1920 college football season

1920 NCAA football season
Cal's "Wonder Team"
Total No. of teams	96
Number of bowls	2
Champion(s)	California Golden Bears Princeton Tigers
football seasons

The 1920 NCAA football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing California, Georgia, Harvard, Notre Dame, and Princeton as national champions. Only California and Princeton claim national championships for the 1920 season. Andy Smith's Pacific Coast Conference champion California "Wonder Team" was the first national champion from the Pacific Coast. Princeton and Harvard were undefeated and with one tie to each other. Notre Dame was led by its first Walter Camp All-American, George Gipp, who died before the year was over.

In the south, fans of either side in Georgia were happy. Georgia and Georgia Tech were both undefeated in Southern play. Georgia Tech lost to Pitt, which was undefeated with two ties. No team scored through Georgia's line, and its backfield was known as the "ten second backfield". Jimmy Leech of VMI's "Flying Squadron" led the nation in scoring. One writer claimed "he is one of the greatest broken field runners the country has ever seen."

In the Rose Bowl, Cal defeated Ohio State 28-0. Brick Muller completed a 53-yard touchdown pass to Brodie Stephens after receiving a toss from Pesky Sprott, at the time thought impossible.

Conference and program changes

Conference establishments

• Two new conferences began play in 1920:
  • Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – an active NCAA Division III conference
  • Tri-Normal League – active until 1984; later known as the Washington Intercollegiate Conference and Evergreen Conference

Membership changes

School	1920 Conference	1921 Conference
Oklahoma Sooners	Southwest	Missouri Valley
Phillips Haymakers	Independent	Southwest
UCLA Bruins	Independent	SCIAC

Other Bowls

The first and only Fort Worth Classic was held on January 1, 1921, with Centre defeating TCU.

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1920 Big Ten Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Ohio State $ 5 – 0 – 0 7 – 1 – 0 Wisconsin 4 – 1 – 0 6 – 1 – 0 Indiana 3 – 1 – 0 5 – 2 – 0 Illinois 4 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 0 Iowa 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 0 Michigan 2 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 0 Northwestern 2 – 3 – 0 3 – 4 – 0 Chicago 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 4 – 0 Purdue 0 – 4 – 0 2 – 5 – 0 Minnesota 0 – 6 – 0 1 – 6 – 0 $ – Conference champion	Template:1920 college football independents records	1920 Missouri Valley Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Oklahoma $ 4 – 0 – 1 6 – 0 – 1 Missouri 5 – 1 – 0 7 – 1 – 0 Kansas 3 – 2 – 0 5 – 2 – 1 Iowa State 3 – 2 – 0 4 – 4 – 0 Drake 1 – 3 – 1 4 – 5 – 1 Washington University 1 – 4 – 0 4 – 4 – 0 Grinnell 0 – 2 – 1 3 – 3 – 1 Kansas State 0 – 3 – 1 3 – 3 – 3 $ – Conference champion
1920 Pacific Coast Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T California $ 3 – 0 – 0 9 – 0 – 0 Stanford 2 – 1 – 0 4 – 3 – 0 Oregon 1 – 1 – 1 3 – 2 – 1 Washington State 1 – 1 – 0 5 – 1 – 0 Oregon Agricultural 1 – 2 – 1 2 – 2 – 2 Washington 0 – 3 – 0 1 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1920 Rocky Mountain Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Colorado Agricultural $ 6 – 0 – 1 6 – 1 – 1 Colorado College 4 – 1 – 1 5 – 1 – 1 Colorado 3 – 1 – 2 4 – 1 – 2 Utah Agricultural 2 – 1 – 1 4 – 2 – 1 Denver 2 – 4 – 0 2 – 4 – 0 Utah 1 – 2 – 1 1 – 5 – 1 Wyoming 2 – 5 – 1 4 – 5 – 1 Colorado Mines 0 – 6 – 0 0 – 6 – 0 Montana State 0 – 0 – 1 4 – 1 – 1 $ – Conference champion	1920 South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T VMI $ 5 – 0 – 0 9 – 0 – 0 Maryland 4 – 0 – 0 7 – 2 – 0 Washington and Lee 3 – 0 – 0 5 – 3 – 0 Georgetown 3 – 1 – 0 6 – 4 – 0 Virginia 3 – 1 – 0 5 – 2 – 2 NC State 4 – 2 – 0 7 – 3 – 0 Richmond 2 – 2 – 0 6 – 2 – 0 Davidson 2 – 2 – 0 5 – 5 – 0 VPI 2 – 4 – 0 4 – 6 – 0 Catholic University 1 – 3 – 0 3 – 5 – 0 George Washington 0 – 1 – 0 1 – 6 – 1 St. John's (MD) 0 – 1 – 0 0 – 1 – 0 Johns Hopkins 0 – 2 – 0 0 – 3 – 0 William & Mary 0 – 4 – 0 4 – 5 – 0 North Carolina 0 – 5 – 0 2 – 6 – 0 $ – Conference champion
1920 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Georgia + 7 – 0 – 0 8 – 0 – 1 Tulane + 5 – 0 – 0 6 – 2 – 1 Georgia Tech + 4 – 0 – 0 8 – 1 – 0 Alabama 6 – 1 – 0 10 – 1 – 0 Centre 4 – 1 – 0 8 – 2 – 0 Furman 3 – 1 – 0 9 – 1 – 0 South Carolina 3 – 1 – 0 5 – 4 – 0 Tennessee 5 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0 Auburn 4 – 2 – 0 7 – 2 – 0 Mississippi A&M 4 – 2 – 0 5 – 3 – 0 Sewanee 3 – 3 – 1 4 – 3 – 1 Vanderbilt 3 – 3 – 0 4 – 3 – 1 Transylvania 2 – 2 – 0 3 – 4 – 0 Howard (AL) 2 – 3 – 0 3 – 5 – 1 Mississippi College 2 – 4 – 0 3 – 5 – 0 Florida 1 – 2 – 0 6 – 3 – 0 Clemson 2 – 6 – 0 4 – 6 – 1 LSU 1 – 3 – 0 5 – 3 – 1 Chattanooga 1 – 3 – 0 3 – 4 – 1 The Citadel 1 – 4 – 0 2 – 6 – 0 Ole Miss 0 – 2 – 0 4 – 3 – 0 Kentucky 0 – 3 – 1 3 – 4 – 1 Georgetown (KY) 0 – 2 – 0 0 – 3 – 0 Millsaps 0 – 3 – 0 0 – 3 – 0 Mercer 0 – 4 – 0 2 – 6 – 0 Wofford 0 – 4 – 0 0 – 8 – 1 + – Conference co-champions	1920 Southern California Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Pomona $ 5 – 0 – 0 6 – 1 – 0 Occidental 3 – 2 – 0 4 – 3 – 0 Whittier 3 – 2 – 0 3 – 2 – 0 Caltech 2 – 2 – 1 3 – 3 – 1 Redlands 1 – 3 – 1 2 – 4 – 1 Southern Branch 0 – 5 – 0 0 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1920 Southwest Conference football standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Texas $ 5 – 0 – 0 9 – 0 – 0 Texas A&M 5 – 1 – 0 6 – 1 – 1 Arkansas 2 – 0 – 1 3 – 2 – 2 Rice 2 – 2 – 1 4 – 2 – 2 Baylor 1 – 2 – 1 4 – 4 – 1 SMU 0 – 4 – 1 3 – 5 – 2 Phillips 0 – 3 – 0 4 – 4 – 2 Oklahoma A&M 0 – 3 – 0 0 – 7 – 1 $ – Conference champion

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association	No champion	—
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Albion	4–0–0
Ohio Athletic Conference	Wooster	7–0–0

Awards and honors

All-Americans

Main article: 1920 College Football All-America Team

The consensus All-America team included:

Position	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Class	Hometown	Team
QB	Donold Lourie	5'11"	164	Sr.	Peru, Illinois	Princeton
HB	Gaylord Stinchcomb	5'8"	157	Sr.	Sycamore, Ohio	Ohio State
HB	Charley Way	5'8"	144	Sr.	Embreeville, Pennsylvania	Penn State
FB	George Gipp	6'1"	180	Sr.	Laurium, Michigan	Notre Dame
E	Chuck Carney	6'1"	190	Jr.	Chicago, Illinois	Illinois
E	Bill Fincher	6'0"	182	Sr.	Atlanta, Georgia	Georgia Tech
T	Stan Keck	5'11"	206	Jr.	Greensburg, Pennsylvania	Princeton
G	Tim Callahan			Sr.	Lawrence, Massachusetts	Yale
G	Tom Woods			Sr.	Boston, Massachusetts	Harvard
C	Herb Stein	6'1"	186	Jr.	Warren, Ohio	Pittsburgh
G	Iolas Huffman	5'11"	228	Jr.	Chandlersville, Ohio	Ohio State
T	Ralph Scott	6'2"	235	Sr.	Dewey, Wisconsin	Wisconsin
E	Luke Urban	5'8"	165	Sr.	Fall River, Massachusetts	Boston College

Statistical leaders

• Player scoring most points: Jimmy Leech, VMI, 210
• Player scoring most touchdowns, Jimmy Leech, 26
• Total offense leader: Jimmy Leech, 1771
• Rushing yards leader: Jimmy Leech, 1723
• Rushing avg leader: Buck Flowers, Georgia Tech, 10.2
• Receptions leader: Eddie Anderson, Notre Dame, 17
• Receiving yards leader: Eddie Anderson, 293