List of SIAA football champions
| SIAA football champions (defunct) | |
|---|---|
| Conference Football Champions | |
 SIAA map | |
| Sport | College football |
| Conference | Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
| Played | 1894–1942 |
The list of SIAA football champions includes the teams that have won the college football championship of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association since its creation. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conference at some point, as were at least 19 other schools. Every member of the current Southeastern Conference except Arkansas and Missouri, as well as six of the 15 current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference plus the University of Texas at Austin, now of the Big 12 Conference (and previously of the now defunct Southwest Conference), formerly held membership in the SIAA.
Champions by year
Championships of the SIAA were not officially awarded by the SIAA itself and were instead more mythical in nature, being a combination of which school(s) were recognized as the consensus champion(s) (by newspapers, coaches, and so forth) and what seasons the schools themselves choose to claim. In the 27 years before 1922, when many schools left the SIAA to form the Southern Conference, Vanderbilt claimed 11 SIAA titles. Auburn and Georgia Tech share second place with 7 SIAA titles each.
1896 to 1921
| Year | Championship team(s) | Conference Record | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1896 | Georgia LSU |
3–0 4–0 |
Georgia was coached by Glenn "Pop" Warner and led by Richard Von Albade Gammon, who died from injuries sustained in a football game the following year. The 1896 LSU team was the first to use the nickname "Tigers". | |
| 1897 | Vanderbilt | 3–0 | Vanderbilt's first SIAA title. | |
| 1898 | Sewanee | 3–0 | ||
| 1899 | Sewanee | 11–0 | Known as the "Iron Men," Sewanee went 12–0, outscoring opponents 322 to 10, and shutout Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, LSU and Ole Miss over a 6-day span. | |
| 1900 | Clemson | 3–0 | Clemson's first outright SIAA title. Clemson was coached by John Heisman. It was Heisman's first undefeated and untied season as a head coach. | |
| 1901 | Vanderbilt | 5–0–1 | Vanderbilt defeated the best University of Nashville team in the school's history to close the season and secure the title. | |
| 1902 | Clemson | 6–1 | Clemson's second SIAA championship under John Heisman. | |
| 1903 | Clemson Cumberland |
4–0–1 4–1–1 |
Clemson was the favorite as champions, but played in a postseason "SIAA championship" at the end of the year and tied with Cumberland. Heisman pushed hard for Cumberland to claim a title. | |
| 1904 | Auburn Vanderbilt |
4–0 4–0 |
Dan McGugin's first year coaching at Vanderbilt and Mike Donahue's first at Auburn. | |
| 1905 | Vanderbilt | 6–0 | Vanderbilt's only blemish was a 18–0 loss to Michigan. | |
| 1906 | Vanderbilt | 6–0
4–0–3 |
Some writers selected Vanderbilt as the entire All-Southern eleven. Vanderbilt beat Carlisle 4–0. Clemson had one of the best defenses in the south, and allowed no touchdowns scored through seven games. | |
| 1907 | Vanderbilt | 4–0 | Vanderbilt tied Navy, and defeated a powerful Sewanee on a double pass which Grantland Rice called his "greatest thrill" in his years of watching sport. | |
| 1908 | Auburn LSU |
5–1 3–0 |
LSU won a national championship according to the National Championship Foundation.[1] LSU does not officially recognize this season as a national championship season. The season was clouded by accusations of professionalism from rival school Tulane,[2] and as a result most sportswriters did not include LSU for consideration as conference champions. Auburn and Vanderbilt were among those listed as alternative SIAA champions. | |
| 1909 | Sewanee | 5–0 | Sewanee handed Vanderbilt its first loss to a Southern team in 6 years. It was coached by Harris Cope. | |
| 1910 | Auburn Vanderbilt |
4–0 5–0 |
Vanderbilt tied Yale. | |
| 1911 | Vanderbilt | 5–0 | Vanderbilt's only blemish was a 1-point loss to Michigan. | |
| 1912 | Vanderbilt | 4–0–1 | Vanderbilt tied Auburn and suffered its only loss to national champion Harvard. | |
| 1913 | Auburn | 8–0 | Auburn won a national championship according to the Billingsley Report adjusted for margin of victory.[1] | |
| 1914 | Tennessee Auburn |
7–0 5–0–1 |
Tennessee won its first championship of any kind. The 1914 Vols were retroactively awarded a national championship by 1st-N-Goal, though this remains largely unrecognized.[3] Auburn's defense was led by Bull Kearley and did not allow a point. | |
| 1915 | Vanderbilt | 4–0 | Seven out of eight newspapers voted the SIAA championship to the Commodores. The Atlanta Constitution declared it a tie between Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech, which was then independent. | |
| 1916 | Georgia Tech Tennessee |
5–0 6–0–1 |
Tech beat Cumberland 222 to 0. | |
| 1917 | Georgia Tech | 4–0 | Georgia Tech won its first national championship,[1] outscoring opponents 491 to 17. | |
| 1918 | Georgia Tech | 3–0 | Georgia Tech had a 33-game unbeaten streak until falling to national champion Pittsburgh. Tech scored over 100 points three times. | |
| 1919 | Auburn | 5–1–0 | Auburn was often considered SIAA champion, having faced more SIAA teams than Centre, giving Georgia Tech its first SIAA loss in 5 years, and having lost to Vanderbilt by a single point rather than 4 as did Alabama. | |
| 1920 | Georgia Georgia Tech Tulane |
8–0 5–0 4–0 |
Georgia led by its "ten second backfield" and strong line was selected for a national championship by Clyde Berryman.[1] Tech's only loss was a controversial one to Pop Warner's Pitt. Florent Gibson of the Pittsburgh Post rated Tech as the best team in the country. Tech also handed Centre its first loss to a southern team since 1916. Tulane's team was led by Clark Shaughnessy and was the first called the "Green Wave". | |
| 1921 | Georgia Tech Georgia Vanderbilt |
5–0 6–0–1 5–0–1 |
Vanderbilt tied Georgia at the end of the game on an onside kick. Vanderbilt was selected for a national championship by Clyde Berryman.[1] | |
1922 to 1941
The SIAA continued to exist for another 19 years. In this period the Chattanooga Mocs managed the most titles, coming away with four. At the SIAA annual convention in 1930, nine of the association's members announced the formation of the Dixie Conference to facilitate scheduling of games among the group.[6] The charter members were Birmingham-Southern College, Howard College (now Samford University), Southwestern of Memphis (now Rhodes College), Centre College, University of Chattanooga, Spring Hill College and Mercer University;[6] Loyola University New Orleans joined the Dixie two years later.[7]
At the time of formation, conference president Dean G. W. Meade of Birmingham-Southern stated, "We are still members of the S. I. A. A. and will continue to be so."[6] However, at the SIAA convention the following year, Birmingham-Southern, Howard and Spring Hill resigned from the association.[8] University officials at Chattanooga announced their resignation from the SIAA in 1932, explaining that they "saw no purpose in remaining in the unwieldy association after successful launching of the Dixie Conference two years ago".[9]
Two years prior to the SIAA, the Dixie Conference approved the use of scholarships in 1936.[10]
| Year | Championship team(s) | Conference Record | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1923 | Furman | 5–0 | |
| 1924 | Oglethorpe Centre |
5–0 1–0 |
Adrian Maurer was captain of Oglethorpe. Centre defeated Alabama and 3 other Southern Conference members for the unofficial championship of the south.[11] |
| 1925 | Oglethorpe | 8–1 | |
| 1926 | Centenary | 5–0 | |
| 1927 | Miss. College Chattanooga Centenary Furman |
6–0 5–0 3–0 3–0 |
Centenary posted a 10–0 record, coached by Homer H. Norton. It was Furman's last season under coach Billy Laval. |
| 1928 | Chattanooga | 8–1 | |
| 1929 | Chattanooga | 7–0 | |
| 1930 | Presbyterian | 6–0 | |
| 1931 | Chattanooga | 8–0 | College Football Hall of Fame coach Scrappy Moore's first season as head coach at Chattanooga. He had been an assistant since 1927. The 1931 team played Alabama in a postseason charity game, and lost 39 to 0. |
| 1932 | Western Kentucky | 6–0 | |
| 1933 | Murray State | 7–0 | |
| 1934 | Furman | 4–0 | |
| 1935 | Middle Tennessee State | 5–0 | |
| 1936 | Middle Tennessee State | 5–0 | |
| 1937 | Murray State | 6–0–1 | |
| 1938 | Memphis | 7–0 | |
| 1939 | Northwestern State | 7–0 | |
| 1940 | Rollins | 6–0 | |
| 1941 | Presbyterian | 5–0 | |
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 Official 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision Records Book (PDF). The National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 76–77.
- ↑ "From 'The LSU Football Vault': The 1908 Season".
- ↑ "Tennessee Total National Championships". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on 2010-01-17. Retrieved 2010-06-01.
- ↑ "Champions of the South regardless of conference affiliation".
- ↑ "SIAA Conference Champions". CFDataWarehouse.com. 2008. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2008-07-11.
- 1 2 3 "Dixie Conference Formed in South", New York Times, p. 29, December 16, 1930 .
- ↑ Salor, Roger (February 1993), "Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association" (PDF), College Football Historical Society Newsletter, College Football Historical Society, VI (II): 13–14, archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-26, retrieved 2008-01-16
- ↑ "3 Alabama College Resign from S.I.A.A.", New York Times, p. 35, December 15, 1931
- ↑ "Chattanooga Quits Body", New York Times, p. 29, December 6, 1932
- ↑ "South Relaxes Rules on Help to Athletes", New York Times, p. 28, December 19, 1938
- ↑ Rob Robertson. "The Centre College Football Team's Amazing Run, Climaxed By Winning the "Southern Championship" in 1924" (PDF).