1888 college football season

The 1888 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Yale as having been selected national champions.^[1] October 18 saw the first intercollegiate game in the state of North Carolina when Wake Forest defeated North Carolina 6–4.^[2] The first "scientific game" occurred on Thanksgiving of the same year when North Carolina played Duke (then Trinity). Duke won 16 to 0.^[3]

1888 college football season
1888 Yale Bulldogs
Champion(s)	Yale
← 1887 · football seasons · 1889 →

Conference and program changes

School	1887 Conference	1888 Conference
USC Methodists	Program established	Independent

Statistical leaders

• Player scoring most points: Knowlton Ames, Princeton, 243

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1888 Eastern Intercollegiate Football Association standings v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Williams 3 – 1 – 0 4 – 4 – 0 Dartmouth 3 – 1 – 0 3 – 4 – 0 MIT 2 – 2 – 0 2 – 5 – 0 Stevens 1 – 2 – 0 2 – 7 – 1 Amherst 0 – 3 – 0 2 – 8 – 1

Independents

1888 Eastern college football independents records v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Yale   –   13 – 0 – 0 Harvard   –   12 – 1 – 0 Princeton   –   11 – 1 – 0 Lehigh   –   10 – 2 – 0 Trinity (CT)   –   5 – 1 – 1 Lafayette   –   6 – 3 – 0 Cornell   –   4 – 2 – 0 Penn   –   9 – 7 – 0 Bucknell   –   2 – 3 – 0 Fordham   –   1 – 2 – 0 Massachusetts   –   2 – 4 – 0 Wesleyan   –   2 – 7 – 0 Worcester Tech   –   1 – 4 – 0 Rutgers   –   1 – 6 – 1 Penn State   –   0 – 2 – 1 Swarthmore   –   0 – 5 – 0	1888 Midwestern college football independents records v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Cincinnati   –   1 – 0 – 1 Notre Dame   –   1 – 0 – 0 Washington University   –   1 – 0 – 0 Michigan   –   2 – 1 – 0 Northwestern   –   2 – 1 – 0 Lake Forest   –   2 – 2 – 0 Minnesota   –   1 – 1 – 0 Indiana   –   0 – 0 – 1 Miami (OH)   –   0 – 0 – 1 Albion   –   0 – 2 – 0	1888 Southern college football independents records v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Georgetown   –   4 – 2 – 0 Trinity (NC)   –   2 – 1 – 0 Virginia   –   2 – 1 – 0 Wake Forest   –   2 – 1 – 0 Johns Hopkins   –   6 – 5 – 0 Richmond   –   1 – 2 – 0 North Carolina   –   1 – 3 – 0 Navy   –   1 – 4 – 0 Gallaudet   –     –   Randolph–Macon   –     –   St. John's (MD)   –     –
1888 Western college football independents records v t e Conf. Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T USC   –   2 – 0 – 0 California   –   6 – 1 – 0