| 1926 college football season | ||
|---|---|---|
 The "Big Game" | ||
| Number of bowls | 1 | |
| Bowl games | January 1, 1927 | |
| Champion(s) | Alabama Stanford Lafayette | |
| ||
The 1926 college football season was the first in which an attempt was made to recognize a national champion after the season.
Stanford, coached by Pop Warner, was the top team in the U.S. under the Dickinson System and was awarded the newly established Rissman Trophy. Unbeaten Stanford (10–0) faced unbeaten Alabama (9–0) in the Rose Bowl, and the two teams played to a 7–7 tie. Seven years later, Parke H. Davis, a renowned football historian and football rules committee member, declared Lafayette (9–0), where he had previously coached, a "National Champion Foot Ball Team" in Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide.[1]
- ^ Okeson, Walter R., ed. (1934). Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide 1934. New York: American Sports Publishing Co. pp. 206–208.