THIS WEEK IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY: OCT. 17 - OCT. 23
MORRISTOWN, N.J., October 14, 2005 - As part of an ongoing series throughout the fall, This Week in College Football History takes a look back at some of college football's landmark moments over the last 137 years.
Throughout the season, many of these items are depicted in a changing exhibit at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.
*If you choose to use this content in whole or in part, as a courtesy, please credit The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.
Featured Moment: The Birth of the AP Poll
October 20, 1936:
Although much of the credit for the first college football ratings system goes to University of Illinois professor Frank Dickinson for his mathematical formula created in 1926, a sportswriter by the name of Alan Gould released the first edition of what would soon become the foremost college football poll, the Associated Press poll, in 1936. 3-0 Minnesota would rank atop the first poll on October 20 of that year, and although Northwestern held the top spot for three weeks that season, the Golden Gophers finished the 1936 season as the first college football champion crowned by the Associated Press.
Since then, over 870 AP polls have been published, with 27 different schools capturing an AP National Championship at season's end. Six times a team has spent an entire season atop the poll, while as many as seven different teams have been ranked #1 in one season (1981). Southern California, the AP poll leader since December 8, 2003, holds the record for most consecutive weeks at the top spot in the AP poll, with 25 and counting heading into their game this weekend against Notre Dame, while Nebraska spent a record 348 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25, beginning in the 1981 season and lasting into 2002.
Other Notable Moments to Occur This Week in College Football History:
October 18, 1924: Considered by many to be his greatest game, the legendary Red Grange rushes for four long touchdowns in the first 12 minutes against Michigan during a 39-14 victory over the Wolverines. His touchdown runs go for 95, 67, 56 and 64 yards.
October 18, 1924: Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, Notre Dame defeats Army, 13-7, in New York. An article covering the game in the New York Herald Tribune, written by Grantland Rice, gives the Irish's backfield the nickname "The Four Horsemen."
October 19, 1985: Undefeated and #1-ranked Iowa kicks a 29-yard field goal as time expires to give the Hawkeyes a 12-10 over #2 Michigan.
October 20, 1934: Two years prior to the Associated Press poll, 2-0 Minnesota battled 3-0 Pittsburgh in a game pitting what many people believed to be the two best teams in the country against one another. The Golden Gophers score twice in the last seven minutes, the second touchdown on a lateral pass, to down the Panthers 13-7.
October 22, 1891: Herbert Hoover, a student at Stanford, calls a meeting to organize the school's first football team. Hoover later becomes the 31st president of the United States.
With 119 chapters and over 10,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in America's young people.
NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, The NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and annual scholarships of nearly $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.
c
###
NFF Contact
Chris Caputo.....Communications Assistant
22 Maple Ave.
Morristown, NJ 07960
973.829.1933
973.829.1737 (fax)
www.footballfoundation.org
Throughout the season, many of these items are depicted in a changing exhibit at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.
*If you choose to use this content in whole or in part, as a courtesy, please credit The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.
Featured Moment: The Birth of the AP Poll
October 20, 1936:
Although much of the credit for the first college football ratings system goes to University of Illinois professor Frank Dickinson for his mathematical formula created in 1926, a sportswriter by the name of Alan Gould released the first edition of what would soon become the foremost college football poll, the Associated Press poll, in 1936. 3-0 Minnesota would rank atop the first poll on October 20 of that year, and although Northwestern held the top spot for three weeks that season, the Golden Gophers finished the 1936 season as the first college football champion crowned by the Associated Press.
Since then, over 870 AP polls have been published, with 27 different schools capturing an AP National Championship at season's end. Six times a team has spent an entire season atop the poll, while as many as seven different teams have been ranked #1 in one season (1981). Southern California, the AP poll leader since December 8, 2003, holds the record for most consecutive weeks at the top spot in the AP poll, with 25 and counting heading into their game this weekend against Notre Dame, while Nebraska spent a record 348 consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25, beginning in the 1981 season and lasting into 2002.
Other Notable Moments to Occur This Week in College Football History:
October 18, 1924: Considered by many to be his greatest game, the legendary Red Grange rushes for four long touchdowns in the first 12 minutes against Michigan during a 39-14 victory over the Wolverines. His touchdown runs go for 95, 67, 56 and 64 yards.
October 18, 1924: Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, Notre Dame defeats Army, 13-7, in New York. An article covering the game in the New York Herald Tribune, written by Grantland Rice, gives the Irish's backfield the nickname "The Four Horsemen."
October 19, 1985: Undefeated and #1-ranked Iowa kicks a 29-yard field goal as time expires to give the Hawkeyes a 12-10 over #2 Michigan.
October 20, 1934: Two years prior to the Associated Press poll, 2-0 Minnesota battled 3-0 Pittsburgh in a game pitting what many people believed to be the two best teams in the country against one another. The Golden Gophers score twice in the last seven minutes, the second touchdown on a lateral pass, to down the Panthers 13-7.
October 22, 1891: Herbert Hoover, a student at Stanford, calls a meeting to organize the school's first football team. Hoover later becomes the 31st president of the United States.
With 119 chapters and over 10,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in America's young people.
NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, The NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and annual scholarships of nearly $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.
c
###
NFF Contact
Chris Caputo.....Communications Assistant
22 Maple Ave.
Morristown, NJ 07960
973.829.1933
973.829.1737 (fax)
www.footballfoundation.org
posted by Don @ 10/18/2005 09:08:00 PM
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