The 1893 Princeton Tigers football team, led by captain Thomas Trenchard, compiled a perfect 11–0 record, outscored opponents by a total of 270 to 14, and has been recognized as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, Helms Athletic Foundation, Houlgate System, and National Championship Foundation.

All eleven players selected by Caspar Whitney and Walter Camp to the 1893 All-America college football team came from the Big Three (Princeton, Yale, and Harvard).

Seven of the honorees have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame: quarterback Philip King, fullback Charley Brewer (Harvard), end Frank Hinkey (Yale), tackle Marshall Newell (Harvard), tackle Langdon Lea (Princeton), guard Art Wheeler (Princeton), and guard Bill Hickok (Yale).

[6] The quarterback would generally pitch the ball to one of the three backs behind him to attempt to run forward, while the defenders would "endeavor by all lawful means to retard that advance.

[9] After a touchdown, the scoring team had the option of bringing out the ball as far as desired at a right angle from the point at which the ball crossed the goal line (as in modern rugby) and attempting a place kick, or by executing a "punt out" from the end zone to a teammate making a fair catch, from which spot a drop-kick for the extra points could be attempted.

The New York Herald declared in a scathing commentary: "Thanksgiving Day is no longer a solemn festival to God for mercies given.

With swollen face and bleeding head, daubed from crown to sole with the mud of Manhattan Field, he stands triumphant amid the cheers of thousands.

What matters that the purpose of the day is perverted, that church is foregone, that family reunion is neglected, that dinner is delayed if not forgot.