1887 Yale Bulldogs football team

The 1887 Yale Bulldogs football team was an American football team that represented Yale University as a member of the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) during the 1887 college football season. The team compiled a perfect 9–0 record, shut out seven of nine opponents, and outscored all opponents by a total of 515 to 12.^[1] Quarterback Harry Beecher was the team's captain.^[2]

1887 Yale Bulldogs football
National champion IFA champion
Conference	Intercollegiate Football Association
Record	9–0 ( IFA)
Head coach	None
Captain	Harry Beecher
Home stadium	Yale Field
Seasons ← 1886 1888 →

1887 Eastern college football independents records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Yale			–					9	–	0	–	0
Penn State			–					2	–	0	–	0
Harvard			–					10	–	1	–	0
Lafayette			–					7	–	2	–	0
Princeton			–					7	–	2	–	0
Lehigh			–					4	–	3	–	0
Williams			–					3	–	3	–	0
Penn			–					6	–	7	–	0
Wesleyan			–					4	–	5	–	0
Tufts			–					4	–	6	–	0
Massachusetts			–					2	–	3	–	0
Rutgers			–					2	–	6	–	0
Bucknell			–					0	–	2	–	0
Cornell			–					0	–	2	–	0
Franklin & Marshall			–					0	–	2	–	0
Vermont			–					0	–	2	–	0

There was no contemporaneous system in 1887 for determining a national champion. However, Yale was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H. Davis.^[3]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
October 5		Wesleyan	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 38–0		[4]
October 15		at Wesleyan	Middletown, CT	W 106–0		[5]
October 22		at Williams	Williamstown, MA	W 74–0		[6]
October 29		at Penn	University Grounds Philadelphia, PA	W 50–0		[7]
November 5		Rutgers	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 74–0		[8]
November 8		vs. Crescent Athletic Club	Polo Grounds New York, NY	W 70–0		[9]
November 12		Wesleyan	Yale Field New Haven, CT	W 68–4		[10]
November 19		vs. Princeton	Polo Grounds New York, NY (rivalry)	W 12–0		[11]
November 24	2:00 p.m.	vs. Harvard	Polo Grounds New York, NY (rivalry)	W 17–8	15,000	[12]

^[1]

References

1. "1887 Yale Bulldogs Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
2. "Football at Yale: Football the Chief Topic on the Campus". New Haven Daily Morning Journal and Courier. September 30, 1887. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
3. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 107. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
4. "Yale Victorious: First Game of the Season - Wesleyan Defeated in a Tame Game at the Yale Field". New Haven Daily Morning Journal and Courier. October 6, 1897. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Yale Victorious: Overwhelming Defeat of Wesleyan's Foot Ball Team - Score, 106-0". The Boston Globe. October 16, 1887. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
6. "Yale, 74; Williams, 0". New York Tribune. October 23, 1887. p. 5 – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Yale Wins at Foot-Ball: The Pennsylvanians Defeated by a Score of 50 to 0". The Times-Philadelphia. October 30, 1887. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Yale's Heavy Rushers: Rutgers Easily Defeated, Seventy-four to Nothing". The Boston Globe. November 6, 1887. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Yale Foot Ball Kickers: Harry Beecher Helped Them Annihilate the Brookly Crescents". The Brooklyn Daily Eagles. November 9, 1887. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Yale Defeats Wesleyan". The Times-Philadelphia. November 13, 1887. p. 2 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Yale Triumphs in the Mud". The Sun (New York). November 20, 1887. p. 11 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Yale Outplays Harvard". The New York Times. November 25, 1887. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.