1917 college football season

1917 NCAA football season
290px Georgia Tech's backfield.
Total # of teams	88
Number of bowls	1
Champions	Georgia Tech Golden Tornado
College football seasons « 1916 1918 »

The 1917 NCAA football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Georgia Tech as national champions.

Conference and program changes

• Michigan rejoined the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (commonly known as the Big Nine Conference) after a nine year absence. As such, the league was first unofficially coined the Big Ten, the name it possesses today.

School	1916 Conference	1917 Conference
Michigan Wolverines	Independent	Big Ten (was Big Nine)
Montana Agricultural Bobcats	Independent	Rocky Mountain
Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels	Program Established	Independent
Southwestern (TX) Pirates	Southwest	Independent

Rose Bowl

The Mare Island Marines would defeat Camp Lewis 19-7 in the 1918 Rose Bowl.

National championship

Georgia Tech was the first Southern team to win a title. Auburn fought undefeated Ohio State to a scoreless tie. Undefeated Pittsburgh beat Penn on the road 14 to 6, Georgia Tech beat Penn at home 41 to 0, and beat Auburn 68 to 7. John Heisman challenged Pop Warner to a postseason contest to determine a national champion, but as such a match did not occur until the next season, Tech was named national champion. The Golden Tornado was invited to play a 4–3 Oregon team in the Rose Bowl, but by then many players had joined the war effort.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1917 Big Ten football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Ohio State $ 4 – 0 – 0     8 – 0 – 1 Minnesota 3 – 1 – 0     4 – 1 – 0 Northwestern 3 – 2 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Wisconsin 3 – 2 – 0     4 – 2 – 1 Illinois 2 – 2 – 1     5 – 2 – 1 Chicago 2 – 2 – 1     3 – 2 – 1 Indiana 1 – 2 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Michigan 0 – 1 – 0     8 – 2 – 0 Iowa 0 – 2 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 Purdue 0 – 4 – 0     3 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion

1917 Missouri Valley football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Nebraska $ 2 – 0 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Kansas 3 – 1 – 0     6 – 2 – 0 Iowa State 3 – 1 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Kansas State 2 – 2 – 0     6 – 2 – 0 Missouri 2 – 4 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 Washington (MO) 1 – 2 – 0     4 – 3 – 0 Drake 0 – 3 – 0     0 – 5 – 2 $ – Conference champion

1917 PCC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Washington State $ 3 – 0 – 0     6 – 0 – 0^ California 2 – 1 – 0     5 – 5 – 1 Oregon Agricultural 1 – 2 – 1     4 – 2 – 1 Oregon 1 – 2 – 0     4 – 3 – 0 Washington 0 – 2 – 1     1 – 2 – 1 $ – Conference champion ^1 tie game recognized by WSU, but not Pac-12

1917 SAIAA football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Georgetown $ 2 – 0 – 0     8 – 1 – 0 Washington and Lee 2 – 1 – 0     4 – 3 – 0 North Carolina A&M 2 – 1 – 1     6 – 2 – 1 VPI 2 – 1 – 1     6 – 2 – 1 Richmond 2 – 1 – 0     4 – 2 – 1 Maryland 2 – 1 – 1     3 – 3 – 1 Davidson 1 – 2 – 0     6 – 4 – 0 VMI 1 – 3 – 1     4 – 4 – 1 St. John's (MD) 0 – 1 – 0     0 – 1 – 0 Johns Hopkins 0 – 1 – 0     0 – 3 – 0 William & Mary 0 – 3 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion

1917 SIAA football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Georgia Tech $ 4 – 0 – 0     9 – 0 – 0 Auburn 5 – 1 – 0     6 – 2 – 1 Clemson 5 – 1 – 0     6 – 2 – 0 Mississippi A&M 3 – 1 – 0     6 – 1 – 0 Sewanee 3 – 1 – 1     4 – 2 – 2 Alabama 2 – 1 – 1     5 – 2 – 1 Tulane 2 – 1 – 0     5 – 3 – 0 Vanderbilt 3 – 2 – 0     5 – 3 – 0 LSU 2 – 3 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 Wofford 1 – 2 – 0     5 – 4 – 0 South Carolina 1 – 3 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 Furman 1 – 3 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 Florida 1 – 3 – 0     2 – 4 – 0 Ole Miss 1 – 4 – 0     1 – 4 – 1 Howard 0 – 2 – 1     0 – 2 – 1 The Citadel 0 – 2 – 0     3 – 3 – 0 Mississippi College 0 – 4 – 0     0 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion There were several SIAA schools that did not field a team due to World War I.

1917 Southwest Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Texas A&M $ 2 – 0 – 0     8 – 0 – 0 Baylor 3 – 1 – 0     9 – 1 – 0 Oklahoma 1 – 1 – 1     6 – 3 – 1 Texas 2 – 3 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 Oklahoma A&M 1 – 2 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 Arkansas 0 – 1 – 1     5 – 1 – 1 $ – Conference champion

Awards and honors

All-Americans

Main article: 1917 College Football All-America Team

The consensus All-America team included:

Position	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Class	Hometown	Team
QB	Benny Boynton	5'9"	163	So.	Waco, Texas	Williams
HB	Elmer Oliphant	5'7"	180	Sr.	Bloomfield, Indiana	Army
HB	Everett Strupper	5'7"	148	Sr.	Columbus, Georgia	Georgia Tech
FB	Chic Harley	5'11"	171	Jr.	Chicago, Illinois	Ohio State
E	Charles Bolen			Sr.	Marion, Indiana	Ohio State
E	Heinie Miller	5'10"	185	Jr.	Williamsport, Pennsylvania	Penn
T	George Hauser			Sr.	Council Bluffs, Iowa	Minnesota
G	Dale Sies	6'1"	203	Sr.	Ames, Iowa	Pittsburgh
G	Jock Sutherland			Sr.	Coupar Angus, Scotland	Pittsburgh
C	Frank Rydzewski	6'1"	220	Sr.	Chicago, Illinois	Notre Dame
G	Eugene Neeley			Sr.	Dallas, Texas	Dartmouth
T	Alf Cobb	5'11"	210	Sr.	Athol, Massachusetts	Syracuse
E	Paul Robeson	6'3"	219	Jr.	Princeton, New Jersey	Rutgers

Statistical leaders

• Team scoring most points: Georgia Tech, 491
• Player scoring most points: Bill Ingram, Navy, 162
• Player scoring most touchdowns: Albert Hill, Georgia Tech, 23
• Player scoring most goals after touchdown: Bill Fincher, Georgia Tech, 49

See also

• 1917 College Football All-America Team