Factoid 246 - College Football in 1905

In 1905 there were 82 teams playing college football. The Chicago Maroons and the Yale Bulldogs were both named National Champions by one selector or another. Chicago won the Big Nine conference that year and was coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg, while Yale was an independent and was coached by first year coach Jack Owsley.

A championship game between the Maroons and Bulldogs would have been fascinating, as one was a Midwest power and the other an Eastern power. Unfortunately, fans would have to wait another 93 years before such a game would be organized.

The big game of the year was the final game of the season pitting Amos Alonzo Stagg’s undefeated Chicago team vs. the Fielding Yost’s undefeated Michigan team. It was played in front of 27,000 fans at Chicago’s Marshall Field. It was the final game of the season and was a huge defensive struggle, which Chicago won by a score of 2-0 via a touchback.

National Champions

• Chicago 10–0 Amos Alonzo Stagg (BR, HAF, HS, NCF) *
• Yale 10–0 Jack Owsley (CW, PD) *

• The Trans-Siberian Railway officially opened on July 21, 1904.
• Albert Einstein published his paper "Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light", in which he explains the photoelectric effect using the notion of light quanta.
• The Norwegian Parliament dissolved the union with Sweden and Norway became a fully independent country.