1888 Princeton Tigers football team

The 1888 Princeton Tigers football team represented Princeton University in the 1888 college football season. The team compiled an 11–1 record. The team held its first ten opponents scoreless, winning those games by a combined 589 to 0 score. The team's sole loss was by a 10–0 score in the final game of the season against an undefeated Yale team that has been recognized as the 1888 national champion.^[1]

1888 Princeton Tigers football
Conference	Independent
Record	11–1
Head coach	None
Captain	Hector Cowan
Seasons ← 1887 1889 →

1888 Eastern college football independents records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Yale			–					13	–	0	–	0
Harvard			–					12	–	1	–	0
Princeton			–					11	–	1	–	0
Lehigh			–					10	–	2	–	0
Trinity (CT)			–					5	–	1	–	1
Lafayette			–					6	–	3	–	0
Cornell			–					4	–	2	–	0
Penn			–					9	–	7	–	0
Bucknell			–					2	–	3	–	0
Fordham			–					1	–	2	–	0
Massachusetts			–					2	–	4	–	0
Wesleyan			–					2	–	7	–	0
Worcester Tech			–					1	–	4	–	0
Rutgers			–					1	–	6	–	1
Penn State			–					0	–	2	–	1
Swarthmore			–					0	–	5	–	0

The practice of selecting All-American football teams began the following year with the 1890 College Football All-America Team. However, Princeton's roster in 1888 included a number of star players, including fullback Knowlton "Snake" Ames, end Jesse Riggs, right tackle Hector Cowan.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 29	Lehigh	University Field Princeton, NJ	W 75–0		^[3]
October 7	vs. Crescent Athletic Club	Staten Island A.C. Grounds Staten Island , NY	W 31–0		^[4]
October 10	Penn	University Field Princeton, NJ (rivalry)	W 63–0		^[5]
October 13	Stevens	University Field Princeton, NJ	W 80–0		^[6]
October 17	at Rutgers	College Field New Brunswick, NJ (rivalry)	W 78–0		^[7]
October 20	Penn	University Field Princeton, NJ	W 38–0
October 24	at Rutgers	College Field New Brunswick, NJ	W 82–0		^[8]
November 3	Johns Hopkins	University Field Princeton, NJ	W 10–0		^[9]
November 6	vs. Wesleyan	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 44–0	2,500	^[10]
November 10	at Penn	University Athletic Grounds Philadelphia, PA	W 4–0
November 17	Harvard	University Field Princeton, NJ (rivalry)	W 18–6		^[11]^[12]
November 24	vs. Yale	Polo Grounds New York, NY (rivalry)	L 0–10	10,000–20,000	^[13]

References

1. "1888 Princeton Tigers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
2. Parke H. Davis (1917). Football, The American Intercollegiate Game. Charles Scribner's Sons. pp. 238, 385.
3. "Lehigh Defeated by Princeton: Opening the Football Season with a Game of Seventy-Five to Nothing". New York Daily Tribune. September 30, 1888. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Football in the Rain: The Jerseymen Defeat Brooklyn Players at Staten Island". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 8, 1888. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Princeton Wins Again at Football". The New York Times. October 11, 1888. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Princeton Beats Stevens Institute". New York Daily Tribune. October 14, 1888. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Princeton Outkicks Rutgers". The Saint Paul Globe. October 18, 1888. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Football by College Players". New York Tribune. October 25, 1888. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Princeton Beats Johns Hopkins". The Times (Philadelphia). November 4, 1888. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Princeton Has a Good Team: She Defeats Wesleyan at Football by 44 to 0". The World. November 7, 1888. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Triumphant Princeton". New York Daily Tribune. November 18, 1888. p. 2.
12. "'Rah! 'Rah! 'Rah!Siss-s-s-s Boom Ah! Princeton". The Boston Daily Globe. November 18, 1888. p. 4 – via NewspaperARCHIVE.
13. "'Twas a Physical Cyclone: Yale Wins the Great Football Match". The New York Times. November 25, 1888. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.