1921 college football season

1921 NCAA football season
Bo McMillin scoring against Harvard
Total # of teams	102[1]
Number of bowls	3
Bowl games	December 26, 1921 – January 2, 1922
Champions	California Golden Bears Cornell Big Red Lafayette Maroon
College football seasons « 1920 1922 »

The 1921 NCAA football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing California Golden Bears, Cornell Big Red, Iowa Hawkeyes, Lafayette Leopards, Washington & Jefferson Presidents, and Vanderbilt Commodores as champions.^[2] Only California, Cornell, and Lafayette claim national championships for the 1921 season.

Andy Smith's Pacific Coast Conference champion "Wonder Team" at California continued on its streak since 1920. Eastern power Cornell was coached by Gil Dobie and led by one of the sport's great backfields with George Pfann, Eddie Kaw, Floyd Ramsey, and Charles E. Cassidy. Jock Sutherland's Lafayette Maroons were led on the line by Frank Schwab.

Big Ten champion Iowa upset Notre Dame 10–7. Grantland Rice noted that the 1921 Notre Dame team "was the first team we know of to build its attack around a forward passing game, rather than use a forward passing game as a mere aid to the running game."^[3]

1921 was the last season for the old Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Vanderbilt tied co-champion Georgia on an onside kick. On October 6, Centre upset Harvard 6–0 in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history. Overjoyed students painted the "impossible formula" C6H0 (Centre 6, Harvard 0) on everything in sight. Georgia Tech also claimed a conference title.

The 1922 Rose Bowl was fought to a scoreless tie, between California and Washington & Jefferson, in the last Rose Bowl to be played at Tournament Park. W&J is the smallest school to ever play in a Rose Bowl.

Conference and program changes

• The Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference (now the Midwest Conference, a Division III conference) began football play in 1921.

School	1920 Conference	1921 Conference
Fresno State Bulldogs	Program Established	Independent
Nebraska Cornhuskers	Independent	MVIAA
Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels	Independent	SIAA
Phillips Haymakers	Southwest	Independent
San Diego State Professors	Program Established	Independent

First radio broadcast

A historical highlight of the regular season was the 1921 West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh football game, the first college football game to be broadcast live on radio.^[4] Today, college football on radio is common for nearly every game in every division.

C6H0

On October 29, Centre College beat Harvard 6 to 0 in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history. Overjoyed students painted the "impossible formula" C6H0 (Centre 6, Harvard 0) on everything in sight.

Rose Bowl

Image from the Rose Bowl.

In the 1922 Rose Bowl, the heavily favored California Golden Bears played Washington & Jefferson to a scoreless tie. The game holds several distinctions including being the only scoreless Rose Bowl game, the first tie in a Rose Bowl, the first African-American quarterback to play in the Rose Bowl (Charlie West from Washington & Jefferson), the first freshman to play in a Rose Bowl (Herb Kopf of Washington and Jefferson), the last Rose Bowl to be played at Tournament Park, and the smallest school (Washington & Jefferson College had only 450 students at the time) to ever play in a Rose Bowl.^[5][6]

Other bowls

• Dixie Classic
• San Diego Christmas Classic

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1921 Big Ten football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Iowa $ 5 – 0 – 0     7 – 0 – 0 Chicago 4 – 1 – 0     6 – 1 – 0 Ohio State 4 – 1 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Wisconsin 3 – 1 – 1     5 – 1 – 1 Michigan 2 – 1 – 1     5 – 1 – 1 Indiana 1 – 2 – 0     3 – 4 – 0 Minnesota 2 – 4 – 0     3 – 4 – 0 Illinois 1 – 4 – 0     3 – 4 – 0 Purdue 1 – 4 – 0     1 – 6 – 0 Northwestern 0 – 5 – 0     1 – 6 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1921 college football independents records Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T USC   –       10 – 1 – 0 Montana   –       3 – 3 – 1	1921 Missouri Valley football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Nebraska $ 3 – 0 – 0     7 – 1 – 0 Missouri 4 – 2 – 0     6 – 2 – 0 Kansas State 4 – 2 – 0     5 – 3 – 0 Drake 2 – 2 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Kansas 3 – 3 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 Iowa State 3 – 4 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 Oklahoma 2 – 3 – 0     5 – 3 – 0 Washington (MO) 2 – 3 – 0     4 – 3 – 1 Grinnell 0 – 4 – 0     2 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion
1921 PCC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T California $ 4 – 0 – 0     9 – 0 – 1 Washington State 2 – 1 – 1     4 – 2 – 1 Stanford 1 – 1 – 1     4 – 2 – 2 Oregon Agricultural 1 – 2 – 1     4 – 3 – 2 Oregon 0 – 1 – 2     5 – 1 – 3 Washington 0 – 3 – 1     3 – 4 – 1 $ – Conference champion	1921 RMFAC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Colorado $ 4 – 0 – 1     4 – 1 – 1 Utah 2 – 1 – 1     3 – 2 – 1 $ – Conference champion	1921 SAIAA football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Washington & Lee $ 2 – 0 – 0     6 – 3 – 0 Georgetown 1 – 0 – 0     8 – 1 – 0 St. John's (MD) 1 – 0 – 0     1 – 0 – 0 Virginia 5 – 1 – 0     5 – 4 – 0 North Carolina 3 – 1 – 1     5 – 2 – 2 VPI 4 – 2 – 0     7 – 3 – 0 Richmond 2 – 2 – 1     4 – 3 – 1 Maryland 2 – 2 – 1     3 – 5 – 1 Catholic 2 – 2 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 NC State 1 – 1 – 3     3 – 3 – 3 William & Mary 1 – 3 – 1     4 – 3 – 1 Trinity 0 – 1 – 0     6 – 1 – 2 Davidson 0 – 1 – 3     3 – 4 – 3 Johns Hopkins 0 – 2 – 0     1 – 2 – 0 VMI 0 – 3 – 1     3 – 5 – 1 George Washington 0 – 3 – 1     3 – 3 – 2 $ – Conference champion
1921 SIAA football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Centre + 5 – 0 – 0     10 – 1 – 0 Georgia Tech + 4 – 0 – 0     8 – 1 – 0 Georgia + 6 – 0 – 1     7 – 2 – 1 Vanderbilt + 5 – 0 – 1     7 – 0 – 1 Tennessee 4 – 1 – 1     6 – 2 – 1 Florida 4 – 1 – 2     6 – 3 – 2 Mississippi College 3 – 1 – 1     7 – 2 – 1 Sewanee 4 – 2 – 0     6 – 2 – 0 Furman 4 – 2 – 1     7 – 2 – 1 LSU 2 – 1 – 1     6 – 1 – 1 South Carolina 2 – 1 – 1     5 – 1 – 2 Transylvania 2 – 1 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 Auburn 3 – 2 – 0     5 – 3 – 0 The Citadel 2 – 2 – 1     3 – 3 – 2 Mississippi A&M 2 – 3 – 1     4 – 4 – 1 Tulane 3 – 4 – 0     4 – 6 – 0 Alabama 2 – 4 – 2     5 – 4 – 2 Oglethorpe 2 – 4 – 0     5 – 4 – 0 Mercer 2 – 5 – 0     3 – 6 – 0 Chattanooga 1 – 3 – 0     4 – 6 – 0 Louisville 0 – 1 – 0     2 – 2 – 1 Kentucky 0 – 2 – 1     4 – 3 – 1 Clemson 0 – 4 – 2     1 – 6 – 2 Millsaps 0 – 3 – 1     0 – 3 – 1 Ole Miss 0 – 3 – 0     3 – 6 – 0 Georgetown (KY) 0 – 3 – 0     2 – 6 – 0 Wofford 0 – 3 – 0     2 – 7 – 0 Howard 0 – 5 – 0     3 – 6 – 0 + – Conference co-champions	1921 SCIAC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Whittier 5 – 0 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Redlands 4 – 1 – 0     5 – 2 – 1 Occidental 2 – 2 – 1     ? – ? – ? Pomona 2 – 2 – 1     ? – ? – ? Caltech 1 – 4 – 0     ? – ? – ? SBUC 0 – 5 – 0     0 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1921 Southwest Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Texas A&M $ 3 – 0 – 2     6 – 1 – 2 Texas 1 – 0 – 1     6 – 1 – 1 Arkansas 2 – 1 – 0     5 – 3 – 1 Baylor 2 – 2 – 0     8 – 3 – 0 Oklahoma A&M 1 – 1 – 0     5 – 4 – 1 Rice 1 – 2 – 1     4 – 4 – 1 SMU 0 – 4 – 0     1 – 6 – 1 $ – Conference champion

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association	Virginia Union	3–0–0
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	No champion	–
Ohio Athletic Conference	Miami (OH)	7–0–0

Awards and honors

All-Americans

The consensus All-America team included:

Position	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Class	Hometown	Team
QB	Aubrey Devine	5'9"	170	Sr.	Des Moines, Iowa	Iowa
QB	Bo McMillin	5'9"	165	Sr.	Fort Worth, Texas	Centre
HB	Glenn Killinger	5'9"	163	Sr.	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania	Penn State
HB	Mal Aldrich	5'11"	165	Sr.	Fall River, Massachusetts	Yale
FB	Eddie Kaw	5'10"	168	Jr.	Houston, Texas	Cornell
E	Harold Muller	6'0"	180	Jr.	Dunsmuir, California	California
T	Dan McMillan	6'1"	225	Sr.	Los Angeles, California	California
G	Fiske Brown			Sr.	Plymouth, Massachusetts	Harvard
G	Stan Keck	5'11"	206	Sr.	Greensburg, Pennsylvania	Princeton
C	Herb Stein	6'1"	186	Sr.	Warren, Ohio	Pittsburgh
G	Frank Schwab	5'11"	195	Sr.	Saltsburg, Pennsylvania	Lafayette
G	Iolas Huffman	5'11"	228	Sr.	Chandlersville, Ohio	Ohio State
E	Eddie Anderson			Sr.	Mason City, Iowa	Notre Dame

Statistical leaders

• Receptions leader: Eddie Anderson, Notre Dame, 26
• Receiving yards leader: Eddie Anderson, 394

See also

• 1921 All-Big Ten Conference football team

References

1. http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1921.htm
2. Official 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision Records Book (PDF). The National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 76–77.
3. Grantland Rice (December 3, 1921). "Where The West Got The Jump: In Addition To Developing Strong Defense and Good Running Game, Has Built Up Forward Pass" (PDF). American Golfer.
4. Sciullo Jr, Sam, ed. (1991). 1991 Pitt Football: University of Pittsburgh Football Media Guide. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Sports Information Office. p. 116.
5. Campbell, Jim (August 2006). "The 1922 Rose Bowl: David v. Goliath" (PDF). College Football Historical Society Newsletter. LA84 Foundation. Retrieved 2010-02-28.
6. Washington and Jefferson College