The tenth season of the AFA began with its annual ritual of comings-and-goings amongst its membership. The overextended Chicago Zephyrs found they couldn't afford to go it alone and merged with the New York Stars, with the team keeping the Stars' name & location. This instantly made the New Yorkers the favorites to win the title - and convinced the owners of the New York Gothams to fold their team. The Baltimore Browns had also fallen on hard times and were short on cash so they made the... interesting... decision to leave Baltimore and move to Albany, NY, of all places. The AFA expanded back to 12 teams as the Buffalo Nickels returned and the Newark Knights, Harrisburg Generals and St. Paul Apostles joined in as well.
Meanwhile, Rollie Barrell's Detroit Maroons kept things on an even keel. Barrell knew the new "Stars" team would live up to its nickname, and indeed, New York was loaded on offense. But defensively, they were less talented. Barrell's team on the other hand, had one of the league's best defenses and an offense that was nearly as good as New York's. Barrell also felt the defending champion Wildcats would be a factor as he prepped his team for what he assumed would be a three-way fight for the crown. He was right, but not in the way he believed. He bolstered the Maroons by adding perhaps the best two-way lineman in the sport in former Gotham Gus Ziegler, the kind of move that didn't make headlines but made the team much better.
The Wildcats fell - hard - from the catbird seat in 1929. The defense, which had been a strength in '28, fell apart and Chicago allowed more points than any other AFA club. Carl Boon was furious, but there was little he could do. Though the offense was still good, Jack Barrell's once prodigious athletic abilities had begun to fade (likely due to his playing both football and hockey at the highest level and taking a pounding in both sports) and though the offense scored 177 points - fourth-best in the AFA - the defense was so porous that the Wildcats followed their unbeaten season with a dismal 3-11-1 campaign in 1929.
Into that void stepped the Philadelphia Hornets who went 12-5-2 with a "we'll play anyone, anywhere, anytime" approach. Philly's 19 games was impressive, but also wore out its players. The New York Stars, bolstered with the arrival of high-priced, and highly-skilled talent from the Chicago Zephyrs, went 12-3-0 and scored more points (296) than anyone else. But as Rollie Barrell had foreseen, the Stars defense was good, but not great, allowing 100 points. The Detroit Maroons had it going on both sides of the ball, scoring 264 points (2nd-best) and allowing just 37 points to run the table at 13-0-0, recording the most impressive season seen thus far in pro football history. Years later Rollie Barrell would note with pride that the 1929 Maroons were his favorite among the many strong Detroit clubs he fielded during his time owning the team.
FINAL STANDINGS
| Team | W | L | T | PF | PA |
| Detroit Maroons | 13 | 0 | 0 | 264 | 37 |
| New York Stars | 12 | 3 | 0 | 296 | 100 |
| Philadelphia Hornets | 12 | 5 | 2 | 238 | 169 |
| Albany Knickerbockers | 6 | 2 | 0 | 114 | 47 |
| Harrisburg Generals | 6 | 4 | 0 | 123 | 87 |
| Cleveland Finches | 6 | 5 | 2 | 177 | 113 |
| Boston Minutemen | 4 | 7 | 1 | 156 | 157 |
| Newark Knights | 3 | 7 | 2 | 66 | 144 |
| Chicago Wildcats | 3 | 11 | 1 | 132 | 258 |
| Buffalo Nickels | 1 | 7 | 1 | 57 | 173 |
| Dayton Dusters | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 146 |
| St. Paul Apostles | 0 | 9 | 1 | 50 | 242 |
WEEKLY RESULTS
| Date | Visitor | Home | ||
| 22-Sep | Dayton Dusters | 0 | Detroit Maroons | 38 |
| 22-Sep | St. Paul Apostles | 6 | Chicago Wildcats | 24 |
| 28-Sep | Dayton Dusters | 0 | Philadelphia Hornets | 19 |
| 29-Sep | Cleveland Finches | 10 | Buffalo Nickels | 10 |
| 29-Sep | Chicago Wildcats | 0 | Detroit Maroons | 23 |
| 29-Sep | New York Stars | 24 | Newark Knights | 0 |
| 29-Sep | Dayton Dusters | 0 | Boston Minutemen | 14 |
| 5-Oct | Buffalo Nickels | 6 | Philadelphia Hornets | 20 |
| 6-Oct | Philadelphia Hornets | 20 | Buffalo Nickels | 0 |
| 6-Oct | Cleveland Finches | 6 | Detroit Maroons | 14 |
| 6-Oct | Chicago Wildcats | 13 | St. Paul Apostles | 13 |
| 6-Oct | Albany Knickerbockers | 3 | Newark Knights | 10 |
| 6-Oct | New York Stars | 20 | Boston Minutemen | 9 |
| 6-Oct | Dayton Dusters | 0 | Harrisburg Generals | 7 |
| 13-Oct | Dayton Dusters | 0 | Albany Knickerbockers | 30 |
| 13-Oct | Chicago Wildcats | 7 | Buffalo Nickels | 21 |
| 13-Oct | Philadelphia Hornets | 0 | Detroit Maroons | 20 |
| 13-Oct | Cleveland Finches | 13 | St. Paul Apostles | 12 |
| 13-Oct | Harrisburg Generals | 7 | New York Stars | 14 |
| 13-Oct | Newark Knights | 13 | Boston Minutemen | 10 |
| 19-Oct | Newark Knights | 3 | Philadelphia Hornets | 14 |
| 20-Oct | Newark Knights | 7 | Albany Knickerbockers | 15 |
| 20-Oct | Cleveland Finches | 17 | Chicago Wildcats | 3 |
| 20-Oct | St. Paul Apostles | 0 | Detroit Maroons | 44 |
| 20-Oct | Philadelphia Hornets | 10 | New York Stars | 3 |
| 20-Oct | Buffalo Nickels | 7 | Boston Minutemen | 17 |
| 26-Oct | Harrisburg Generals | 6 | Philadelphia Hornets | 23 |
| 27-Oct | Buffalo Nickels | 3 | Albany Knickerbockers | 21 |
| 27-Oct | St. Paul Apostles | 10 | Chicago Wildcats | 17 |
| 27-Oct | Detroit Maroons | 6 | Cleveland Finches | 0 |
| 27-Oct | Boston Minutemen | 10 | New York Stars | 6 |
| 27-Oct | Philadelphia Hornets | 0 | Harrisburg Generals | 17 |
| 29-Oct | Newark Knights | 0 | Albany Knickerbockers | 10 |
| 2-Nov | Cleveland Finches | 3 | Philadelphia Hornets | 14 |
| 3-Nov | New York Stars | 24 | Chicago Wildcats | 3 |
| 3-Nov | Detroit Maroons | 28 | St. Paul Apostles | 0 |
| 3-Nov | Newark Knights | 3 | Harrisburg Generals | 17 |
| 5-Nov | New York Stars | 31 | Buffalo Nickels | 3 |
| 5-Nov | Boston Minutemen | 10 | Harrisburg Generals | 12 |
| 6-Nov | Cleveland Finches | 19 | Boston Minutemen | 17 |
| 9-Nov | Boston Minutemen | 17 | Philadelphia Hornets | 19 |
| 10-Nov | Detroit Maroons | 13 | Chicago Wildcats | 0 |
| 10-Nov | St. Paul Apostles | 3 | Cleveland Finches | 34 |
| 10-Nov | Newark Knights | 0 | New York Stars | 27 |
| 10-Nov | Philadelphia Hornets | 13 | Boston Minutemen | 13 |
| 10-Nov | Albany Knickerbockers | 0 | Harrisburg Generals | 14 |
| 16-Nov | Chicago Wildcats | 10 | Philadelphia Hornets | 16 |
| 17-Nov | Buffalo Nickels | 0 | Albany Knickerbockers | 14 |
| 17-Nov | Detroit Maroons | 10 | Cleveland Finches | 7 |
| 17-Nov | Chicago Wildcats | 6 | New York Stars | 37 |
| 17-Nov | Philadelphia Hornets | 3 | Newark Knights | 3 |
| 17-Nov | St. Paul Apostles | 3 | Boston Minutemen | 26 |
| 23-Nov | St. Paul Apostles | 0 | Philadelphia Hornets | 17 |
| 24-Nov | Buffalo Nickels | 7 | Chicago Wildcats | 33 |
| 24-Nov | Dayton Dusters | 0 | Cleveland Finches | 38 |
| 24-Nov | Detroit Maroons | 21 | New York Stars | 17 |
| 24-Nov | Albany Knickerbockers | 21 | Boston Minutemen | 13 |
| 24-Nov | St. Paul Apostles | 3 | Harrisburg Generals | 26 |
| 28-Nov | Chicago Wildcats | 0 | Cleveland Finches | 23 |
| 28-Nov | Detroit Maroons | 13 | Philadelphia Hornets | 7 |
| 28-Nov | New York Stars | 14 | Harrisburg Generals | 10 |
| 1-Dec | Philadelphia Hornets | 24 | Chicago Wildcats | 7 |
| 1-Dec | Cleveland Finches | 0 | New York Stars | 17 |
| 1-Dec | Harrisburg Generals | 7 | Newark Knights | 20 |
| 1-Dec | Detroit Maroons | 24 | Boston Minutemen | 0 |
| 7-Dec | New York Stars | 24 | Philadelphia Hornets | 3 |
| 8-Dec | Detroit Maroons | 10 | Chicago Wildcats | 0 |
| 8-Dec | Philadelphia Hornets | 9 | New York Stars | 24 |
| 8-Dec | Cleveland Finches | 7 | Newark Knights | 7 |
| 14-Dec | Newark Knights | 0 | Philadelphia Hornets | 7 |
| 15-Dec | New York Stars | 14 | Chicago Wildcats | 9 |
1929 AFA ALL-PRO TEAM
QB: Garland Goddard, New York Stars
HB: John Scotten, Detroit Maroons
HB: Dewey Lennon, Harrisburg Generals
FB: Sammy Pitts, Cleveland Finches
LE: John Danner, Detroit Maroons
LT: John Clark, Philadelphia Hornets
LG: Gus Ziegler, Detroit Maroons
C: Steve Stover, New York Stars
RG: Gus Herschlag, Cleveland Finches
RT: Jerry Ungar, Detroit Maroons
RE: Bunky O'Neill, New York Stars