1928 college football season

• Six conferences began play in 1928:
  • Arkansas Intercollegiate Conference – an NAIA Division I conference active through the 1995 season; its former members now largely comprise the NCAA Division II Great American Conference
  • Big Six Conference – an NCAA Division I–A conference active through the 1996 season; founded after the original Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association disbanded in May 1928 with six of its former members (Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma); later known as the Big Eight Conference after adding Oklahoma A&M and Colorado and a predecessor to the present-day Big 12 Conference
  • Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – an NAIA conference active through the 1968 season
  • Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference – an active NAIA conference; separate from the previous conference with the same name that disbanded after the 1927 season
  • Mississippi Valley Conference – active through the 1934 season
  • Missouri Valley Conference – an NCAA Division I-A conference active through the 1985 season; founded by the four remaining members of the former MVIAA (Drake, Grinnell, Oklahoma A&M, and Washington–St. Louis) and independent Creighton; a separate entity from the present-day Missouri Valley Football Conference
• One conference played its final season in 1928:
  • Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference – active since the 1914 season; a separate conference with the same name would exist within the NAIA between the 1974 and 1996 seasons; largely replaced by the Oklahoma Collegiate Athletic Conference between the 1929 and 1974 seasons

Army beat Boston University 35–0. New York University (NYU) beat Niagara College 21–0. Pennsylvania def Ursinus 34–0. California beat Santa Clara 22–0 and USC beat Utah State, 40–12. Texas beat its crosstown neighbor, Austin's St. Edward's College, 32–0.

Nebraska opened its season with a 12–0 win at Iowa State. Army narrowly beat the visiting SMU Mustangs, 14–13. NYU beat West Virginia Wesleyan, 26–7. Pennsylvania def. Franklin & Marshall 46–0. Texas beat Texas Tech 12–0. After losing 2 games out of 3 to non-college opponents, Stanford won at Oregon 26–12; USC beat visiting Oregon State 19–0. California beat St. Mary's, 7–0 Wisconsin beat visiting Notre Dame, 22–6. Georgia Tech beat VMI, 13–0. Illinois beat Bradley, 33–6. Iowa played a Sunday game against Monmouth College, winning 26–0.

Stanford beat visiting UCLA 45–7, and California beat Washington State, 13–3. USC defeated St. Mary's, 19–6.

In New Orleans, Georgia Tech beat Tulane, 12–0, and in Dallas, Texas narrowly lost to Vanderbilt, 13–12. Pennsylvania shut out Swarthmore 67–0. NYU defeated Fordham* 34–7. Army shut out Providence 44–0. Nebraska beat Montana State, 26–6. Iowa won at Chicago, 13–0, while Illinois hosted Iowa's Coe College, winning 31–0 Wisconsin hosted Cornell College of Iowa, and North Dakota State University, with the varsity winning the first game 49–0, and the reserves beating the Dakotans 13–7.

In Berkeley, California and USC played to a 0–0 tie. With the exception of this game, USC played all of its other contests at home in Los Angeles in 1928.

Georgia Tech shut out Notre Dame at home, 13–0. Army won at Harvard 15–0. NYU beat Rutgers* 48–0. Pennsylvania recorded its fourth shutout, beating Penn State 14–0. In San Francisco, Stanford beat Idaho, 47–0. Wisconsin and Purdue tied 19–19, and Illinois beat Indiana 13–7. Iowa beat Ripon College, 61–6. Nebraska edged visiting Syracuse, 7–6. Texas beat Arkansas, 20–7. After its first two wins over Ashland College (65–0) and Thiel (38–13), Carnegie Tech beat Washington & Jefferson, 19–0.

Army won at Yale, 18–6. NYU beat Colgate 47–6. Pennsylvania (4–0–0) was upset by (1–3–0) Navy, 6–0. Prior to that, Penn had outscored its opponents 161–0. USC beat Occidental 19–0. Stanford beat Fresno State, 47–0. Wisconsin won at Michigan, 7–0, and Iowa beat Minnesota, 7–6, while Illinois beat Northwestern 6–0. Carnegie Tech beat Pittsburgh, 6–0. Georgia Tech yielded its first points, winning at North Carolina, 20–7. Nebraska shut out Missouri, 24–0, and Texas won at Rice, 13–6. California lost to the Olympic Club of San Francisco, 12–0. Olympic, nominally an amateur team of former college players, had beaten Stanford 12–6 earlier.

In Los Angeles, USC (4–0–1) and Stanford (5–2–0) met, with the Trojans winning 10–0. Wisconsin beat visiting Alabama, 15–0, while 4–0–0 Illinois suffered its first loss, at Michigan, 3–0. California beat Oregon, 13–0. Nebraska won at Kansas, 20–0. Texas lost to visiting SMU, 6–2. Pennsylvania won at Chicago, 20–13. NYU and Georgetown University, both 5–0–0, with the Hoyas winning 7–2. Army beat Indiana's DePauw College, 38–12. Iowa defeated visiting South Dakota, 19–0. Carnegie Tech extended its streak, with a 32–0 win over Westminster College of Pennsylvania, and Georgia Tech beat visiting Oglethorpe College 32–7.

Army (6–0–0) hosted Notre Dame(4–2–0). A crowd of 90,000 packed the stands while 5,000 others in the Bronx watched from roofs and fire escapes within view of Yankee Stadium. Though the Fighting Irish weren't having a good year, the score was 0–0 when Knute Rockne inspired his team at halftime by relating George Gipp's deathbed wish ("When the team's up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys—tell them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper"). Though Army scored a touchdown in the third quarter, touchdowns by Jack Chevigny and Johnny O'Brien gave the Irish a 12–6 lead. In the final minute, Army drove to within one foot of the goal line, but the whistle sounded before the Cadets could snap the ball.[2]

In the New York Daily News the following Monday, reporter Francis Wallace first related the story in an article entitled, "Gipp's Ghost Beat Army."[3]

The big game in the South was in Atlanta, where Vanderbilt (6–0–0) visited Georgia Tech (5–0–0), and the home team won 19–7. Texas won at Baylor, 6–0.

Wisconsin defeated Chicago, 25–0, and Iowa won at Ohio State, 14–7. In Indianapolis, Illinois beat Butler, 14–0.

Pennsylvania won at Harvard, 7–0 NYU beat Alfred University, 71–0. USC beat Arizona, 78–7, Stanford beat Santa Clara 31–0, and California won at Washington, 6–0. Carnegie Tech won at Georgetown, 13–7.

Nebraska, which had not played Oklahoma during the last two seasons, renewed a rivalry that became one of the most notable in college football. Playing at Oklahoma, the Cornhuskers won 44–6.

Iowa (6–0–0) hosted Wisconsin (6–0–1) in a meeting of unbeatens, with the visitors handing the Hawkeyes their first loss, 13–0. Illinois won at Chicago, 40–0. Georgia Tech beat Alabama at home, 33–13. Nebraska (6–0–0) hosted the (5–2–0) Pitt Panthers, and were tied, 0–0. Pennsylvania beat Columbia 34–7 NYU beat Missouri, 27–6. Army beat Carleton, 32–7. Texas beat a strong TCU team, 6–0. USC won again, defeating Washington State, 27–13, while Stanford beat Washington, 12–0, California rolled over visiting Nevada, 60–0. (6–0–0) Carnegie Tech won at (5–2–0) Notre Dame, 27–7.

Carnegie Tech (7–0–0) and NYU (7–1–0) met at Pittsburgh. The Violets handed Tech its first defeat, 27–13. Ken Strong gained widespread fame. He threw two long touchdown passes, rushed for two touchdowns, and kicked three extra points, leading Grantland Rice to write:

This attack was led by a runaway buffalo, using the speed of a deer, and his name was Ken Strong. He ran all over a big, powerful team, smashed its line, ran its ends, kicked 50 and 55 yards, threw passes and tackled all over the lot. Today he was George Gipp, Red Grange and Chris Cagle rolled into one human form and there was nothing Carnegie Tech had that could stop his march.[4]

Carnegie Tech coach Walter Steffen said of Strong's performance: "This is the first time in my career that one man was good enough to run over and completely wreck an exceptionally good team. I can tell you he is better than Heston or Thorpe."[5]

Georgia Tech crushed visiting Auburn, 51–0. Auburn won only 1 of its 9 games, and scored in only two of those contests.

Army (7–1–0) and Nebraska (6–0–1) met at West Point, with the Cadets beating the visiting Cornhuskers, 13–3. Stanford and California tied at Berkeley, 13–13. USC beat Idaho, 28–7.

On Thanksgiving Day, Pennsylvania beat Cornell 49–0. Overall, the Penn Quakers had outscored their opponents 271 to 26, and finished 8–1–0. NYU closed its season with a 25–13 loss to visiting Oregon State, and finished 8–2–0. Wisconsin hosted Minnesota, and suffered its first loss, a 6–0 defeat, to close at 7–1–1. After starting the season 6–0, Iowa closed with a second loss, at Michigan, 10–7, to finish 6–2–0. Illinois closed at 7–1–0 after beating visiting Ohio State, 8–0. Nebraska closed its season with an 8–0 win over Kansas State, and Texas wrapped with a 19–0 win over Texas A&M.

Army and Stanford met at Yankee Stadium, with Stanford shutting the Cadets out, 26–0. In Los Angeles, USC hosted Notre Dame, winning 27–14, to close its season at 9–0–1.

Georgia Tech hosted Georgia and won 20–6, closing regular play at 9–0, before the Yellow Jackets' trip to the Rose Bowl. The Jackets finished 7–0 in Southern Conference play, assuring themselves of at least a share of the conference title.

In one of the final games of the 1928 season, once-tied Tennessee hosted unbeaten Florida in Knoxville. For coach Charlie Bachman's Florida Gators, a share of the Southern Conference title was at stake; coach Robert Neyland's Tennessee Volunteers were playing for pride. Tennessee edged Florida, 13–12. Florida finished 8–1, Tennessee 9–0–1, and unbeaten and untied Georgia Tech won the conference championship outright.