The list of SIAA football champions includes the teams that have won the college football championship of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association since its creation. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS (formerly Division I-A) football programs were members of this conference at some point, as were at least 19 other schools. Every member of the current Southeastern Conference except Arkansas and Missouri, as well as six of the 15 current members of the Atlantic Coast Conference plus the University of Texas at Austin, now of the Big 12 Conference (and previously of the now defunct Southwest Conference), formerly held membership in the SIAA.
Champions by year
Championships of the SIAA were not officially awarded by the SIAA itself and were instead more mythical in nature, being a combination of which school(s) were recognized as the consensus champion(s) (by newspapers, coaches, and so forth) and what seasons the schools themselves choose to claim. In the 27 years before 1922, when many schools left the SIAA to form the Southern Conference, Vanderbilt claimed 11 SIAA titles. Auburn and Georgia Tech share second place with 7 SIAA titles each.
Georgia was coached by Glenn "Pop" Warner and led by Richard Von Albade Gammon, who died from injuries sustained against Virginia the following year.[2]Cow Nalley was also on the team, Georgia's only five-year letterman. The 1896 LSU team was the first to use the nickname "Tigers".[3]
Vanderbilt shut out all opponents and won its first SIAA title. Phil Connell, Howard Boogher, and Lucius E. Burch played for Vanderbilt. A game against Virginia was scheduled for the championship of the South, and ended in a scoreless tie.[2]
Clemson's first outright SIAA title. Heisman's first undefeated and untied season as a head coach.[2] The 64–0 win over Davidson on opening day was then the largest score ever made in the South.[5]
Clemson's only loss was to rivalSouth Carolina, in a controversial game ending in riots and banning the contest until 1909.[6] Despite losing to Vanderbilt, LSU also claims a title.[7]
Clemson was the favorite as champions, but played in a postseason "SIAA championship" and tied Cumberland.[8] Heisman pushed hard for Cumberland to claim a title.[9]
Mike Donahue's first year coaching at Auburn, and Dan McGugin's first year coaching at Vanderbilt. McGugin remains the only coach in NCAA history to win his first three games by 60 points.[10]
Clemson had one of the south's best defenses, allowing no touchdowns. Some writers selected Vanderbilt as the entire All-Southern eleven. Vanderbilt beat Carlisle4–0.[2]
Though the school does not recognize it, LSU was retroactively awarded a national championship by the National Championship Foundation.[12]Doc Fenton led the nation in scoring. The season was clouded by accusations of professionalism from rivalTulane.[13] As a result, most sportswriters did not include LSU for consideration as conference champions. Auburn was most popular among those who listed an alternative SIAA champion.[14][15]
Sewanee was led by first-year head coach Harris Cope and handed Vanderbilt its first loss to a southern team in 6 years. Rice called Aubrey Lanier "the noblest Tiger of them all."[16]
Auburn's leading scorer was Bill Streit.[17] Vanderbilt tiedYale, the first time Yale had been held scoreless at home, and the South's first great showing against an Eastern power. Central also claimed a title, since Vanderbilt did not play them.[18]
Auburn's defense was led by Bull Kearley and did not allow a point.[21] Tennessee beat rival Vanderbilt for the first time and won its first championship of any kind. The 1914 Vols were retroactively awarded a national championship by 1st-N-Goal, though this remains largely unrecognized.[22]
Seven out of eight newspapers voted the SIAA championship to the Commodores. The Atlanta Constitution declared it a tie between Vanderbilt and Heisman-coached Georgia Tech, which was then independent.[23]
Georgia, led by its "ten second backfield"[a] and strong line, was selected for a national championship by Clyde Berryman.[12] Tech's only loss was a controversial one to Pop Warner's Pittsburgh. Florent Gibson of the Pittsburgh Post rated Tech as the best team in the country.[26] Tech also handed Centre its first loss to a southern team since 1916. Tulane's team was led by Clark Shaughnessy and was the first called the "Green Wave".[27]
Red Barron rushed for 1,459 yards, a Georgia Tech record at the time.[28] Tech's only loss was to Penn State at the Polo Grounds. Vanderbilt tied Georgia at the end of the game on an onside kick from scrimmage. Vanderbilt was selected for a national championship by Clyde Berryman.[12]
At the time of formation, conference president Dean G. W. Meade of Birmingham-Southern stated, "We are still members of the S. I. A. A. and will continue to be so."[30] However, at the SIAA convention the following year, Birmingham-Southern, Howard and Spring Hill resigned from the association.[32] University officials at Chattanooga announced their resignation from the SIAA in 1932, explaining that they "saw no purpose in remaining in the unwieldy association after successful launching of the Dixie Conference two years ago".[33]
Two years prior to the SIAA, the Dixie Conference approved the use of scholarships in 1936.[34]
^The term "ten second backfield" generally refers to players capable (or thought to be capable) of running a 100-yard dash in 10 seconds—that is, fast runners.[25]
^ abc"Dixie Conference Formed in South", New York Times, p. 29, December 16, 1930.
^Salor, Roger (February 1993), "Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association"(PDF), College Football Historical Society Newsletter, VI (II), College Football Historical Society: 13–14, archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-05-23, retrieved 2008-01-16
^"3 Alabama College Resign from S.I.A.A.", New York Times, p. 35, December 15, 1931
^"Chattanooga Quits Body", New York Times, p. 29, December 6, 1932
^"South Relaxes Rules on Help to Athletes", New York Times, p. 28, December 19, 1938
