[1] The season ran from Saturday, September 25, until Thanksgiving Day, November 25, although a few games were played on the week before.

The third annual survey by the Chicago Tribune at season's end showed that 10 college players had been killed and 38 seriously injured in 1909, up from six fatalities and 14 maimings in 1908.

[3] Schools in the Midwest competed in the Western Conference consisting of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin and Chicago.

[4] 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.

The most eagerly anticipated games were the November 10 matchups, with Princeton at Yale, Dartmouth at Harvard, Michigan vs. Pennsylvania (in Philadelphia), and Cornell at Chicago.

[8] The rules in 1909 were: The Carlisle Indians played a Wednesday afternoon game on September 22 at home against Lebanon Valley, winning 30–0.

On September 25, defending champion Pennsylvania beat Gettysburg College 20–0 on two touchdowns, and a field goal (one of the first three-pointers) by Edmund Thayer.

[10] Defending co-champion Harvard opened its season in a Wednesday afternoon game, beating Bates College 11–0 on September 29.

[11] On October 2, Brown beat Colgate 12–0, Yale defeated Syracuse 15–0 and Harvard won against Bowdoin 17–0.

Elsewhere, Auburn won 11–0 over Howard College (now Samford University), Pitt defeated Ohio Northern 16–0, North Carolina beat Wake Forest 18–0, Arkansas won 24–0 over Henderson State, and Kansas beat little St. Mary's College of Kansas 29–0.

In four midweek games on October 6, Navy opened its season with a 16–6 win over the other Annapolis school, St. John's College, and Princeton defeated Villanova, 12–0.

Yale, in a 12–0 win over Holy Cross, and Brown (which beat Bates, 17–0), both stayed unscored upon and upped their records to 3–0–0.

Harvard was surprised by Williams College, which led in the first half before the Crimson eked out an 8–6 win, and Princeton struggled against Fordham, averting defeat with a last minute field goal, 3–0.

When the Kentucky team was welcomed home, Philip Carbusier said that they had "fought like wildcats", a nickname that stuck.

The biggest game of the week was at Wilkes-Barre, where Penn State and Carlisle met on neutral ground.

[13] October 13: In a midweek game, Princeton found itself losing 6–5 to visiting Virginia Tech after an interception was returned for a touchdown.

Penn State came within 15 yards of a touchdown, but settled for a dropkicked field goal to tie the Quakers.

The other major unbeaten team in the east, Princeton, was upset by visiting Lafayette, after the Leopards' Frank Irmschler blocked a field goal in the final six seconds and returned it 92 yards for a touchdown, winning 6–0 in what the New York Times termed "probably the most sensational finish that has ever been seen in a football game.

Missouri was tied by Iowa State, 6–6, and Kansas (4–0–0) hosted Washington University in St. Louis (2–0–0) and won 23–0.

With ten minutes left to play, Byrne had broken his neck in a collision with three Harvard men.

[17] Byrne died the next morning, and Army canceled the remainder of its schedule, including the annual Army-Navy Game.

Meanwhile, the Yale Bulldogs remained unscored upon as they registered their seventh consecutive shutout, a 34–0 win over visiting Amherst College.

In Western Conference play (the future Big Ten) between two unbeatens, Minnesota defeated visiting Chicago, 20–6.

[20] Kansas won at Nebraska 6–0, to stay unbeaten, and once-tied Missouri beat Washington University in St. Louis, 5–0.

In the South, Vanderbilt defeated visiting Tennessee, 23–0, and North Carolina A&M (N.C. State) won at Washington & Lee 3–0.

On the same afternoon, unbeaten (5–0–2) Pennsylvania went to Ann Arbor to meet once-beaten (4–1–0) Michigan, and sustained their first loss, 12–6.

Coach Hugo Bezdek remarked that his players were like "a wild band of razorback hogs", giving Arkansas teams a new nickname.

Yale had a ninth straight shutout, winning 17–0 in its last game before it would meet Harvard, which raised its record to 8–0–0, defeating Dartmouth 12–3.

In its annual game against Lehigh, Lafayette won 21–0, while at New Orleans, Alabama and Tulane played to a 5–5 tie.