| 1917 college football season | ||
|---|---|---|
 Georgia Tech's backfield | ||
| Number of bowls | 1 | |
| Champion(s) | Georgia Tech | |
| ||
The 1917 college football season ended with six undefeated teams in Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Ohio State, Texas A&M, Williams, and Washington State.
The Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book lists only Georgia Tech as national champions, the South's first.[1]
Tech coach John Heisman challenged Pitt coach Pop Warner to a postseason contest to determine a national champion, but as such a match did not occur until the next season. The Golden Tornado was invited to play a 4–3 Oregon team in the Rose Bowl, but by then many players had joined the war effort.
In the second week of play, Georgia Tech beat Penn 41–0. Bernie McCarty called it "Strupper's finest hour, coming through against powerful Penn in the contest that shocked the East." By comparison, Pitt defeated Penn 14–6.[2]
- ^ Official 2009 NCAA Division I Football Records Book (PDF). Indianapolis, IN: The National Collegiate Athletic Association. August 2009. pp. 76–77. Retrieved October 16, 2009.
- ^ "1917 Pittsburgh Panthers". databaseFootball.com. Archived from the original on November 30, 2015.