1888 college football season

The 1888 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing Yale as having been selected national champions. October 18 saw the first intercollegiate game in the state of North Carolina when Wake Forest defeated North Carolina 6–4. The first "scientific game" occurred on Thanksgiving of the same year when North Carolina played Duke (then Trinity). Duke won 16 to 0.

1888 college football season
1888 Yale Bulldogs
Champion(s)	Yale
football seasons

Conference and program changes

School	1887 Conference	1888 Conference
Southern California Methodists	Program established	Independent

Statistical leaders

• Player scoring most points: Knowlton Ames, Princeton, 243

Conference standings

The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings:

1888 Eastern Intercollegiate Football Association standings Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Williams 3 – 1 – 0 4 – 4 – 0 Dartmouth 3 – 1 – 0 3 – 4 – 0 MIT 2 – 2 – 0 2 – 5 – 0 Stevens 1 – 2 – 0 2 – 7 – 1 Amherst 0 – 3 – 0 2 – 8 – 1

Independents

1888 Eastern college football independents records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Yale   –   13 – 0 – 0 Harvard   –   12 – 1 – 0 Princeton   –   11 – 1 – 0 Lehigh   –   10 – 2 – 0 Trinity (CT)   –   5 – 1 – 1 Lafayette   –   6 – 3 – 0 Cornell   –   4 – 2 – 0 Penn   –   9 – 7 – 0 Bucknell   –   2 – 3 – 0 Fordham   –   1 – 2 – 0 Massachusetts   –   2 – 4 – 0 Wesleyan   –   2 – 7 – 0 Worcester Tech   –   1 – 4 – 0 Rutgers   –   1 – 6 – 1 Penn State   –   0 – 2 – 1 Swarthmore   –   0 – 5 – 0	1888 Midwestern college football independents records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Cincinnati   –   1 – 0 – 1 Notre Dame   –   1 – 0 – 0 Washington University   –   1 – 0 – 0 Michigan   –   2 – 1 – 0 Northwestern   –   2 – 1 – 0 Lake Forest   –   2 – 2 – 0 Minnesota   –   1 – 1 – 0 Indiana   –   0 – 0 – 1 Miami (OH)   –   0 – 0 – 1 Albion   –   0 – 2 – 0	1888 Southern college football independents records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T Georgetown   –   4 – 2 – 0 Trinity (NC)   –   2 – 1 – 0 Virginia   –   2 – 1 – 0 Wake Forest   –   2 – 1 – 0 Johns Hopkins   –   6 – 5 – 0 Richmond   –   1 – 2 – 0 North Carolina   –   1 – 3 – 0 Navy   –   1 – 4 – 0 Gallaudet   –     –   Randolph–Macon   –     –   St. John's (MD)   –     –
1888 Western college football independents records Conf Overall Team W   L   T W   L   T USC   –   2 – 0 – 0 California   –   6 – 1 – 0