Factoid 227 - The 1901 College Football season.

In 1891 there were 45 teams playing college football. Three teams laid claim to the National Championship: Michigan; Yale; and Harvard. However, Harvard did not recognize this title.

This season saw the first collegiate bowl game played: the Rose Bowl was played on January 2, 1902. The game was between Stanford and Michigan with Michigan dominating, winning by a score of 49 to 0. This also capped the National Championship for Michigan, which went 11 – 0 that year. It was their first National Championship. (This is a retroactive championship as the first ‘live’ championship was still 25 years away.)

National Champions

• Harvard 12–0 Bill Reid (BR) *
• Michigan 11–0 Fielding H. Yost (HAF, HS, NCF) *
• Yale 11–1–1 George S. Stillman (PD) *

• There was no Y1.9K as computers were not invented yet.
• U.S. Steel was incorporated by industrialist J. P. Morgan as the first billion-dollar corporation.
• New York State became the first to require automobile license plates.