The 1881 Princeton Tigers football team represented the College of New Jersey, then more commonly known as Princeton College, in the 1881 college football season. The team finished with a 7–0–2 record and was retroactively named national champion by the Billingsley Report and as co-national champion by Parke H. Davis.[1][2] This season marked Princeton's 11th national championship in a 13-year period between 1869 and 1881.[3]P. T. Bryan was the captain of the team.[4]
No goals were scored against the Tigers in 1881 and the season ended as it had for the fourth time in five years; a 0–0 tie against Yale in or near New York.[5]
The Michigan Wolverines toured the east in 1881, playing the first games between western and eastern teams.[6] Michigan played at Harvard on October 31 and at Yale on November 2, 1881, losing both games.[7] The trip was planned to end after the Yale game, however a Princeton representative attended the game in New Haven and challenged Michigan to a game in two days. Michigan's captain and quarterback Walter S. Horton did not want to accept, but the team over-ruled him. Horton then refused to play, and substitute Henry S. Mahon had to fill in for him.[8]
Michigan forward Fred Townsend wrote about the game in 1901, reporting that Princeton scored a goal in the first half on a long kick aided by the wind. Michigan could not score any goals or touchdowns throughout the contest, while late in the second half Princeton scored two touchdowns.[8] A New Jersey newspaper reported: "The Princeton College team were victorious Thursday [sic] in a football match with the team of the University of Michigan after an exciting struggle."[9] The Daily State Gazette wrote: "A finely contested game of football at the University grounds Friday, between Princeton and University of Michigan resulted in a victory for the home team, Princeton 1 goal, 2 touchdowns; University of Michigan 0."[10]
