College football lineal championship

The College Football Lineal Championship is determined in the same manner as a boxing match. A team may take the title from the current title-holder only by defeating it. In the event of a tie, the current champion retains the title. The starting place for the Lineal Championship is at the first college football game.

The first college football game was played on November 6, 1869, by two teams of 25 players each. Princeton University traveled to New Brunswick to meet the challenge of Rutgers. Rutgers was victorious, 6 goals to 4. This game resembled rugby much more than what we recognize as football today. The following week, on November 13, 1869, Princeton hosted and defeated Rutgers, 8 goals to 0. The Princeton Tigers now became the Lineal Champion.

Princeton defeated Rutgers again, on November 19, 1870, by a score of 6 to 2.

Princeton did not field a team in 1871.

The next game was not until November 23, 1872. Princeton was again victorious, 4 goals to 1.

Princeton defended their title on November 15, 1873, defeating Yale at New Haven, CT, by a score of 3 goals to 0.

Princeton played two games in 1874, defeating Columbia 6-0 on November 14, and Rutgers by the same score on November 21. Both games were played in Princeton.

In 1875, Princeton defeated Columbia 2-0 on November 13, and one week later beat Stevens Tech of Hoboken by a score of 6-0.

The year of 1876 had a much longer schedule. Princeton opened their defense of the Lineal Championship by defeating Penn in Philadelphia, 6 to 0, on November 11. The Tigers beat Columbia in New York, 3 to 0, on November 18, and beat Penn again, this time at home, 6-0, on November 25. Princeton lost its next game, to Yale, on November 30, in Hoboken. The score was Yale 2 goals and 2 touches, Princeton 0. Yale began its defense of the Lineal Championship at home, on December 9, beating Columbia by a score of 2 to 0.

Yale played its first game in 1877 at home on November 3, beating Tufts 1-0. Yale beat
on November 21, 7 to 0. Columbia forfeited to Yale on December 2. Yale finished with a tie at home against Princeton 0-0. Not having been defeated, they retained the Lineal Championship.

Yale began 1878 on a roll. They defeated Amherst on November 2, 2-0, and defeated Trinity twice by 2-0 scores, first on November 9 and again on the 13th. They tied Amherst 0-0 in their rematch November 16, and beat Harvard 1-0 on November 23. On November 28, Yale lost to Princeton 1-0, and the Tigers became the first team to repeat as Lineal Champions.

Princeton was destined to hold the title for the next four years. Their first defense was on October 18, 1879 and they defeated the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) 6-0. Columbia fell on November 1, 2-0; Stevens Tech a week later, 7-0; Harvard was beaten 1-0 on November 15, and Yale managed a 0-0 tie on November 27, the final game that year.

Princeton opened 1880 with a 6-0 victory over Stevens Tech on October 23, beat Penn a week later 2-0; crushed Rutgers 8-0 on November 2, and squeaked by Penn 1-0 in a rematch November 6. Princeton beat Harvard 2-1 on November 13, and again finished with a 0-0 tie versus Yale.

Princeton beat Rutgers 3-0 to begin 1881, on October 15. They beat first Steven Tech and then Penn by 7-0 scores on October 22 and 29th. The first Midwestern team to challenge for the Lineal Championship was Michigan University; Princeton defeated them 1-0 on November 4, and beat Penn 4-0 the next day. Rutgers fell 1-0 on November 10, and Columbia by the same score two days later. Harvard managed a 0-0 tie on November 19, and Princeton finished their season with a 0-0 tie with Yale for the third straight year, November 24, 1881.

Princeton began 1882 with a defeat of the Princeton Alumni on October 7 by a 5-0 score. On October 14, Princeton defeated Rutgers 5-0, and on the 28th defeated Penn 8-0. Princeton pounded Columbia 8-0 on November 7, and defeated Penn for the second time in the season on November 11. This time the score was 10-0. Rutgers lost their rematch as well, 3-0, on November 14. Princeton was beaten just four days later by Harvard, 2-1. Harvard did not hold the title long, however. Yale defeated them 1-0 in The Game on November 25, 1882. Yale finished the year and retained the title by defeating Princeton 1-0 on November 30, 1882.

In 1883, Yale began a remarkable run of domination. They played Wesleyan University twice in four days, September 26 and 29, winning 58-0 and 90-0. On October 6, they crushed Stevens Tech 56-0. After a month off, on November 7 they destroyed Rutgers by a 92-0 score, and ten days later bettered that by beating Columbia 93-0. Michigan fell 64-0 on November 21, but Princeton kept Yale close, losing 6-0 on November 24. On November 29, Harvard managed the season's first score but lost 23-2.

Yale continued its domination in 1884. On October 1, Wesleyan was defeated 31-0; Stevens Tech was beaten 96-0 on October 10; Wesleyan lost again on October 18 by a 63-0 score. On October 23, Rutgers managed to score against Yale, but lost 76-10. On October 25, Yale pounded Dartmouth 113-0, the largest margin of victory ever in the Lineal Championship series. Wesleyan lost for the third time in a season to Yale on November 5, by a score of 46-0. Yale defeated the Yale Alumni on November 19 by a 18-0 score, defeated Harvard 52-0 on November 22. Yale narrowly retained the championship with 0-0 tie with Princeton to close the season on November 27, 1884, finishing the year with a 8-0-1 record. Yale scored 432 points and allowed just 10.

Yale opened 1885 in a similar fashion on October 10, beating Stevens Tech 55-0. Wesleyan held them close, 18-0, on October 14, but Yale ran away with the rematch two weeks later, beating Wesleyan 71-0. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)lost to Yale on October 31 by a 51-0 count, Crescent City Athletic Club lost 52-0 on November 3, and Yale defeated Penn 53-5 on November 14. A week later, on November 21, 1885, Yale's run ended when they lost to Princeton 6-5.

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