Conference Independent Head coach Pop Warner (1st year) Home stadium Forbes Field | 1915 record 8–0 Offensive scheme Double wing | |
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The 1915 Pittsburgh Panthers football team represented the University of Pittsburgh in the 1915 college football season. Led by coach Pop Warner, his first season at Pitt, the Panthers went undefeated on the season with an 8–0 record and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 247–19.
Contents
Season
Pitt athletic booster Joseph Trees and athletic director A. R. Hamilton hired Pop Warner in 1914 as Pitt's head coach. Warner, who had previously led Carlisle, Cornell, and Georgia, had been successful at his previous stops, mentoring the likes of Jim Thorpe, and was known as an innovator of the game who originated the screen pass, single- and double-wing formations, and use of shoulder and thigh pads. His arrival at Pitt gave the program instant national credibility, lifting the perception of the program from a regional power to that of a national one.
Warner's impact was immediate. Led by center Robert Peck, Pitt's first First Team All-American, and All-American end James Pat Herron, the 1915 Pitt team went 8–0, shutting out five opponents and outscoring opponents by a combined 247–19. The team was selected by football historian Parke H. Davis as that season's co-national champion.
List of national championship selectors
The 1915 team was selected or recognized as national champions by multiple selectors, of which Parke H. Davis's selection is recognized as "major" (i.e. national in scope) by the official NCAA football records book. College Football Data Warehouse also recognizes Pitt as a national champion in 1915, as did a 1970 Sports Illustrated study that has served as the historical basis of the university's historical national championship claims since its original publication.
The selectors that determined Pitt to be national champions in 1915.
* A "major" selector that was "national scope" according to the official NCAA football records book.
All-American selections
*Bold - Consensus All-American