1885 Princeton Tigers football team

1885 Princeton Tigers football
National champion
Conference	Independent
Record	9–0
Head coach	None
Captain	C. M. DeCamp

1885 college football records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Princeton			–					9	–	0	–	0
Michigan			–					3	–	0	–	0
Colorado College			–					1	–	0	–	0
Yale			–					7	–	1	–	0
Cincinnati			–					1	–	0	–	1
Penn			–					8	–	5	–	0
Lafayette			–					3	–	2	–	1
Massachusetts			–					3	–	2	–	1
Johns Hopkins			–					2	–	2	–	0
Richmond			–					1	–	1	–	0
Wesleyan			–					3	–	4	–	0
Navy			–					1	–	2	–	0
Lehigh			–					1	–	5	–	1
Rutgers			–					0	–	1	–	0
Fordham			–					0	–	3	–	0

The 1885 Princeton Tigers football team represented the College of New Jersey, then more commonly known as Princeton College, in the 1885 college football season. The team finished with a 9–0 record and was retroactively named as national champions by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H. Davis.^[1][2] This season marked Princeton's 13th football national championship.^[3]

The season was notable for one of the most celebrated football plays of the 19th century—a 90-yard punt return by Henry "Tillie" Lamar in the closing minutes of the game to beat Yale, 6–5, a team Princeton had not defeated since 1878.^[4][5]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 3		at Stevens	Hoboken, NJ	W 94–0
October 14		Stevens	Princeton, NJ	W 76–0
October 24		at Penn	Philadelphia, PA (rivalry)	W 57–0
October 31		Penn	Princeton, NJ	W 80–10
November 7		at Columbia Law School	New York, NY	W 64–0
November 11		Johns Hopkins	Princeton, NJ	W 10–0
November 14		Wesleyan	Princeton, NJ	W 76–0
November 21	2:30 p.m.	at Yale	Yale Field New Haven, CT (rivalry)	W 6–5	5,000	[6][7]
November 26		at Penn	Philadelphia, PA	W 76–10

References

1. "National Poll Champions" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. National Collegiate Athletic Association. 2017. p. 110. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
2. "1885 Princeton Tigers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
3. "Championships - Tigers Football". princetontigersfootball.com. Princeton University. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
4. "All-Time Princeton Results" (PDF). goprincetontigers.com. Princeton University. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
5. "Sporting Comment" (PDF). The Auburn Citizen. November 21, 1911.
6. "Yale Bites The Dust". The Boston Sunday Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. November 22, 1885. p. 1. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .
7. "Princeton Is Champion". The New York Times. New York, New York. November 22, 1885. p. 1. Retrieved March 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com .