Yale's point total was the largest ever made by a Yale team. The team scored 126 touchdowns and kicked 69 goals from touchdown and eight goals from the field.[3] Ten of the starting 11 players on the 1888 Yale team went on to accept positions coaching other teams.[4] Head coach Walter Camp and five players — Corbin, Pudge Heffelfinger, McClung, Amos Alonzo Stagg, and George Washington Woodruff — were subsequently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
On October 6, 1888, Yale defeated Rutgers, 65–0, on Yale Field in New Haven. Due to rain, only 50 spectators attended the game. The game consisted of 35 minutes of playing time.[6] Team captain William Herbert Corbin had his knee "thrown out of joint" during the game.[7] Yale's starters were Robinson, William Rhodes, Bert Hanson, Corbin (centre), Pudge Heffelfinger, Charles O. Gill, Townsend, William Wurtenburg (quarterback), Samuel B. Morison (halfback), B. Morrison (halfback), Herbert McBride (fullback).[6]
Penn (first game)
On October 13, 1888, starting at 3:05 p.m., Yale defeated Penn, 34–0, before a crowd of less than 1,000 at the 37th and Spruce Street grounds in Philadelphia. Yale's starting lineup in the game consisted of Frederic W. "Kid" Wallace (rusher), Charles O. Gill (rusher), Pudge Heffelfinger (rusher), William Herbert Corbin (rusher), Gordon B. Pike (rusher), William Rhodes (rusher), Samuel B. Morison (rusher), Clifford B. Twombly (quarterback), William P. Graves (halfback), William Wurtenburg (halfback), and Herbert McBride (fullback).
Wesleyan (second game)
On Tuesday, October 16, 1888, Yale played its second game against Wesleyan, prevailing by a 46–0 at Wesleyan's home field in Middletown, Connecticut. Yale's starting lineup was Frederic W. "Kid" Wallace (rusher), Bert Hanson (rusher), Pudge Heffelfinger (rusher), William Herbert Corbin (centre and captain), Gordon S. Pike (rusher), William Rhodes (rusher), McClintock (rusher), Clifford B. Twombly (quarterback), William Wurtenburg (halfback), Lee McClung (halfback), Herbert McBride (fullback).[8]
Amherst (first game)
On Friday, October 19, 1888, starting at 3:20 p.m., Yale defeated Amherst, 39–0, on Amherst's home grounds in Amherst, Massachusetts.[9]
On October 27, 1888, Yale defeated Stevens, 69–0. The game was played in drizzling rain at Yale Field in New Haven. Yale scored 44 of its points in the last inning.[11]
On November 17, 1888, Yale defeated Wesleyan, 105–0, at Yale Field in New Haven, Connecticut. Yale's tally of 105 points was its highest of the season and was the total of eight touchdowns (32 points), 11 goals (66 points), one goal from field (five points), and one safety (two points). Charles O. Gill was credited with the best play of the game, running three quarters of the field with Amos Alonzo Stagg acting "as a sort of bodyguard in the race for six points." Yale's starting lineup was Stagg (rusher), John A. Hartwell (rusher), George Washington Woodruff (rusher), Ashbel Barney Newell (center rush), Pudge Heffelfinger (rusher), Gill (rusher), Frederic W. "Kid" Wallace (rusher), William Wurtenburg (quarterback), Lee McClung (halfback), Herbert McBride (halfback), and William T. Bull (fullback).[13]
Princeton
On November 24, 1888, Yale defeated Princeton, 10–0, at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan. Both teams were undefeated prior to the game which was billed as a contest for the intercollegiate football championship. The attendance was variously placed at 10,000 to 20,000 with The New York Times estimated the crowd at a little less than 15,000, evenly split between Princeton and Yale partisans. Yale's 10 points were scored on two goals kicked from the field by Yale's fullback William T. Bull. As the game ended, a "mob" of Yale supporters ran onto the field and carried the victorious players off on their shoulders. The starting lineup for Yale consisted of Frederic W. "Kid" Wallace (rusher), Charles O. Gill (rusher), George Washington Woodruff (centre rush), William Herbert Corbin (rusher), William Rhodes (rusher), Pudge Heffelfinger (rusher), and Amos Alonzo Stagg (rusher), William Wurtenburg (quarterback), Lee McClung (halfback), William P. Graves (halfback), and Bull (fullback).[14][15]
Roster
The 1888 season was a transitional season where linemen were still generally referred to generically as "rushers" or the "rush line", but were at other times referred to by reference to specific positions in the line. Where available from game accounts, both designations are included below. Players awarded varsity letters for the 1888 season are denoted with a (Y).[16]
^National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings"(PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 107. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
^L.H. Baker, "Early American College Football Through 1888," in Walter R. Okeson (ed.), The Official NCAA Football Guide 1941. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co. 1941; p. 15.
