For more than a century, the geniuses at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have focused on fairly trivial matters, such as coming up with the scientific advances that change the world. That kept them busy for a while. But now they are finally paying attention to the stuff we really care about—like inventing a respectable football team.

This season counts as MIT’s football breakthrough. The Engineers are undefeated at 8-0. They won their first-ever New England Football Conference championship on Saturday. They also...