1918 college football season

1918 NCAA football season
Pitt's Tom Davies running on Georgia Tech.
Total # of teams	72[1]
Number of bowls	1
Champions	Michigan Wolverines Pittsburgh Panthers
College football seasons « 1917 1919 »

The 1918 NCAA football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Michigan and Pittsburgh as national champions.^[2]

Perhaps the highest profile game was a highly publicized War Charities benefit staged at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh in front of many of the nation's top sports writers, including Walter Camp. The game pitted John Heisman's undefeated, unscored upon, and defending national champion Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets against "Pop" Warner's Pittsburgh Panthers who were sitting on a 30 game win streak. Pitt defeated Georgia Tech 32-0.

The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918 saw the implementation of quarantines that eliminated much of that year's college football season.^[3]

Conference and program changes

School	1917 Conference	1918 Conference
Carlisle Indians	Independent	School closed
Southern Methodist Mustangs	Independent	Southwest

Rose Bowl

Great Lakes Navy would defeat Mare Island Marines 17-7 in the 1919 Rose Bowl.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1918 Big Ten football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Illinois + 4 – 0 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Michigan + 2 – 0 – 0     5 – 0 – 0 Purdue + 1 – 0 – 0     3 – 3 – 0 Iowa 2 – 1 – 0     6 – 2 – 1 Minnesota 2 – 1 – 0     5 – 2 – 1 Northwestern 1 – 1 – 0     2 – 2 – 1 Wisconsin 1 – 2 – 0     3 – 3 – 0 Indiana 0 – 0 – 0     2 – 2 – 0 Ohio State 0 – 3 – 0     3 – 3 – 0 Chicago 0 – 5 – 0     4 – 6 – 1 + – Conference co-champions	1918 college football independents records Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T USC   –       2 – 2 – 2 Washington State   –       1 – 1 – 0	1918 Missouri Valley football standings Due to events related to World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic, the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association did not schedule any official conference games, recorded no standings, and awarded no title for 1918. Conference members: Drake • Iowa State • Kansas • Kansas State • Missouri • Nebraska • Washington (MO)
1918 PCC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T California $ 2 – 0 – 0     7 – 2 – 0 Oregon 2 – 1 – 0     4 – 2 – 0 Washington 1 – 1 – 0     1 – 1 – 0 Oregon Agricultural 0 – 2 – 0     2 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1918 RMFAC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Colorado 1 – 2 – 0     2 – 3 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1918 SAIAA football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T VPI $ 4 – 0 – 0     7 – 0 – 0 Maryland State 2 – 0 – 1     4 – 1 – 1 Davidson 2 – 0 – 0     2 – 1 – 1 Richmond 1 – 0 – 0     3 – 1 – 1 Johns Hopkins 0 – 0 – 1     0 – 0 – 1 NC State 0 – 1 – 0     1 – 3 – 0 St. John's (MD) 0 – 1 – 0     0 – 1 – 0 William & Mary 0 – 1 – 0     0 – 2 – 0 North Carolina 0 – 2 – 0     1 – 3 – 0 VMI 0 – 2 – 0     1 – 3 – 0 Washington and Lee 0 – 2 – 0     1 – 2 – 0 Georgetown 0 – 0 – 0     3 – 2 – 0 $ – Conference champion
1918 SIAA football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Georgia Tech $ 3 – 0 – 0     6 – 1 – 0 Vanderbilt 2 – 0 – 0     4 – 2 – 0 Mississippi A&M 2 – 0 – 0     3 – 2 – 0 Clemson 3 – 1 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 South Carolina 1 – 1 – 1     2 – 1 – 1 Centre 0 – 0 – 0     4 – 0 – 0 Furman 1 – 3 – 0     3 – 5 – 1 The Citadel 0 – 1 – 1     0 – 2 – 1 Sewanee 0 – 1 – 0     3 – 2 – 0 Wofford 0 – 1 – 0     0 – 3 – 0 Auburn 0 – 2 – 0     2 – 5 – 0 Ole Miss 0 – 2 – 0     1 – 3 – 0 $ – Conference champion There were several SIAA schools that did not field a team due to World War I.	1918 Southwest Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Texas + 4 – 0 – 0     9 – 0 – 0 Oklahoma + 2 – 0 – 0     6 – 0 – 0 Texas A&M 1 – 1 – 0     6 – 1 – 0 Rice 1 – 1 – 0     1 – 5 – 1 Arkansas 1 – 2 – 0     3 – 4 – 0 SMU 1 – 2 – 0     4 – 2 – 0 Baylor 0 – 2 – 0     0 – 4 – 0 Oklahoma A&M 0 – 2 – 0     4 – 2 – 0 + – Conference co-champions

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association	No champion	—
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	No champion	—
Ohio Athletic Conference	Wittenberg	3–0–0

Awards and honors

All-Americans

The consensus All-America team included:

Position	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Class	Hometown	Team
QB	Frank Murrey			So.		Princeton
HB	Tom Davies	5'8"	158	Fr.	Gas City, Indiana	Pittsburgh
HB	Wolcott Roberts	5'7"	160	So.	Elmwood, Illinois	Navy
FB	Tank McLaren		185	Sr.	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Pittsburgh
E	Paul Robeson	6'3"	219	Sr.	Princeton, New Jersey	Rutgers
T	Pete Henry	5'10"	230	Jr.	Mansfield, Ohio	Washington & Jefferson
T	Lou Usher			Jr.	Chicago, Illinois	Syracuse
G	Doc Alexander	5'11"	210	So.	Silver Creek, New York	Syracuse
C	Bum Day	5'10"	190	Fr.	Nashville, Georgia	Georgia Tech
C	Jack Depler	5'10"	220	So.	Lewistown, Illinois	Illinois
G	Lyman Perry			Sr.	Andover, Ohio	Navy
T	Leonard Hilty			Sr.	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Pittsburgh
T	Joe Guyon	5'11"	184	Sr.	Magdalena, New Mexico	Georgia Tech
E	Bill Fincher	6'0"	182	So.	Atlanta, Georgia	Georgia Tech

Statistical leaders

• Receptions leader: Bernard Kirk, Notre Dame, 7

References

1. http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1918.htm
2. Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book (PDF). Indianapolis, IN: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2009. pp. 76–77. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
3. "War Conditions Coupled With Epidemic Have Big Effect On 1918 Sports". 2016-02-03. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Retrieved 2016-02-03.