1896 Western Conference football season


The 1896 Western Conference football season was the first season of college football played by the member schools of the Western Conference and was a part of the 1896 college football season.
In September 1896, the members of the Western Conference, seven of the most prominent teams in the Midwest, arranged their schedules so as to "compete for the championship of the West."
The 1896 Wisconsin Badgers football team, under head coach Philip King, won the first Western Conference championship with a 7–1–1 record. Wisconsin's sole loss was to the Carlisle Indians in a night game played indoors and under the lights at the Chicago Coliseum before a crowd of 16,000 persons.
Michigan, led by head coach William Ward, compiled a 9–1 record and led the conference in both scoring offense and scoring defense. Michigan started the season with nine consecutive wins in which the Wolverines outscored their opponents by a combined score of 256 to 4. In the final game of the season, played on Thanksgiving Day at the Chicago Coliseum, the team lost a close game to Chicago by a score of 7–6. The 1896 Chicago–Michigan football rivalry game was the first college football game played indoors, and the last portion of the game was also played under electric lights.
Northwestern finished in third place with a 6–1–2 record, its only loss coming against Chicago by an 18–6 score.
In their fifth season under head coach Amos Alonzo Stagg, the Chicago Maroons compiled a 15–2–1 record, finished in fourth place in the conference with a 3–2 record against conference opponents, and outscored all opponents by a combined total of 368 to 82.

Season overview

Results and team statistics

Key
PPG = Average of points scored per game
PAG = Average of points allowed per game

Regular season

Only 12 conference games were played during the 1896 Western Conference season. The results were as follows:
No Western Conference schools participated in any bowl games during the 1896 season.

Awards and honors

All-Western players

In the Chicago Inter Ocean, a sports writer known as "The Man Up a Tree" published the following selections for an All-Western football team:
PositionNameTeam
EndJohn M. HarrisonMinnesota
EndChester BrewerWisconsin
TackleFrank VillaMichigan
TackleJ. F. A. "Sunny" PyreWisconsin
GuardHardingMinnesota
GuardJohn E. RyanWisconsin
CenterPierceNorthwestern
QuarterbackGordon ClarkeChicago
HalfbackJesse Van DoozerNorthwestern
HalfbackJohn "Ikey" KarelWisconsin
FullbackClarence HerschbergerChicago

All-Americans

No Western Conference players were selected for the 1896 College Football All-America Team.