A potential 16-0 season for Indiana looms after a national championship win, a record unmatched in modern major college football. Only North Dakota State, an FCS program, has matched the mark. This puts the Hoosiers in rare historical company, though not without precedent.

That precedent is the 1894 Yale Bulldogs, who also finished 16-0. Their schedule was a product of a chaotic, unregulated era, featuring games against athletic clubs and a packed calendar of two games per week. The sport was brutal and unrecognizable by today's standards, with no forward pass.

Walter Camp, the game's forefather, built Yale's dynasty. Their dominance was so complete that opponents scheduled them to measure their own strength. While Indiana's run is modern and structured, the 1894 season reminds us that perfection is an old, if very different, pursuit in college football.