1899 Yale Bulldogs football team

The 1899 Yale Bulldogs football team represented Yale University in the 1899 college football season. The team compiled a 7–2–1 record, recorded eight shutouts, and outscored all opponents by a total of 191 to 16.[1] The team defeated Wisconsin (6–0), Army (24–0), and Penn State (42–0), played a scoreless tie against Harvard, and lost to Columbia (0–5) and Princeton (10–11).[1]

1899 Yale Bulldogs football
Conference	Independent
1899 record	7–2–1
Head coach	James O. Rodgers (1st season)
Home stadium	Yale Field

1899 Eastern college football independents records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Harvard			–					10	–	0	–	1
Buffalo			–					6	–	0	–	0
Lafayette			–					12	–	1	–	0
Princeton			–					12	–	1	–	0
Boston College			–					8	–	1	–	1
Carlisle			–					9	–	2	–	0
Wesleyan			–					7	–	2	–	0
Pittsburgh College			–					2	–	0	–	2
Villanova			–					7	–	2	–	1
Yale			–					7	–	2	–	1
Western Univ. of Penn.			–					3	–	1	–	1
Columbia			–					9	–	3	–	0
Fordham			–					3	–	1	–	0
Cornell			–					7	–	3	–	0
Penn			–					8	–	3	–	2
Brown			–					7	–	3	–	1
Geneva			–					2	–	1	–	0
New Hampshire			–					4	–	2	–	0
Tufts			–					7	–	4	–	0
Syracuse			–					4	–	4	–	0
Army			–					4	–	5	–	0
Colgate			–					4	–	5	–	0
Penn State			–					4	–	6	–	1
Frankin & Marshall			–					3	–	5	–	1
Amherst			–					4	–	7	–	1
NYU			–					2	–	6	–	0
Temple			–					1	–	4	–	1
Lehigh			–					2	–	9	–	0
Rutgers			–					2	–	9	–	0

The loss to Columbia at Manhattan Field was described by The New York Times as "one of the most disastrous defeats Yale has ever experienced in her athletic history."[2] Columbia's freshman back Harold Weekes scored the game's only points on a 50-yard touchdown run in the middle of the second half.[2] A relative unknown in 1899, Weekes was selected as a consensus All-American in 1901 and was later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Harvard and Princeton are recognized as the national champions for the 1899 season.[3] Yale played the former to a scoreless tie and lost by one point to the latter. The loss to Princeton was decided with one minute left in the game by a dropkicked field goal (then worth five points) from the 35-yard line by Princeton's All-American Art Poe.[4]

Four Yale players (halfback Albert Sharpe, fullback Malcolm McBride, tackle George S. Stillman and guard Gordon Brown) were consensus picks for the 1899 College Football All-America Team.[5]

The team's head coach was James O. Rodgers who had played for Yale from 1894 to 1897. He was announced as the head coach on September 28, 1899, just two days before the season opened. Rodgers was at the time a student at Harvard Law School and was unable to devote his full time to coaching the team. Rodgers was assisted as the team's coach by Walter Camp and Fred Murphy.[6]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 30	Amherst	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 23–0		[7]
October 4	Trinity (CT)	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 46–0		[8]
October 7	Bates	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 28–0		[9]
October 14	vs. Dartmouth	Newton A.A. grounds Newton, MA	W 12–0		[10]
October 21	Wisconsin	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 6–0		[11]
October 28	at Columbia	Manhattan Field New York, NY	L 0–5	5,000	[2]
November 4	at Army	West Point, NY	W 24–0		[12]
November 11	Penn State	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 42–0		[13]
November 18	at Harvard	Soldiers' Field Cambridge, MA (rivalry)	T 0–0	50,000	[14]
November 25	Princeton	Yale Field New Haven, CT (rivalry)	L 10–11	15,000	[4]

References

1. "1899 Yale Bulldogs Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
2. "Columbia Beats Yale at Football". The New York Times. October 29, 1899. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
3. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2016). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 110. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
4. "Sons of Eli Fall Before the Tigers". The New York Times. November 26, 1899. pp. 1–2 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Award Winners" (PDF). NCAA. 2012. pp. 2–4.
6. "Rodgers Will Coach Yale". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. September 28, 1899. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Yale and Harvard Open Foot Ball Season". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 1, 1899. p. 44 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Yale Won Easily From Trinity". The Hartford Courant. October 5, 1899. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Yale, 28; Bates, 0". The New York Times. October 8, 1899. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Yale Defeats Dartmouth". The New York Times. October 15, 1899. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Yale, 6; Wisconsin 0". The New York Times. October 22, 1899. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Yale, 24; West Point, 0". The New York Times. November 5, 1899. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "Yale Makes a Big Score: Plays a Strong Game Against the Pennsylvania State Team". The New York Times. November 12, 1899. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "Harvard and Yale in a Battle Royal". The New York Times. November 19, 1899. pp. 1–2 – via Newspapers.com.