1909 College Football Summary

Harvard zipped through its first eight games of the season surrendering a mere 9 points; with only receiving a scare against Williams. Down 6-0 at half, Harvard rallied after the break to win 8-6.

The victory set-up the season finale against Yale, also undefeated and un scored upon through its first 9 games of the year.

Yale's 8-0 victory over Harvard gave Yale its first perfect record shutting out all comers since the 1892 eleven was 13-0-0 (435-0); it was also Walter Camp's final season as coach of his alma mater. In 1906, Yale was 9-0-1, with only a 0-0 tie against Princeton kept the team from all perfection.

Wayland Minot got-off 19 punts in the game for Harvard, which had 105 yards in penalties.

Trailing 6-5 to Carlisle, when Larry Vorhis converted on a goal after touchdown, giving Penn State an 8-6 lead. Carlisle later would tackle Vorhis on punt return in the end zone to tie the score at 8-all.

Penn finished the season 8-0-2; tying Pennsylvania (3-3) who also had a pair of ties on its ledger.

A Virginia Tech interception return for a score gave it 6-5 lead over Princeton. However, a touchdown in the last 4 minutes of the game gave the Tigers their fourth win (of 6 in 1909) of the season.

In a battle between undefeated, unscored upon team as Pennsylvania and Brown met in Philadelphia; with the Quakers winning 13-5.

Brown was shutout the following week, 11-0 against Harvard and would later lose to Yale 23-0.

In the Big Ten, Michigan defeated Ohio State 33-6; giving the Wolverines their 10th consecutive triumph over the Buckeyes. OSU, up to this year, had never defeated Michigan with only a scoreless tie in 1900 being the latter's only non victory.

In a cat fight Lafayette and Princeton played in a defensive struggle for 59:54. Lafayette's Frank Irmschler blocked a field goal in the final six seconds and returned it 92 yards for a touchdown, to win the game.

In Brown's 21-6 win over Carlisle, its star player, Bill "Sprack" Sprackling returned punts 147 yards and also returned a kick-off 105 yards and a score.

1909 Leaders (min. of 4 games) show:

• Offensive Scoring Leader (Most Scored)
  Kansas Agricultural (7-2-0), 320 points
• Defensive Scoring Leader (Least Allowed)
  Yale (10-0-0), 0 points
• National Champions (Retroactive)
  Yale
  

Yale was named No. 1 by Caspar Whitney; while Harvard was named #1 By the New Brunswick NJ Daily News.

Top 10 Winningest Teams

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