The Massachusetts Institute of Technology football program began in the 1890s–long before the word “program” became a verb dominating the hallowed MIT hallways. Now the brainiest football team in the country–sorry, Stanford–is enjoying its first undefeated season in its long, but (at best) checkered history. MIT is guaranteed a spot in the Division III playoffs with an 8-0 record, having clinched its conference championship. It hosts the US Coast Guard Academy this weekend.
About that “brainiest” claim, the California Institute of Technolology, which has the highest SAT scores in the country, abandoned its football program in 1976–the year Apple Computer was founded. 4.0 averages are common on the MIT offensive line–and, boy, are these guys good with a playbook. Head coach Chad Martinovich told CBS News that there is just “something special about this group.” The team name is, of course, The Engineers. The part about the patent? Just a joke. So far. (MIT typically secures hundreds of patents a year.)