1916 was a season of firsts for University of Oregon football. The Webfoots (as the team was known at that time) had joined the newly formed Pacific Coast Conference and advanced to the Rose Bowl after an undefeated season, defeating Penn on New Year's Day 1917 in the team's first bowl appearance.
This was Hugo Bezdek's fourth season in his return to Oregon football, Coach Bezdek already had led UO to another undefeated campaign in his first one-year stint as coach, 5-0-1 in 1906. Oregon went undefeated during the 1916 season, (6-0-1) outscoring their opponents, 244-17, including five shutouts. The one imperfection was a scoreless tie with Washington in a mud bowl at Kincaid Field on the West corner of the U of O campus. The Webfoots were second to the Huskies in the PCC based on number of total wins but were still selected for the trip to Pasadena.
The Penn Quakers, with three all-Americans had no idea what awaited them after a 3,000-mile trip West. Future NFL commissioner Bert Bell was the Quakers quarterback and East Coast college football was still considered the gold standard of the game. Defense would rule the day, the game was scoreless at halftime in front of what was then a Rose Bowl attendance record of an estimated 25,000 fans at Tournament Park (now part of the campus of Cal Tech). The Huntington brothers, Shy and Hollis along with receiver Lloyd Tegert could not be contained in the second half. Shy Huntington ran for one touchdown, threw for another (to Tegert), kicked both extra points AND picked off three Penn passes. The Webfoots 14-0 victory was a shocker. Team captain John Beckett was named player of the game. Oregon's final record was 7-0-1.
Two years later, Shy Huntington would take over coaching duties from Bezdek and lead Oregon to another Rose Bowl appearance in 1920. Both Huntington brothers are members of the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame.
There was one other first in that 1916 season. It was the first time the fight song "Mighty Oregon" was played at football games.
1916 Oregon football: Head coach-Hugo Bedzek. Offensive starters-John Beckett, Brick Mitchell, W.C. Snyder, Jake Risley, Bert Spellman, Lloyd Tegert, Ken Bartlett, Orville Montieth, Shy Huntington, Hollis Huntington, Johnny Parsons. Reserves (partial list)- B.T. Williams, C.E. Nelson, Neil Morfitt, Ray Couch.