1914 Army Cadets football team

The 1914 Army Cadets football team was an American football team that represented the United States Military Academy as an independent during the 1914 college football season. In their second season under head coach Charles Dudley Daly, the Cadets compiled a 9–0 record, shut out six of their nine opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 219 to 20 – an average of 24.3 points scored and 2.2 points allowed.[1][2] In the annual Army–Navy Game, the Cadets defeated the Midshipmen, 20 to 0.[3] The Cadets also defeated Notre Dame 20–7.[4]

1914 Army Cadets football
National champion (Helms, Houlgate, NCF)
Co-national champion (Davis)
ConferenceIndependent
Record9–0
Head coach
CaptainVernon Prichard
Home stadiumThe Plain
Seasons
← 1913
1915 →
1914 Eastern college football independents records
Conf Overall
Team W   L   T W   L   T
Army     9 0 0
Harvard     7 0 2
Washington & Jefferson     10 1 0
Dartmouth     8 1 0
Lehigh     8 1 0
Pittsburgh     8 1 0
Cornell     8 2 0
Yale     7 2 0
Franklin & Marshall     6 2 1
Colgate     5 2 1
Princeton     5 2 1
Brown     5 2 2
Fordham     6 3 1
Geneva     5 3 0
Tufts     5 3 0
Penn State     5 3 1
Rutgers     5 3 1
Lafayette     5 3 2
Syracuse     5 3 2
Boston College     5 4 0
NYU     5 4 0
Villanova     4 3 1
Bucknell     4 4 1
Carnegie Tech     4 4 0
Penn     4 4 1
Temple     3 3 0
Rhode Island State     2 3 3
Carlisle     5 10 1
Holy Cross     2 5 1
Vermont     2 6 1
New Hampshire     1 6 2
Duquesne     1 5 0

The team was recognized as the national champion by the Helms Athletic Foundation, the Houlgate System, and the National Championship Foundation, and a co-national champion by Parke H. Davis.[5]

Three Army players were recognized as first-team players on the All-America team: end Louis A. Merrilat; center John McEwan; and quarterback Vernon Prichard. Tackle Alex Weyand was selected as a third-team All-American by Walter Camp. Four players from the 1914 team were later inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: McEwan; Weyand; Robert Neyland (later coach at Tennessee); and Elmer Oliphant.

Schedule

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DateOpponentSiteResultSource
October 3StevensW 49–0[6]
October 10RutgersW 13–0[7]
October 17ColgateW 21–7[8]
October 24Holy CrossW 14–0[9]
October 31VillanovaW 41–0[10]
November 7Notre DameW 20–7[4]
November 14MaineW 28–0[11]
November 21Springfield YMCAW 13–6[12]
November 28NavyW 20–0[3]

Players

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  • Charles Benedict, fullback
  • Omar Bradley (later Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army)
  • William Butler, left tackle
  • William Coffin, fullback
  • John F. Goodman, center
  • Charles Herrick, left guard
  • Paul A. Hodgson, left halfback
  • William M. Hoge, right halfback and fullback
  • James P. Kelly, right end
  • John McEwan, center (College Football Hall of Fame)
  • Laurence Meacham, left guard and right guard
  • Louis A. Merrilat, left end and right end
  • Robert Neyland, left end (College Football Hall of Fame)
  • Joseph O'Hare, right guard
  • Elmer Oliphant,[13] halfback (College Football Hall of Fame)
  • Vernon Prichard, quarterback
  • James Van Fleet, right halfback
  • Alex Weyand, right tackle (College Football Hall of Fame)

References

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  1. ^ "Army Yearly Results (1910-1914)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  2. ^ "1914 Army Black Knights Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Well-Balanced Army Machine Overwhelms Navy, 20-0". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. November 29, 1914.
  4. ^ a b "Cadets Avenge Defeat by Irish: Strong Army Team Downs Notre Dame, 20 to 7, in Contest at West Point Featured by Forward Pass". The Indianapolis Star. November 8, 1914.
  5. ^ National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) (2015). "National Poll Rankings" (PDF). NCAA Division I Football Records. NCAA. p. 108. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  6. ^ "Army 49, Stevens 0". The Hartford Courant. October 4, 1918. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Army Beats Rutgers". The Baltimore Sun. October 11, 1914. p. 30 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Colgate, First Away, Outstayed By Army". The Sun. October 27, 1912. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Holy Cross Lost to Soldier Boys". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia, Pa. October 25, 1914. p. 17 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Army 41, Villanova 0". The Hartford Courant. November 1, 1914. p. 30 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "West Point 28, Maine 0". The Boston Globe. November 15, 1914. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Springfield Beaten at West Point, 13 to 6". The Boston Globe. November 22, 1914. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Oliphant Has Big Part in Army-Maine Battle". The Topeka Daily Capital. November 15, 1914.