1926 Southern Conference football season

1926 Southern Conference football season
League	NCAA
Sport	College football
Duration	September 18, 1926 through January 1, 1927
Number of teams	22
Regular Season
Season champions	Alabama
Football seasons
← 1925 1927 →

1926 Southern Conference football standings
v t	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
Alabama $	8	–	0	–	0			9	–	0	–	1
Tennessee	5	–	1	–	0			8	–	1	–	0
Vanderbilt	4	–	1	–	0			8	–	1	–	0
South Carolina	4	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	0
Georgia	4	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Virginia	4	–	2	–	1			6	–	2	–	2
VPI	3	–	2	–	1			5	–	3	–	1
Washington and Lee	3	–	2	–	1			4	–	3	–	2
Georgia Tech	4	–	3	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
North Carolina	3	–	3	–	0			4	–	5	–	0
Auburn	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
LSU	3	–	3	–	0			6	–	3	–	0
Ole Miss	2	–	2	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
Mississippi A&M	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	4	–	0
VMI	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Tulane	2	–	4	–	0			3	–	5	–	1
Maryland	1	–	3	–	1			5	–	4	–	1
Clemson	1	–	3	–	0			2	–	7	–	0
Florida	1	–	4	–	1			2	–	6	–	2
Kentucky	1	–	4	–	1			2	–	6	–	1
NC State	0	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	0
Sewanee	0	–	5	–	0			2	–	6	–	0
$ – Conference champion

The 1926 Southern Conference football season was the college football games played by the member schools of the Southern Conference as part of the 1926 college football season. The season began on September 18.

In the annual Rose Bowl game, the SoCon champion Alabama Crimson Tide tied the PCC champion, and #1 ranked team under the Dickinson System, Stanford 7–7. Alabama and Stanford therefore were amongst those named a national champion. Alabama guard Fred Pickhard was the Rose Bowl game's MVP.

Robert Neyland was hired to coach Tennessee in 1926 by Nathan Dougherty with the explicit goal to "even the score with Vanderbilt."^[1]

Season overview[]

Results and team statistics[]

Conf. Rank	Team	Head coach	Overall record	Conf. record	PPG	PAG
1	Alabama	Wallace Wade	9–0–1	8–0	24.9	2.7
2	Vanderbilt	Dan McGugin	8–1	4–1	26.8	4.7
3	Tennessee	Robert Neyland	8–1	5–1	16.8	3.8
4 (tie)	South Carolina	Branch Bocock	5–4	4–2	15.9	6.2
4 (tie)	Georgia	Kid Woodruff	4–5	2–4	15.0	12.8
6	Virginia	Greasy Neale	6–2–1	4–2–1	16.1	5.3
7 (tie)	VPI	Andy Gustafson	5–3–1	3–2–1	14.9	8.9
7 (tie)	Washington and Lee	Pat Herron	4–3–2	3–2–1	10.3	10.4
9	Georgia Tech	William Alexander	4–5	4–3	9.7	9.7
10 (tie)	LSU	Mike Donahue	6–3	3–3	14.2	5.0
10 (tie)	Auburn	Dave Morey	5–4	3–3	13.6	9.4
10 (tie)	North Carolina	Chuck Collins	4–5	3–3	6.6	8.2
10 (tie)	Ole Miss	Homer Hazel	5–4	2–2	12.6	12.2
14	Mississippi A&M	Bernie Bierman	5–4	2–3	14.9	10.9
15 (tie)	VMI	Blandy Clarkson	5–5	2–4	8.0	9.8
15 (tie)	Tulane	Clark Shaughnessy	3–5–1	2–4	7.9	6.7
17	Maryland	Curley Byrd	5–4–1	1–3–1	16.1	9.3
18	Clemson	Bud Saunders	2–7	1–3	2.2	18.8
19 (tie)	Florida	Tom Sebring	2–6–2	1–4–1	9.4	13.6
19 (tie)	Kentucky	Fred Murphy	2–6–1	1–4–1	9.3	10.1
20	NC State	Gus Tebell	4–6	0–4	6.6	10.2
21	Sewanee	M. S. Bennett	2–6	0–5	9.1	8.4

Key

PPG = Average of points scored per game^[2]
PAG = Average of points allowed per game^[2]

Regular season[]

Index to colors and formatting
Non-conference matchup; SoCon member won
Non-conference matchup; SoCon member lost
Non-conference matchup; tie
Conference matchup

SoCon teams in bold.

Week One[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
September 18	Erskine	Clemson	Riggs Field • Calhoun, South Carolina	W 7–0
September 18	Wofford	VMI	Lexington, Virginia	W 20–0

Week Two[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
September 24	Millsaps	Alabama	Denny Field • Tuscaloosa, Alabama	W 54–0
September 25	Chattanooga	Auburn	Rickwood Field • Birmingham, Alabama	W 15–6
September 25	Florida Southern	Florida	Fleming Field • Gainesville, Florida	W 16–0
September 25	Presbyterian	Clemson	Riggs Field • Calhoun, South Carolina	L 14–0
September 25	Mercer	Georgia	Sanford Field • Athens, Georgia	W 20–0
September 25	Oglethorpe	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta	L 7–6
September 25	Northwestern State	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, Louisiana	W 47–0
September 25	Washington (MD)	Maryland	Byrd Stadium • College Park, Maryland	W 63–0
September 25	Arkansas State	Ole Miss	Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, Mississippi	W 28–0
September 25	Birmingham–Southern	Mississippi A&M	Davis Wade Stadium • Starkville, Mississippi	W 19–7
September 25	Wake Forest	North Carolina	Emerson Field • Chapel Hill, North Carolina	L 6–0
September 25	Elon	North Carolina State	Riddick Stadium • Raleigh, North Carolina	W 13–0
September 25	Bryson	Sewanee	McGee Field • Sewanee, Tennessee	W 15–0
September 25	Erskine	South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	W 41–0
September 25	Carson-Newman	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, Tennessee	W 13–0
September 25	Louisiana Tech	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, Louisiana	W 40–0
September 25	Middle Tennessee State	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, Tennessee	W 69–0
September 25	Hampden-Sydney	Virginia	Lambeth Field • Charlottesville, Virginia	T 0–0
September 25	Richmond	VMI	Lexington, Virginia	W 10–0
September 25	Roanoke	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Virginia	W 47–0
September 25	Lynchburg	Washington & Lee	Wilson Field • Lexington, Virginia	W 35–0

Week Three[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
October 2	Alabama	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, Tennessee	ALA 19–7
October 2	Clemson	Auburn	Drake Field • Auburn, Alabama	AUB 47–0
October 2	Florida	Chicago	Stagg Field • Chicago	L 12–6
October 2	VMI	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta	GT 13–0
October 2	Maryville	Kentucky	Stoll Field • Lexington, Kentucky	W 25–0
October 2	Louisiana-Lafayette	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, Louisiana	W 34–0
October 2	Ole Miss	Arkansas	The Hill • Fayetteville, Arkansas	L 21–6
October 2	Mississippi College	Mississippi A&M	Davis Wade Stadium • Starkville, Mississippi	W 41–0
October 2	Maryland	South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	SCAR 12–0
October 2	Furman	North Carolina State	Riddick Stadium • Raleigh, North Carolina	L 31–0
October 2	Middle Tennessee State	Sewanee	McGee Field • Sewanee, Tennessee	W 48–0
October 2	North Carolina	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, Tennessee	TENN 34–0
October 2	Tulane	Missouri	Columbia, Missouri	T 6–6
October 2	Georgia	Virginia	Lambeth Field • Charlottesville, Virginia	UGA 27–7
October 2	Hampden-Sydney	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Virginia	W 30–0
October 2	Washington & Lee	West Virginia	Charleston, West Virginia	L 18–0

Week Four[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
October 9	Alabama	Mississippi A&M	Meridian, Mississippi	ALA 26–7
October 9	Auburn	Howard	Rickwood Field • Birmingham, Alabama	W 33–14
October 9	North Carolina State	Clemson	Riggs Field • Calhoun, South Carolina	CLEM 7–3
October 9	Ole Miss	Florida	Fleming Field • Gainesville, Florida	MISS 12–7
October 9	Georgia	Yale	Yale Bowl • New Haven, Connecticut	L 19–0
October 9	Tulane	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta	GT 9–6
October 9	Kentucky	Indiana	Bloomington, Indiana	L 14–6
October 9	Tennessee	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, Louisiana	TENN 14–7
October 9	Maryland	Chicago	Stagg Field • Chicago	L 21–0
October 9	South Carolina	North Carolina	Emerson Field • Chapel Hill, North Carolina	UNC 7–0
October 9	Sewanee	Texas A&M	Dallas, Texas	L 6–3
October 9	Bryson	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, Tennessee	W 48–0
October 9	Lynchburg	Virginia	Lambeth Field • Charlottesville, Virginia	W 38–0
October 9	Virginia Tech	Dartmouth	Hanover, New Hampshire	L 20–0
October 9	Roanoke	VMI	Lexington, Virginia	L 13–7
October 9	Washington & Lee	Princeton	Palmer Stadium • Princeton, New Jersey	T 7–7

Week Five[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
October 15	Wofford	South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	W 27–13
October 15	Maryville	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, Tennessee	W 6–0
October 16	Alabama	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta	ALA 21–0
October 16	LSU	Auburn	Cramton Bowl • Montgomery, Alabama	LSU 10–0
October 16	Mercer	Florida	Fleming Field • Gainesville, Florida	L 6–3
October 16	Furman	Georgia	Augusta, Georgia	L 14–7
October 16	Virginia Tech	Maryland	Norfolk, Virginia	VT 24–8
October 16	Loyola	Ole Miss	Hemingway Stadium • Oxford, Mississippi	W 13–7
October 16	Millsaps	Mississippi A&M	Davis Wade Stadium • Starkville, Mississippi	W 34–0
October 16	Duke	North Carolina	Emerson Field • Chapel Hill, North Carolina	W 6–0
October 16	Davidson	North Carolina State	Riddick Stadium • Raleigh, North Carolina	L 3–0
October 16	Vanderbilt	Texas	Fair Park Stadium • Dallas, Texas	W 7–0
October 16	Virginia	VMI	Lexington, Virginia	UVA 14–7
October 16	Washington & Lee	Kentucky	Stoll Field • Lexington, Kentucky	W&L 14–13

Week Six[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
October 21	Clemson	South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	SCAR 24–0
October 23	Sewanee	Alabama	Birmingham, Alabama	ALA 2–0
October 23	Auburn	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, Louisiana	AUB 2–0
October 23	Kentucky	Florida	Jacksonville, Florida	UK 18–13
October 23	Washington & Lee	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta	GT 19–7
October 23	Mississippi A&M	LSU	Jackson, Mississippi	MSA&M 7–6
October 23	North Carolina	Maryland	Byrd Stadium • College Park, Maryland	MD 14–6
October 23	Centre	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, Tennessee	W 30–7
October 23	Georgia	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, Tennessee	VAN 14–13
October 23	North Carolina State	VMI	Richmond, Virginia	VMI 7–0
October 23	Virginia	Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Virginia	VT 6–0

Week Seven[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
October 28	South Carolina	The Citadel	County Fairgrounds • Orangeburg, South Carolina	L 12–9
October 28	Clemson	Wofford	Spartanburg, South Carolina	L 3–0
October 30	LSU	Alabama	Denny Field • Tuscaloosa, Alabama	ALA 24–0
October 30	Sewanee	Auburn	Cramton Bowl • Montgomery, Alabama	AUB 9–0
October 30	Florida	Georgia	Sanford Field • Athens, Georgia	UGA 32–9
October 30	Georgia Tech	Notre Dame	South Bend, Indiana	L 12–0
October 30	Gallaudet	Maryland	Byrd Stadium • College Park, Maryland	W 38–7
October 30	Ole Miss	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, Louisiana	TUL 6–0
October 30	Tennessee	Mississippi A&M	Davis Wade Stadium • Starkville, Mississippi	TENN 33–0
October 30	North Carolina State	North Carolina	Emerson Field • Chapel Hill, North Carolina	UNC 12–0
October 30	Virginia Tech	Kentucky	Stoll Field • Lexington, Kentucky	T 13–13
October 30	Virginia	South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	UVA 6–0
October 30	Rhodes	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, Tennessee	W 50–0
October 30	Davidson	VMI	Lynchburg, Virginia	W 12–7

Week Eight[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
November 6	Kentucky	Alabama	Rickwood Field • Birmingham, Alabama	ALA 14–0
November 6	Auburn	Georgia	McClung Stadium • Columbus, Georgia	UGA 16–6
November 6	Clemson	Florida	Fleming Field • Gainesville, Florida	FLA 33–0
November 6	Vanderbilt	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta	VAN 13–7
November 6	Arkansas	LSU	State Fair Stadium • Shreveport, Louisiana	W 14–0
November 6	Maryland	Yale	Yale Bowl • New Haven, Connecticut	W 15–0
November 6	Ole Miss	Rhodes	Memphis, Tennessee	W 32–27
November 6	Mississippi A&M	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, Louisiana	MSA&M 14–0
November 6	VMI	North Carolina	Emerson Field • Chapel Hill, North Carolina	UNC 28–0
November 6	Lenoir-Rhyne	North Carolina State	Riddick Stadium • Raleigh, North Carolina	W 6–0
November 6	South Carolina	Virginia Tech	Richmond, Virginia	SCAR 19–0
November 6	Sewanee	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, Tennessee	TENN 12–0
November 6	Washington & Lee	Virginia	Lambeth Field • Charlottesville, Virginia	UVA 30–7

Week Nine[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
November 13	Florida	Alabama	Cramton Bowl • Montgomery, Alabama	ALA 49–0
November 13	Marquette	Auburn	Rickwood Field • Birmingham, Alabama	L 19–3
November 13	The Citadel	Clemson	Riggs Field • Calhoun, South Carolina	L 15–6
November 13	Georgia	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta	UGA 14–13
November 13	Kentucky	VMI	Charleston, West Virginia	VMI 10–9
November 13	Ole Miss	LSU	Tiger Stadium • Baton Rouge, Louisiana	LSU 3–0
November 13	Mississippi A&M	Indiana	Bloomington, Indiana	L 19–6
November 13	Davidson	North Carolina	Emerson Field • Chapel Hill, North Carolina	L 10–0
November 13	Duke	North Carolina State	Riddick Stadium • Raleigh, North Carolina	W 26–19
November 13	Furman	South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	L 10–7
November 13	Tennessee	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, Tennessee	VAN 20–3
November 13	Sewanee	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, Louisiana	TUL 19–7
November 13	Maryland	Virginia	Lambeth Field • Charlottesville, Virginia	T 6–6
November 13	Virginia Tech	Washington & Lee	Lynchburg, Virginia	W&L 13–0

Week Ten[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
November 20	Centre	Kentucky	Stoll Field • Lexington, Kentucky	L 7–0
November 20	North Carolina State	South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	SCAR 20–14
November 20	Sewanee	Vanderbilt	Dudley Field • Nashville, Tennessee	VAN 13–0
November 20	Randolph-Macon	Virginia	Lambeth Field • Charlottesville, Virginia	W 57–0
November 20	Maryland	Washington & Lee	Wilson Field • Lexington, Virginia	W&L 3–0

Week Eleven[]

Date	Visiting team	Home team	Site	Result	Attendance	Reference
November 23	North Carolina	Virginia	Lambeth Field • Charlottesville, Virginia	UVA 3–0
November 25	Georgia	Alabama	Rickwood Field • Birmingham, Alabama	ALA 33–6
November 25	Auburn	Georgia Tech	Grant Field • Atlanta	GT 20–7
November 25	Clemson	Furman	Manly Field • Greenville, South Carolina	L 30–0
November 25	LSU	Tulane	Tulane Stadium • New Orleans, Louisiana	LSU 7–0
November 25	Washington & Lee	Florida	Barrs Field • Jacksonville, Florida	T 7–7
November 25	Maryland	Johns Hopkins	Baltimore, Maryland	W 17–14
November 25	Ole Miss	Mississippi A&M	Davis Wade Stadium • Starkville, Mississippi	MISS 7–6
November 25	Kentucky	Tennessee	Shields–Watkins Field • Knoxville, Tennessee	TENN 6–0
November 25	VMI	Virginia Tech	Roanoke, Virginia	VT 14–7
November 27	Wake Forest	North Carolina State	Raleigh, North Carolina	W 7–3

Postseason[]

Bowl games[]

Date	Bowl Game	Site	SIAA Team	Opponent	Score
January 1, 1927	Rose Bowl	Rose Bowl • Pasadena, California	Alabama	Stanford	T 7–7

Awards and honors[]

All-Americans[]

• E – Hoyt Winslett, Alabama (AP-1; INS; NEA; CP-2; NYS-2; BE-1; RWJ-2; DW-1; ES-2; BEHR)
• T – Fred Pickhard, Alabama (BE-2; BEHR)
• T – Mack Tharpe, Georgia Tech (BEHR)
• G – John Barnhill, Tennessee (BEHR)
• C – Vernon Sharpe, Vanderbilt (BEHR)
• QB – Bill Spears, Vanderbilt (AP-2; NYS-2; BE-2; RWJ-3 [as hb]; DW-2; BEHR)
• HB – Tolbert "Red" Brown, Alabama (BEHR)
• FB – Ty Rauber, Washington & Lee (AP-3; BEHR)

All-Southern team[]

The following is the composite All-Southern team compiled by the Associated Press.^[3]

Position	Name	First-team selectors	Team
QB	Bill Spears	AP	Vanderbilt
HB	George Morton	AP	Georgia
HB	Red Barnes	AP	Alabama
FB	Ty Rauber	AP	Washington & Lee
E	Hoyt Winslett	AP	Alabama
T	Curtis Luckey	AP	Georgia
G	Fred Pickhard	AP	Alabama
C	Gordon Holmes	AP	Alabama
G	Charles Mackall	AP	Virginia
T	John Barnhill	AP	Tennessee
E	Herschel Caldwell	AP	Alabama

References[]