The 1890 Harvard Crimson football team compiled a perfect 11–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 555 to 12, and was recognized as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, National Championship Foundation, and Parke H.

[2] In the South, Vanderbilt Commodores defeated Nashville (Peabody), 40–0, in the first college football game played in Tennessee.

[3] As the popularity of the sport increased, several notable programs were established in 1890, including Ohio State,Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Vanderbilt.

All eleven players selected by Caspar Whitney for the 1890 All-America college football team came from the Big Three (Harvard Princeton, and Yale).

The consensus All-America team included: The following is a potentially incomplete list of conference standings: This college football 1890s season article is a stub.