| 1922 college football season | ||
|---|---|---|
 Image of pivotal play in Princeton–Chicago game | ||
| Number of bowls | 2 | |
| Bowl games | December 25, 1922 – January 1, 1923 | |
| Champion(s) | California Cornell Princeton | |
| ||
The 1922 college football season had a number of unbeaten and untied teams, and no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing California, Cornell, Iowa, Princeton, and Vanderbilt as national champions.[1] California, Cornell, and Princeton were all picked by multiple selectors.
Andy Smith's Pacific Coast Conference champion "Wonder Team" at California continued on its streak since 1920. Eastern power Cornell was coached by Gil Dobie and led by one of the sport's great backfields with George Pfann, Eddie Kaw, Floyd Ramsey, and Charles E. Cassidy. Bill Roper's Princeton team was dubbed the "team of destiny" by Grantland Rice after defeating Chicago 21–18 in the first game nationally broadcast on radio.[2][3][4][5][6] Today, college football on radio is common for nearly every game in every division. On the same day, Cal defeated USC at the dedication of Rose Bowl Stadium.
The Southern Conference would begin its first season of football in 1922. Vanderbilt tied with North Carolina and Georgia Tech for the conference championship. The Commodores tied Michigan 0–0 on October 14 at the dedication of Dudley Field, the South's first permanent college football stadium. On the same day, Big Ten champion Iowa upset Yale.
The 1923 Rose Bowl at season's end was the first called the "Rose Bowl"[7] and was held in the newly constructed stadium. In the first bowl appearance for either team, USC beat Penn State 14–3.
The West Virginia Mountaineers played the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the only other bowl game this season, the San Diego East-West Christmas Classic. WVU won 21–13.
- ^ Official 2013 Football Bowl Subdivision Records Book (PDF). The National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 76–77. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 23, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
- ^ Jon Blackwell. "1922: The team of destiny".
- ^ History.com staff (October 28, 2009). "Princeton-Chicago football game is broadcast across the country". History.com. A+E Networks. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
- ^ "Tigers Humble Chicago, 21–18, By Long Passes". Chicago Daily Tribune. October 29, 1922. p. 2. Retrieved April 21, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "October 28, 1922: The First National Radio Broadcast of College Football".
- ^ Chuck Sudo. "89 Years Ago Today, College Football Entered the Radio Age". Archived from the original on November 5, 2017.
- ^ HUGE FLAGSTAFF FOR PASADENA. Enormous Steel Pole 122 and ½ Feet Long Will Stand in Rose Bowl. Los Angeles Times, December 10, 1922. MONDAY afternoon at 2 o'clock the new flagstaff of the Tournament of Roses stadium, now called the Rose Bowl, will be put in place with suitable ceremony under auspices of the Pasadena Lions Club, donor of the pole.
