1950 Princeton Tigers football team

The 1950 Princeton Tigers football team represented Princeton University in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) intercollegiate competition during the 1950 season. The Tigers were led by sixth-year head coach Charlie Caldwell, a future College Football Hall of Fame inductee, who utilized an "unbalanced" version of the single-wing formation.[1] The Princeton offense, which made use of the buck-lateral series, was one of the last successful employers of the single-wing formation, which had been made obsolete by the modernized T formation.[2]

1950 Princeton Tigers football
National champion (Poling System, Boand System) Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 8
AP	No. 6
1950 record	9–0
Head coach	Charlie Caldwell (6th season)
Offensive scheme	Unbalanced single-wing
Captain	George A. Chandler
Home stadium	Palmer Stadium

1950 Eastern college football independents records
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Franklin & Marshall			–					9	–	0	–	0
No. 6 Princeton			–					9	–	0	–	0
No. 2 Army			–					8	–	1	–	0
Fordham			–					8	–	1	–	0
Carnegie Tech			–					7	–	1	–	0
Drexel			–					6	–	1	–	0
No. 20 Cornell			–					7	–	2	–	0
Bucknell			–					6	–	3	–	0
Penn			–					6	–	3	–	0
Yale			–					6	–	3	–	0
Buffalo			–					5	–	3	–	0
Colgate			–					5	–	3	–	0
Penn State			–					5	–	3	–	1
Syracuse			–					5	–	5	–	0
Temple			–					4	–	4	–	1
Tufts			–					4	–	4	–	1
Columbia			–					4	–	5	–	0
Villanova			–					4	–	5	–	0
Holy Cross			–					4	–	5	–	1
Dartmouth			–					3	–	5	–	1
Duquesne			–					2	–	6	–	1
Hofstra			–					2	–	6	–	0
NYU			–					1	–	5	–	1
Harvard			–					1	–	7	–	0
Brown			–					1	–	8	–	0
Pittsburgh			–					1	–	8	–	0
Boston College			–					0	–	9	–	1
Rankings from AP Poll

Princeton finished with a perfect undefeated record of 9–0, and the Tigers outscored their opponents 349–94. Against other future Ivy League teams, Princeton compiled a 5–0 record.[3]

Some selectors named Princeton the national champions, most notably the NCAA-recognized Poling System and Boand System.[4] Princeton was ranked sixth in the Associated Press and eighth in the United Press final polls. After the season, Tigers halfback Dick Kazmaier, tackle Holland Donan, and center Redmond Finney received first-team All-America honors.[5] Kazmaier and Donan were eventually inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.[6][7]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 30	Williams		Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ	W 66–0	18,000	[8]
October 7	Rutgers		Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ (rivalry)	W 34–28	23,000	[9]
October 14	Navy		Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ	W 20–14	35,000	[10]
October 21	at Brown		Brown Stadium Providence, RI	W 34–0	20,000	[11]
October 28	No. 10 Cornell		Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ	W 27–0	47,500	[12]
November 4	Colgate	No. 10	Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ	W 45–7	19,000	[13]
November 11	Harvard	No. 8	Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ (rivalry)	W 63–26	25,000	[14]
November 18	at Yale	No. 7	Yale Bowl New Haven, CT (rivalry)	W 47–12	59,000	[15]
November 25	Dartmouth	No. 7	Palmer Stadium Princeton, NJ	W 13–7	5,000	[16]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

References

1. A Very Brief Look at "the" Single-Wing, Coach Wyatt, retrieved June 19, 2009. Archived 2009-06-22.
2. Masin, Herman L., [It Fit the Millennium To A T! http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-27450841_ITM], Coach and Athletic Director, 2000, retrieved August 14, 2010.
3. "1950 Princeton Tigers Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved February 27, 2017.
4. "National Poll Champions", 2007 NCAA Division I Football Records Book (PDF), p. 77, National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2007. Accessed 2009-06-19. Archived 2009-06-22.
5. ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, p. 1218, New York: ESPN Books, 2005, ISBN 1-4013-3703-1.
6. "Dick "Kaz" Kazmaier". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
7. "Hollie Donan". College Football Hall of Fame. Football Foundation. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
8. Werden, Lincoln A. (October 1, 1950). "Princeton Opens 81st Football Campaign With Crushing Victory Over Williams" (PDF). The New York Times. Princeton, N.J.
9. Nichols, Joseph C. (October 8, 1950). "Princeton Whips Rutgers by 34-28" (PDF). The New York Times. Princeton, N.J.
10. Werden, Lincoln A. (October 15, 1950). "Princeton Downs Navy Squad, 20-14" (PDF). The New York Times. Princeton, N.J.
11. Strauss, Michael (October 22, 1950). "Princeton Trims Brown Team, 34-0" (PDF). The New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. S1.
12. Danzig, Allison (October 29, 1950). "Princeton Routs Cornell, 27-0; 47,500 Cheer Tiger". The New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. S1.
13. Nichols, Joseph C. (November 5, 1950). "Princeton Routs Colage, 45 to 7" (PDF). The New York Times. New York, N.Y.
14. Danzig, Allison (November 12, 1950). "Princeton Routs Harvard, 63-26; Tiger Sets Record" (PDF). The New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. S1.
15. Danzig, Allison (November 19, 1950). "Tiger Keeps Title" (PDF). The New York Times. New Haven, Conn.
16. Sheehan, Joseph M. (November 26, 1950). "Princeton Beats Dartmouth, 13-7; Ivy Title to Tiger". The New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. S1.