On December 7 a formal group was established and the elected executive committee members pledged to raise money to place a winning football team on the field.

The Association promised to raise two thousand dollars and on December 16 executive committee member Samuel Hunter presented the plan to the Collegiate and Engineering students.

Pirate owner, Barney Dreyfuss leased the use of Exposition Park for the home games for a percentage of the gate.

[15] The culmination of all this hard work by the Administration, Alumni Assn., students, and head coach Arthur Mosse was winning the unofficial 1904 Football Championship of Western Pennsylvania.

[17] Notably, 1904 marked the first season where WUP/Pitt, Penn State, and West Virginia played a full round robin.

On October 1, Grove City College visited Exposition Park to play the 1904 Western University of Pennsylvania football team.

The WUP offense showed its potential as Jud Schmidt, Joe Thompson and Omar Mehl moved the ball to the thirty-five-yard line.

After an exchange of possessions the WUP offense again had the ball deep in Grove City territory but were unable to score and the first half ended 6–0.

Captain Joe Thompson played substitutes for the second half and backfield subs Rosser and Springer each scored two touchdowns.

As in previous years, the game on October 15 against Westminster College drew a large crowd of about twenty-five hundred raucous fans to Exposition Park.

One paragraph in the Pittsburgh Press aptly recapped the action: The best play of the day occurred about the middle of the second half.

The work of the entire W. U. P. team was good, but that of Joe Thompson, "Jud" Schmidt, Mehl and Perry was splendid.

The trip to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania on 22 October to do battle with the Covenanters of Geneva College was the only road game of the season for the Universities.

The Pittsburg Press summed up the action best:"Although there was little brilliant playing on either side, this resulted from the fact that WUP did not need to exert herself, and Geneva was unable to do so.

Since the Genevans were not congenial hosts and treated both the WUP fans and team poorly, the second half was cut short nine minutes by Captain Thompson.

The only disappointment of the day was the faculty at the Pennsylvania College for Women refused to allow their ladies to accept the invitation to attend the game.

[26] In spite of rumors that the Normal lineup might have some players not registered as students, coach Mosse was looking forward to playing the game so he could gauge his team for the upcoming West Virginia and State College tussles.

WUP Chancellor McCormick wanted assurance that, in fact, the players were students and formally protested any nonstudent playing.

[27] The pregame drama was all for naught as the WUP eleven steamrolled the Blaze 40–0 in front of thirty-two hundred noisy spectators.

On the first play from scrimmage Smith, the star back of Normal, raced for a twenty-yard gain but broke his wrist while being tackled.

The Normal eleven were stunned and the WUP offense proceeded to score four first-half touchdowns and led 23–0 at halftime.

[7] On November 8 the boisterous students of WUP were led into Exposition Park by a band for the 1904 edition of the “Backyard Brawl”.

In the first five minutes of play, WUP quarterback Frank Rugh was ejected for fighting and replaced by Walter Ritchie.

[28][29] On November 19, in front of a sparse crowd, the WUP second team played a short (two fifteen-minute halves) game against the Bethany College eleven.

Coach Mosse wanted to keep his first team healthy for the battle with State College on Thanksgiving Day, but they did practice some signals during the halftime break to the delight of the fans.

The State College lineup was missing three starters due to injury – running back Carl Forkum, tackle Andy Moscrip and end Charles Campbell.

The light drizzle probably kept the crowd from totaling ten thousand but did not dampen the enthusiasm of the fans that braved the weather.

The WUP offense led by their strong backfield of Joe Thompson, Jud Schmidt and Omar Mehl marched the ball down the field.

On first down Irish McIlveen fumbled and Frank Rugh recovered for the WUP on the State College nineteen yard line.

After an exchange of possessions, Jud Schmidt broke loose on a sixty-seven-yard scamper deep into State College territory.