November 4, 2005

National College Football Day 2005

On Nov. 6, 1869, Rutgers defeated Princeton, 6-4, in the first college football game. The game was a lot different 136 years ago than what we think of as "college football" today. For starters, there was no beloved college football blog. (Sorry, shameless plug there!)

But the game we know as college football began that day as a variation of rugby - with players kicking or dribbling the ball, rather than the formation style play that we know today.

To differentiate the teams, the Rutgers players wore scarlet-colored scarfs wrapped turban style around their heads. The two teams played until there were ten total "scores", each worth one point and each score constituting a "game". After each "game", the teams changed sides.

...this detailed account of the play in the first game: “Though smaller on the average, the Rutgers players, as it developed, had ample speed and fine football sense. Receiving the ball, our men formed a perfect interference around it and with short, skillful kicks and dribbles drove it down the field. Taken by surprise, the Princeton men fought valiantly, but in five minutes we had gotten the ball through to our captains on the enemy's goal and S.G. Gano, ’71 and G.R. Dixon, ’73, neatly kicked it over. None thought of it, so far as I know, but we had without previous plan or thought evolved the play that became famous a few years later as ‘the flying wedge’.”

The first game even included an account of a player almost scoring against his own team.

“Every college probably has the humorous tradition of some player who has scored against his own team. This tradition at Rutgers dated from this first game, for one of her players, whose identity is unknown, in the sixth period started to kick the ball between his own goal posts. The kick was blocked, but Princeton took advantage of the opportunity and soon made the goal. This turn of the game apparently disorganized Rutgers, for Princeton also scored the next goal after a few minutes of play, thus bringing the total up to four all.”

This week we pay homage to the Princeton & Rutgers teams that started it all. Without them, there would be no Rammer Jammer, no JoPa, no Maize & Blue, no "three yards & a cloud of dust", no legendary hounds tooth, no Sooner Schooner, no Bevo, no "Fight On!", no Volunteer Navy, no "Swamp", no "Four Horsemen", no "Horseshoe", no "Blackshirt Defense", no wishbone, no spread option, no "Game of the Century", no Big 8/10/11/12, no Iron Bowl, no "Canes-Noles", no "Army-Navy", no Kyle Field, no 3-4 zone dog, no Brent Musberger Drinking Game, no halfback pass, no "Ramblin' Wreck", no "Geaux Tigers!", no Columbia streaks, no Traveler, no Bobby Bowden, no "Granddaddy of them All", and - of course, no BCS.

"Whoa, Nellie!", indeed.

Posted by Kevin Donahue