| 1873 college football season | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total No. of teams | 14 | |||
| Regular season | October 25, 1873 to May 15, 1874 | |||
| Champion(s) | Princeton | |||
| ||||
The 1873 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Princeton as having been selected national champions.
Organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of Virginia and the Southern United States when Washington & Lee defeated VMI 4 to 2. Some industrious students of the two schools organized a game for October 23, 1869 – but it was rained out.
Students of the University of Virginia were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim it organized a game against Washington and Lee College in 1871, but no record has been found of the score of this contest. Due to scantness of records of the prior matches some will claim Virginia v. Pantops Academy November 13, 1887, as the first game in Virginia.
Conference and program changes
| Team | Former conference | New conference |
|---|---|---|
| Harvard Crimson | Program established | Independent |
| Washington & Lee Generals | Program established | Independent |
| McGill Redmen | Program established | Independent |
| Eton | Program established | Independent |
| CCNY Lavender | Program established | Independent |
| NYU Violets | Program established | Independent |
| VMI Keydets | Program established | Independent |
| Princeton Seminary | Program established | Independent |
| New Jersey AC | Program established | Independent |
Conference standings
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | W | L | W | L | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Princeton | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Harvard | – | 1 | – | 0 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Washington and Lee | – | 4 | – | 0 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stevens | – | 3 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yale | – | 2 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Columbia | – | 2 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rutgers | – | 1 | – | 2 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| McGill | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eton | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| CCNY | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Jersey AC | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NYU | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Princeton Seminary | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| VMI | – | 0 | – | 1 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
- Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book (PDF). Indianapolis, IN: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2009. p. 70. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
- "A History of Washington and Lee Athletics". Retrieved February 9, 2015.
- Melvin I. Smith (2008). Evolvements of Early American Foot Ball: Through the 1890/91 Season. p. 53. ISBN 9781434362476.
| NCAA football seasons | |
|---|---|
| Pre-NCAA | |
| NCAA pre-divisional | |
| NCAA University Division | |
| NCAA Division I | |
| NCAA Division I-A/FBS | |
| NCAA Division I-AA/FCS | |
| NCAA College Division | |
| NCAA Division II | |
| NCAA Division III | |
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