1924 college football season

1924 NCAA football season
Notre Dame's "Four Horsemen"
Total # of teams	111[1]
Number of bowls	3
Bowl games	January 1, 1925
Champions	Notre Dame Fighting Irish Penn Quakers
College football seasons « 1923 1925 »

The 1924 NCAA football season was the year of the Four Horsemen as the Notre Dame team, coached by Knute Rockne, won all of its games, including the Rose Bowl, to be acclaimed as the best team in the nation. Notre Dame and Stanford were both unbeaten at season's end, with the Fighting Irish winning the Rose Bowl contest 27-10. The Penn Quakers were retroactively awarded a national championship by Parke H. Davis.^[2]

Red Grange's Illinois team upset Michigan. The Illini were upset by Minnesota, which in turn was upset by Vanderbilt. Fred Russell's Fifty Years of Vanderbilt Football dubs 1924 "the most eventful season in the history of Vanderbilt football." Centre claimed a southern title in its last season of national relevance, upsetting Wallace Wade's first SoCon champion Alabama team. Alabama would not lose another game until 1927.^[3][4]

Conference and program changes

Conference establishments

• The Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association (now the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association, a Division II conference), began football play in 1924.
• The West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, a now-defunct NAIA and Division II conference, also began play in 1924. The WVIAC disbanded in 2013.

Membership changes

School	1923 Conference	1924 Conference
Ball Teachers Hoosieroons	Program established	Independent
College of Charleston Cougars	Independent	Dropped Program
Georgia Normal Eagles	Program established	Independent
Montana Grizzlies	Independent	PCC
Sewanee Tigers	SIAA	Southern
Vanderbilt Commodores	SIAA/Southern	Southern
VMI Keydets	Independent	Southern

September

September 27 California with a 13-7 win over Santa Clara. Dartmouth beat Norwich College 40-0. Southern Methodist University (SMU) beat North Texas 7-0, and Alabama opened with a 55-0 win over Union College of Tennessee.

October

October 4 Missouri opened its season with a 3-0 win at Chicago, the Maroons' only loss of the season. Notre Dame opened its season with a 40-0 win over Lombard College. Stanford beat Occidental College 20-6, and California beat St. Mary's 17-7. Army beat St. Louis 17-0, Yale beat North Carolina 27-0, and Dartmouth beat Montreal's McGill University 52-0. Alabama won at Furman 20-0. SMU beat Trinity College 14-3

October 11 Notre Dame beat Wabash 34-0. Stanford beat the Olympic Club 7-0 and California defeated Pomona College, 28-0. Army beat Detroit's Mercy College, 20-0 and Dartmouth beat Vermont 38-0. In a battle of Bulldogs, Yale beat Georgia 7-6. Missouri defeated Missouri Wesleyan College 14-0 (MWC was closed in 1930). Chicago beat visiting Brown, 19-7. Alabama beat Mississippi College 51-0. In a Friday game, SMU beat Austin College 7-0

October 18 At the Polo Grounds in New York, Notre Dame beat Army 13-7, the Cadets' only loss for the season. In his column the next day, sportswriter Grantland Rice dubbed the Notre Dame backfield (Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden) in his column of October 20, writing "Outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the Four Horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below."

In other games, Yale and Dartmouth played to a 14-14 tie. Stanford defeated Oregon 28-13, while California beat the Olympic Club 9-3. In Birmingham, Alabama beat Sewanee 14-0. SMU beat Texas 10-6. Missouri won at Iowa State 7-0, and Chicago defeated Indiana 23-0.

October 25 Notre Dame beat Princeton 12-0. In Columbus, Chicago and Ohio State played to a 3-3 tie. At Portland, Oregon, Stanford had a more difficult time than expected in defeating Idaho, 3-0, while California beat Washington State 20-7. Army beat Boston University 20-0, Dartmouth beat Harvard 6-0, and Yale defeated Brown 13-3. At Atlanta, Alabama recorded another shutout, beating Georgia Tech 14-0. SMU and Texas A & M played to a 7-7 tie in Dallas. Missouri beat Kansas State 14-7.

November

November 1 California and USC, both unbeaten and untied with records of 5-0-0, met at Berkeley, with California handing the Trojans their first defeat, 7-0. Notre Dame beat visiting Georgia Tech 34-3 Stanford beat Santa Clara 20-0 and California beat visiting USC 7-0 Army and Yale played to a 7-7 tie. Dartmouth defeated Brown 10-3. SMU stayed unbeaten with a 6-0 win at TCU. Missouri suffered its first defeat, a 14-6 loss at Nebraska. Chicago beat Purdue 19-6.

Alabama registered its 8th shutout in a 61-0 win over Ole Miss at Montgomery. To that point, the Crimson Tide had outscored its opposition 215-0.

November 8 Notre Dame won at Wisconsin 38-3 In a game at Berkeley, Stanford beat Utah 30-0, while in Seattle, California was tied by Washington. Army beat visiting Florida 14-7, Dartmouth beat Boston University 38-0, and Yale beat Maryland 47-0 SMU was tied at Arkansas 14-14. Alabama gave up its first points in a 42-7 win over visiting Kentucky. Missouri won at Oklahoma 10-0. Chicago and Illinois played to a 21-21 tie.

November 15 Notre Dame beat Nebraska 34-6 Stanford beat Montana 41-3 and California beat Nevada 27-0 Army and Columbia played to a 14-14 tie, and Yale beat Princeton 10-0. In New York, Dartmouth closed its season unbeaten with a 27-14 win over Cornell. Alabama was defeated by Centre College, 17-0, in a game at Birmingham. SMU and Baylor played to a 7-7 tie in Dallas. Missouri beat Washington University (of St. Louis) 35-0. Chicago beat Northwestern 3-0.

November 22 In Chicago, Notre Dame beat Northwestern 13-6 Stanford (7-0-0) and California (7-0-1) were both unbeaten going into the final game of the season, played at Berkeley. The teams played to a 20-20 tie, with Stanford getting the bid to the Rose Bowl; California hosted a postseason game against Penn for New Year's Day Yale closed its season unbeaten with a 19-6 win over Harvard. Chicago and Wisconsin played to a scoreless tie.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 27 Alabama beat Georgia 33-0 in Birmingham. Missouri beat Kansas 14-0, and received an invitation to play USC at the Los Angeles Christmas Festival (where it would lose, 20-7)

Notre Dame closed its season in Pittsburgh on Friday, November 28, with a 40-19 win over Carnegie Tech. In the Army–Navy Game, held in Baltimore, Army won 12-0 On November 29 SMU and Oklahoma State played to a 13-13 tie, giving the Mustangs a season record of 5 wins, no losses and four ties.

Rose Bowl

Notre Dame had the Four Horsemen; Stanford had Ernie Nevers. Neither team had lost a game in 1924 and they met in Pasadena before a crowd of 52,000. The Stanford Indians took a 3-0 lead in the first quarter after Murray Cuddeback's field goal. In the second quarter, Elmer Layden ran for one touchdown, then scored another after picking off an Ernie Nevers pass and returning the interception to give the Irish a 13-3 lead at halftime. Stanford closed the gap to 13-10 in the third quarter with a pass from Ed Walker to Ted Shipkey, but lineman Ed Hunsinger scooped up a fumble from an attempted Stanford punt return to give Notre Dame its third touchdown. In the last quarter, Stanford was stopped eight inches from the goal line. Layden picked off another Nevers pass and returned it 70 yards for the final score, with Notre Dame winning 27-10.^[5]

Other Bowls

• Dixie Classic
• Los Angeles Christmas Festival

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1924 Big Ten football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Chicago $ 3 – 0 – 3     4 – 1 – 3 Illinois 3 – 1 – 1     6 – 1 – 1 Iowa 3 – 1 – 1     6 – 1 – 1 Michigan 4 – 2 – 0     6 – 2 – 0 Purdue 2 – 2 – 0     5 – 2 – 0 Minnesota 1 – 2 – 1     3 – 3 – 2 Ohio State 1 – 3 – 2     2 – 3 – 3 Indiana 1 – 3 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 Northwestern 1 – 3 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 Wisconsin 0 – 2 – 2     2 – 3 – 3 $ – Conference champion	1924 Missouri Valley football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Missouri $ 5 – 1 – 0     7 – 2 – 0 Nebraska 3 – 1 – 0     5 – 3 – 0 Drake 3 – 1 – 1     5 – 2 – 1 Grinnell 2 – 1 – 0     3 – 3 – 0 Iowa State 3 – 2 – 0     4 – 3 – 1 Oklahoma 2 – 3 – 1     2 – 5 – 1 Kansas 2 – 4 – 1     2 – 5 – 1 Kansas State 1 – 4 – 1     3 – 4 – 1 Washington (MO) 0 – 1 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1924 New England Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Connecticut $ 3 – 0 – 0     6 – 0 – 2 New Hampshire 2 – 1 – 0     7 – 2 – 0 Maine 1 – 2 – 0     4 – 3 – 1 Rhode Island 0 – 3 – 0     0 – 7 – 0 $ – Conference champion
1924 PCC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Stanford $ 3 – 0 – 1     7 – 1 – 1 California 2 – 0 – 2     8 – 0 – 2 Washington 3 – 1 – 1     8 – 1 – 1 Idaho 4 – 2 – 0     5 – 2 – 1 USC 2 – 1 – 0     9 – 2 – 0 Oregon 2 – 2 – 1     4 – 2 – 3 Oregon Agricultural 1 – 4 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 Washington State 0 – 4 – 1     1 – 5 – 2 Montana 0 – 3 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 $ – Conference champion	1924 RMFAC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Colorado $ 8 – 1 – 1     5 – 0 – 1 Utah 2 – 2 – 1     3 – 4 – 1 $ – Conference champion	1924 SIAA football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Centre + 1 – 0 – 0     5 – 1 – 1 Oglethorpe + 5 – 0 – 0     6 – 3 – 1 Mississippi College 2 – 0 – 1     2 – 5 – 1 Newberry 4 – 1 – 0     8 – 2 – 0 Mercer 4 – 1 – 1     5 – 3 – 2 Sewanee* 2 – 1 – 0     6 – 4 – 0 The Citadel 4 – 2 – 0     6 – 4 – 0 Transylvania 2 – 1 – 0     2 – 2 – 0 Louisville 2 – 1 – 0     3 – 4 – 1 Millsaps 1 – 1 – 0     3 – 5 – 1 Georgetown 1 – 1 – 0     1 – 4 – 0 Furman 1 – 2 – 0     5 – 5 – 0 Wofford 2 – 4 – 0     3 – 7 – 0 Howard 1 – 3 – 0     3 – 5 – 1 Presbyterian 1 – 3 – 0     1 – 6 – 1 Vanderbilt* 0 – 1 – 0     6 – 3 – 1 Louisiana College 0 – 1 – 0     0 – 1 – 0 Western Kentucky 0 – 2 – 0     4 – 6 – 0 Erskine 0 – 4 – 0     0 – 7 – 0 Chattanooga 0 – 5 – 0     1 – 7 – 1 + – Conference co-champions * – co-member of SoCon
1924 SCIAC football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Pomona 5 – 0 – 0     ? – ? – ? Occidental 4 – 1 – 0     ? – ? – ? Whittier 3 – 2 – 0     4 – 3 – 0 Redlands 1 – 3 – 1     1 – 5 – 2 Caltech 1 – 4 – 0     ? – ? – ? SBUC 0 – 4 – 1     0 – 5 – 3 $ – Conference champion	1924 Southern Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Alabama $ 5 – 0 – 0     8 – 1 – 0 Florida 2 – 0 – 1     6 – 2 – 2 Georgia 5 – 1 – 0     7 – 3 – 0 Tulane 4 – 1 – 0     8 – 1 – 0 Washington and Lee 4 – 1 – 1     6 – 3 – 1 Mississippi A&M 3 – 2 – 0     5 – 4 – 0 Sewanee* 3 – 2 – 0     6 – 4 – 0 South Carolina 3 – 2 – 0     7 – 3 – 0 Virginia 3 – 2 – 0     5 – 4 – 0 Georgia Tech 3 – 2 – 1     5 – 3 – 1 Vanderbilt* 3 – 3 – 0     6 – 3 – 1 VPI 2 – 2 – 3     4 – 2 – 3 VMI 2 – 3 – 1     6 – 3 – 1 North Carolina 2 – 3 – 0     4 – 5 – 0 Kentucky 2 – 3 – 0     4 – 5 – 0 Maryland 1 – 2 – 1     3 – 3 – 3 Auburn 2 – 4 – 1     4 – 4 – 1 NC State 1 – 4 – 1     2 – 4 – 2 LSU 0 – 3 – 0     5 – 4 – 0 Ole Miss 0 – 3 – 0     4 – 5 – 0 Clemson 0 – 3 – 0     2 – 6 – 0 Tennessee 0 – 4 – 0     3 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion * – co-member of SIAA	1924 Southwest Conference football standings Conf     Overall Team W   L   T     W   L   T Baylor $ 4 – 0 – 1     7 – 2 – 1 SMU 2 – 0 – 4     5 – 0 – 4 Rice 2 – 2 – 0     4 – 4 – 0 Texas A&M 2 – 2 – 1     7 – 2 – 1 Oklahoma A&M 1 – 1 – 1     6 – 1 – 2 Texas 2 – 3 – 0     5 – 3 – 1 Arkansas 1 – 2 – 1     7 – 2 – 1 TCU 1 – 5 – 0     4 – 5 – 0 $ – Conference champion

Minor conferences

Conference	Champion(s)	Record
Central Intercollegiate Athletics Association	Lincoln (PA)	7–0–1
Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association	Hillsdale	5–0–0
Ohio Athletic Conference	Oberlin	8–0–0

Awards and honors

All-Americans

The consensus All-America team included:

Position	Name	Height	Weight (lbs.)	Class	Hometown	Team
QB	Harry Stuhldreher	5'7"	151	Sr.	Massillon, Ohio	Notre Dame
HB	Red Grange	5'11"	175	Jr.	Wheaton, Illinois	Illinois
HB	Jim Crowley	5'11"	162	Sr.	Green Bay, Wisconsin	Notre Dame
FB	Elmer Layden	6'0"	162	Sr.	Davenport, Iowa	Notre Dame
E	Jim Lawson	5'11"	190	Sr.	Long Beach, California	Stanford
E	Hek Wakefield	5'10"	180	Sr.	Petersburg, Tennessee	Vanderbilt
T	Ed Weir	6'0"	190	Jr.	Superior, Nebraska	Nebraska
G	Carl Diehl	6'1"	205	Jr.	Chicago, Illinois	Dartmouth
C	Edwin C. Horrell	6'2"	185	Sr.	Pasadena, California	California
G	Joe Pondelik			Sr.		Chicago
T	Ed McGinley	5'11"	185	Sr.	Swarthmore, Pennsylvania	Penn
E	Richard Luman			Sr.	Pinedale, Wyoming	Yale

Statistical leaders

• Player scoring most points: Heinie Benkert, Rutgers, 100

References

1. http://www.jhowell.net/cf/cf1924.htm
2. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 108. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
3. 1924 Centre College football scores
4. Alabama football scores
5. "Four Horsemen Win Thriller 27 to 10," Lincoln State Journal, January 2, 1925, p10