It comes down to this, folks, as today is the final day of our MNC Wednesday miniseries. There are no other years really worth taking on at this point in determining the mythical national championship despite historical records in the sport dating back to 1869. But that just seems silly to us, especially since we’ve barely agreed with the “experts” across our last 20 columns (spanning the 1902–1921 seasons). Plus, 1901 was the first “Rose Bowl” season, and it seems like a good place to just wrap up the exercise.

The 1901 MNC: Michigan (Helms, NCF); Harvard (DMP)

A trio of schools are the primary candidates here for our final MNC analysis, as they separated themselves well from the rest of the crowd as only 45 schools were rated as “major colleges” during this regular season. These three teams were at least 3.19 points clear of the field in terms of sabermetric projections for head-to-head play. The experts have selected the Michigan Wolverines as their champions, but we’re considering the Harvard Crimson and the Wisconsin Badgers, too. Let the wild rumpus start … now!

Well, well, well … we wonder how the “experts” missed this. The Wolverines played five small schools and two weak independents while leaving Ann Arbor three times; the Badgers faced three cupcakes and one weak indie, leaving Madison three times as well. On the contrary, the Crimson played 12 colleges all considered “big time” for the 1901 season—every one of Harvard’s opponents was legit. Michigan’s SRS mark is fueled by running up the score on most of its weak-sister opponents, too.

Head to head, the Wolverines would have been favored by 0.19 points on a neutral field against Harvard, but that includes the ridiculous 416-0 aggregate score Michigan piled on against the seven schools that had no business being on the same field. For example, the 128-0 victory over small-school Buffalo and the 89-0 shellacking of independent Beloit bloat that SRS mark while killing the SOS rating at the same time. Honestly, it’s almost as if the experts just saw the Wolverines’ scoring margin and quit.

We have more integrity than that. Even though the Crimson only left the Boston area twice, the team played a vastly superior schedule with substance, and the SRS marks are barely distinguishable. Harvard’s overwhelming SOS advantage more than overcomes the minimal sabermetric deficit to Michigan here. After all, if there were just 45 major-college football programs at the time, then the Wolverines played a bottom-third schedule, and no team playing that kind of clown parade deserves an MNC here.

Amazingly enough, this is the Crimson’s only championship crown we’ve awarded in all this time. The experts awarded them partial crowns in 1910 and 1911, while giving Harvard a full mantle in 1913. We took all those away, as explained elsewhere, yet the very “first” MNC, historically, goes to the Crimson. No one can say they didn’t earn it, either, with that schedule 100-percent full of real opponents. Congratulations to Harvard, and on that note, we sign off from this miniseries forever. It’s been fun, y’all.