Although there was no provision for a national championship, major teams played their regular schedules before facing their most difficult matches late in the season.

In addition, "intersectional games" were of special interest, with Cornell at Chicago, and Penn at Michigan.

[3] In addition, halftime was extended from ten minutes to fifteen [3] The rules for American football in 1908 were significantly different from whose of a century later, as many of the present rules (100 yard field, four downs to gain ten yards, 6-point touchdown and the 3-point field goal) were not adopted until 1912.

[4] The rules in 1908 were: On September 19, Carlisle had a practice game against its prep school program, Conway Hall.

Carlisle played its first college opponent on September 23, with a 39-0 win over Lebanon Valley on Wednesday afternoon.

[6] September 30 In Wednesday afternoon games, Harvard struggled as it opened the season with a 5-0 win over Bowdoin, scoring on a touchdown in the second half.

"Harvard tried the forward pass, line plunges and end runs, but showed poor team work," a dispatch from Cambridge noted.

Pittsburgh defeating little Mount Union College (now a Division III school, from Athens, Ohio), 34-4.

[8] At the end of the first Saturday in October, seven schools remained unbeaten, untied and unscored upon against college opponents: Harvard and Penn, both at 3-0-0; Yale, Annapolis (Navy) and Cornell, at 2-0-0; the University of Chicago, Auburn, and Tennessee.

Wisconsin opened its season with a 35-0 win over Lawrence College., In the south, Auburn shut out Georgia's Gordon College 42-0.

Unbeaten, untied and unscored upon were Harvard, Penn, Yale, Navy, Auburn, and Wisconsin.

October 17 In New Haven, Yale faced West Point in a meeting of unbeatens, and won 6-0.

In the South, Tennessee defeated Kentucky, 7-0; Auburn won at Mercer, 23-0; Vanderbilt beat Clemson 41-0.

In Philadelphia, Penn (7-0-0) hosted Carlisle (5-0-0), while Harvard and Navy, both unbeaten, untied and unscored upon in five games, met at Annapolis.

A crowd of 20,000 turned packed Franklin Field to watch the Penn game, with the Quakers taking an early 6-0 lead.

The Indians tied the game in the second half on a touchdown and extra point by Jim Thorpe.

[10] Yale stayed unbeaten, untied, and unscored on against visiting Washington and Jefferson, taking a 21-0 lead in the first half and winning 38-0.

Unbeaten and once-tied, Carlisle (5-0-1) and Navy (7-0-1) met at Annapolis, with the Indians handing the Midshipmen their first loss, 16-6, as Mike Balenti kicked four field goals, which at that time were worth 4 points apiece [13] Yale stayed unscored upon, with a 49-0 win over Massachusetts, with Ted Koy scoring four of the Elis' nine touchdowns.

It would prove to be Auburn's only loss of 1908, and LSU's biggest win en route to a 10-0-0 finish.

Brown scored a touchdown early in the game, but missed the point after, and Yale's Ted Koy connected on 30 yard field goal.

[16] Pitt stayed unbeaten with an 11-0 win over visiting West Virginia, and Cornell defeated Amherst, 6-0.

At New York's Polo Grounds, a crowd of 10,000 watched unbeaten Princeton (5-0-3) face Dartmouth (5-0-1).

In intersectional games, Michigan beat visiting Kentucky, 62-0, while St. Louis hosted Sewanee and the two played to a 6-6 tie.

November 21 The biggest game of the season was in New Haven, Connecticut, as Harvard (8-0-1) visited Yale (7-0-1).

A crowd of 35,000 turned out to watch the Crimson vs. Blue contest, and The New York Times reported on the front page the next day that the game "would have been seen by 75,000 if the Stadium could hold that many, for that number of applications was received," Harvard won 4-0, with Vic Kennard kicking a 25-yard field goal for the win [22] Pitt beat Gettysburg College 6-0.

In intersectional games, Carlisle lost at Minnesota, 11-6, while Michigan suffered its second straight loss, losing at Syracuse, 28-4.

Though Penn "found the boys from the shores of Lake Cayuga a harder proposition than she looked for", wrote a New York Times reporter, they "closed the season without once drinking from the bitter cup of defeat, and to-night her followers are claiming at least equal rank with Harvard.".