At the end of 1905 football looked about to be abolished due to all of the reoccurring violence during games. Football was a sport that had degenerated into dangerous tactics such as: the flying wedge, punching, kicking, piling-on, and elbows to the face. Almost any violent behavior was allowed. Fatalities and injuries mounted during the 1905 season.[n 1]
As a result, the 1906 season was played under a new set of rules.[2] The rules governing intercollegiate football were changed to promote a more open and less dangerous style of play. An intercollegiate conference, which would become the forerunner of the NCAA, approved radical changes including the legalization of the forward pass, allowing the punting team to recover an on-side kick as a live ball, abolishing the dangerous flying wedge, creating a neutral zone between offense and defense, and doubling the first-down distance to 10 yards, to be gained in three downs.[3]
According to Fuzzy Woodruff, Davidson tossed the first legal forward pass in the South in the win over Georgia.[4]
Clemson and Vanderbilt tied for the SIAA title,[5] but few writers chose the Tigers over the vaunted Commodores.[6] Coach Dan McGugin called the Carlisle victory "the crowning feat of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association season."[7] For some, Vanderbilt's eleven was the entire All-Southern team.[8] Running back Owsley Manier was the first Southern player chosen third-team All-American by Walter Camp.
The composite All-Southern eleven representing the consensus of newspapers as published in Fuzzy Woodruff's A History of Southern Football 1890–1928 included:
^Union College halfback Harold Moore died of a cerebral hemorrhage after being kicked in the head while attempting to tackle an NYU runner. The Chicago Tribune referred to the 1905 football season as a "death harvest", as it resulted in 19 player deaths and 137 serious injuries.[1]