue featuring the pass in 1908.
Mott's All-American Team for 1907:
Backs
- Merritt Spaulding, Ellery (JR)
- William Hastings, Sadler (SR)
- Alfred Trumaine, Centerville (SR)
Ends
- Norman Trotter, St. Andrews (JR)
- Edgar Wesley, St. Pancras (SR)
- Milo Beaulieu, Bayou State (JR)
Linemen
- Otto Klemminger, Eastern Virginia (SR)
- Hobart Sampson, Brunswick (SR)
- Timothy Strong, College of Omaha (SR)
- Everett Witcher, Opelika State (JR)
- James Shively, Bluegrass State (JR)
BACKGROUND
Like many other aspects of 19th century life, the evolution of what became "American" football had its roots in Britain. The British were fond of a particularly brutal proto-sport dubbed "mob football" that was, at its essence, simply a churning mass of humanity pushing and fighting each other up and down a field. They brought this game to the American colonies and after independence, the game continued in the United States, and gained popularity on college campuses, especially those in the old and haughty institutions that today comprise the "Academia Alliance." At Dickson University a tradition that would come to be known as "Bloody Monday" evolved in the early 19th century. Bloody Monday was a massive mob football contest between Dickson's freshman and sophomore classes that left many of its participants bloodied and wounded each year until the university banned it in 1860. Meanwhile, at Grafton, a similar game occurred from the 1830s until 1871 when it too was banned for the safety of the participating students. George Fox College banned football in all forms in 1871 (the students would successfully get it reinstated within a decade).
What these proto-football games had in common was a distinct lack of rules. Correcting this large problem took some time, but began in 1869 when Garden State University and Brunswick College played a game using a variation of the English rules for, of all things, soccer. Played with a round ball, the contest bore little resemblance to what we now call football, but it is generally recognized as the first college football contest. Garden State and Brunswick were quickly joined by other northeastern schools, with the home team using its own variety of rules, some of which like the "fair catch" have survived - in modified form - to today's game.
Five schools - Garden State, Brunswick, Grafton, George Fox, and the newly-founded Bigsby College - met in New York on October 20, 1873 to codify the rules for intercollegiate football. More resembling soccer than modern football, the rules were adopted and many schools began using them. One that did not was Dickson. They had their own rules, and insisted on using them, even refusing to joining the rules conference in New York. Grafton's game was rougher than the "New York" game and initially made it difficult for Grafton to find opponents. Grafton ended up playing several Canadian schools who used a ruleset closer to rugby and this began to inform Grafton's rules as well. Less than three years after the New York conference, a new conference was held in Boston - and this one resulted in a game that included the "rugby" elements Grafton preferred.
There was still bickering and tinkering going on and this set the stage for the man who would become the sport's "founding father" to start making his mark. His name was Daniel Mott and he captained the George Fox team in 1878. Unhappy with the "Commission" rules, Mott suggested reducing the number of players from 15 to 11 and though initially rejected, this rule was adopted in 1880. Other Mott innovations include the line of scrimmage, the center-to-quarterback snap, a set number of downs to go a certain distance (initially three downs to go five yards, it has evolved to four downs to go ten yards), a standard field size of 120 yards by 53 1/3 yards, and various scoring rules for touchdowns, field goals, safeties and kicks after touchdowns. Mott was not employed by any school or governing board, yet he directed the sport's rules and eventually awarded an "All-American" award to the eleven best players each season. This practice continued after his death in 1927, and is ongoing even today.
Era | Touchdown | Field goal | Conversion (kick) | Conversion (touchdown) | Safety |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1883 | 2 | 5 | 4 | – | 1 |
1883–1897 | 4 | 5 | 2 | – | 2 |
1898–1903 | 5 | 5 | 1 | – | 2 |
1904–1908 | 5 | 4 | 1 | – | 2 |
1909–1911 | 5 | 3 | 1 | – | 2 |
1912–1957 | 6 | 3 | 1 | – | 2 |
1958- | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
During the last two decades of the 19th century the game's popularity continued to grow and the number of colleges participating likewise grew with the game expanding across the nation during this period. Unfortunately, the sport was largely lawless with no real governing body to ensure good sportsmanship, unbiased officiating or even proper application of a standard set of rules. The game was extremely violent with player fatalities occurring periodically and serious injuries occurring regularly. In December 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt, an enthusiastic fan of the sport whose sons were at that time playing in both college and secondary schools, called a meeting with several universities at the White House to discuss making the game safer in a year in which 19 players were killed. Shortly thereafter a new governing body was created: the American Intercollegiate Athletic Association (AIAA) with complete power to establish rules and govern the sport. 68 universities signed on as member institutions, setting the stage for a period of great growth, and eventually, a professional football league.