The 1896 Princeton Tigers football team was an American football team that represented Princeton University as an independent during the 1896 college football season. The team finished with a 10–0–1 record, shut out 10 of 12 opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 266 to 12. Franklin Morse was the head coach, and Garrett Cochran was the team captain.
There was no contemporaneous system in 1896 for determining a national champion. However, Princeton was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, and Houlgate System, and as a co-national champion with Lafayette by the National Championship Foundation (NCF) and Parke H. Davis. In head-to-head competition, Princeton and Lafayette played to a scoreless tie on October 7, 1896.
Four Princeton players were selected as consensus first-team players on the 1896 All-America team: halfback Addison Kelly; fullback John Baird; center Robert Gailey; and tackle William W. Church. Other notable players included quarterback F. L. Smith, halfback William Bannard, end Garrett Cochran, and guard Edward Crowdis.
Schedule
Roster Armstrong, G John Baird, FB W. H. Bannard, HB Booth, T Brokaw, E William W. Church, T Garrett Cochran, E Samuel G. Craig Crowdis, C Big Bill Edwards, G Robert Gailey, C Geer, T Art Hillebrand, T Edgar Holt, G Addison Kelly, HB Pardee, HB Art Poe, QB Howard R. Reiter, HB Rosengarten, HB Schwartz, HB Smith, QB Billy Suter Thompson, E Albert Tyler, G Walter H. Watkins Art Wheeler, HB
References