The 1899 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book listing
Harvard and
Princeton as having been selected
national champions.[1]
Chicago,
Kansas, and
Sewanee went undefeated. With just 13 players, the Sewanee team, known as the "Iron Men", had a six-day road trip with five shutout wins over
Texas A&M;
Texas;
Tulane;
LSU; and
Ole Miss. Sportswriter
Grantland Rice called the group "the most durable football team I ever saw."[2]