1902 College Football Summary

John DeWitt put the foot in football this season as he booted a 55-yarder against Yale; vs Cornell his 2 kicks totaled 100 yards and added a 45 yard boot against Columbia.

Michigan would continue with its high-scoring offense this year; topping the output of a year ago by 94 points, scoring 644 points.

In three of its conference games, against Indiana, Ohio State and Iowa, this high-scoring team outscored the foes, 263-0.

Individually, the team had 5 players scoring 50 or more points, with a pair over 100.

Albert Herrnstein scored 26 touchdowns and a conversion, giving him 131 points on the season, in leading his team. His point-total was the highest single-season mark since 1891.

Teammate James Lawrence would score 53 points off goals after touchdowns, while finding the end zone 12 times for a total 113 points.

Michigan, as team, surpassed the century mark twice in its games against the Michigan Aggies and Iowa; scoring a combined 226points while preventing the opposition to score.

The high-scoring offense had 36 touchdowns in the 2 games. They were ahead 77-0 at the break against the Aggies; while scoring 12 points less against Iowa.

During his outstanding coaching career, Amos Alonzo Stagg won 10 or more games 8 times. He won 11 three times including this season.

Interestingly, two other Big 10 coaches would also win 11 games this season: Fielding "Hurry-up" Yost with Michigan and Dr. Henry Williams at Minnesota.

Brown and Vermont began their respective series this fall, with a 0-0 tie. It would be the only tie between the schools, as Brown would win 15 times 6th highest for most wins over one team in Pre-1937.

Notre Dame's 92-0 against American Medical with their fourth shutout of the season; as seven backs would eclipse the century mark; while rushing for 940 yards as a team.

On a field that was 110-yards long, Frank Lonergan, of Notre Dame scored on a 106-yard run.

In the loss to Michigan Wolverines, Notre Dame's star back, Louis "Red" Salmon, carried the ball on 15 consecutive carries, but it wasn't enough as the Irish lost 21-0.

Al Hernstein, as mentioned above, found the end zone 26 times this season; but failed to score against the Irish.

USC defeated Pomona, 16-5, sparked by Elwin Caley's 107 kick-off return.

1902 Leaders (min. of 4 games) show:

  • Offensive Scoring Leader (Most Scored)
    Michigan (11-0-0), 624 points
  • Defensive Scoring Leader (Least Allowed)
    Nebraska (9-0-0), 0 points
  • National Champions (Retroactive)
    Michigan (11-0-0) and Yale (11-0-1)

Yale was named No. 1 by Charles Patterson, Caspar Whitney, Walter Camp and the New World Almanac.

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