Football History

Northern Arizona's College Football Hall of Fame Defensive Tackle from the early 1960s. Playe din the AFL for the Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, and Boston Patriots

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The Alabama Crimson Tide are a dominant force in college football, extending to their record against every other school in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). Here's a breakdown of Alabama's record against each current SEC member:

-West Division:

Arkansas: 32-25-7 (Alabama leads)

Auburn: 49-38-1 (Alabama leads)

LSU: 54-25-5 (Alabama leads)

Mississippi State: 87-73-13 (Alabama leads)

Ole Miss: 52-43-8 (Alabama leads)

Texas A&M: 12-10-2 (Alabama leads)

-East Division:

Florida: 34-23-11 (Alabama leads)

Georgia: 48-32-15 (Alabama leads)

Kentucky: 30-28-1 (Alabama leads)

Missouri: 4-4-0 (Tied)

South Carolina: 9-6-3 (Alabama leads)

Tennessee: 90-51-32 (Alabama leads)

Vanderbilt: 72-58-10 (Alabama leads)

-Total: 478-172-21 (72.8% winning percentage)

As you can see, Alabama has a winning record against every current member of the SEC, with their most dominant record coming against Mississippi State (87-73-13) and their closest record coming against Missouri (4-4-0).

-Key Takeaways:

Alabama has dominated the SEC for decades, boasting a winning record against every current member.

The Crimson Tide's most dominant rivalry is against Mississippi State, while their closest rivalry is against Missouri.

Alabama's overall record against SEC opponents is an impressive 478-172-21, a testament to their consistent excellence.

As the storied traditions and rich history of Alabama Crimson Tide football remind us, this program is not just about wins and championships; it embodies a legacy of excellence and resilience. From legendary coaches to iconic players, each season adds a new chapter to a saga of passion and dedication. Whether celebrating in Bryant-Denny Stadium or cheering from afar, the Crimson Tide faithful uphold these traditions with pride. As we look ahead to future seasons, let us continue to honor and preserve the spirit that defines Alabama football—a spirit forged by tradition and destined for greatness.

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Minnesota's 1960 season wasn't born under a starlit sky; it began shrouded in skepticism. Three consecutive losing seasons had dampened expectations, making them unranked and overlooked. But under Coach Murray Warmath, an unlikely transformation was brewing.

The season started strong, silencing doubters with a gritty win over Nebraska. Shutouts against Indiana and Northwestern followed, showcasing a revitalized defense. Then came the moment that shifted the narrative: a 10-0 blanking of Michigan at The Big House, earning national respect and the Little Brown Jug.

Victories kept stacking up, with wins over Kansas State and Iowa solidifying their title bid. The lone hiccup, a late-season loss to Purdue, proved a mere detour. Undeterred, they clinched the Big Ten Championship, a feat many deemed inconceivable months earlier.

The season culminated in a showdown with Washington in the Rose Bowl. Despite battling fatigue and injuries, the Gophers fought valiantly, ultimately falling 17-7. Though the scoreboard showed defeat, their journey defied expectations.

Beyond the wins and losses, the 1960 Gophers were defined by resilience, grit, and a team spirit that refused to fold. They brought home their sixth national championship and, more importantly, rekindled the fire of Gopher football.

Their legacy lies not just in trophies, but in the inspiration they provided – a testament to the power of unity, belief, and the sheer joy of defying the odds.

A tale woven into the very fabric of Spartan football: the Michigan State Spartans playing in the Rose Bowl. It's a story of triumphs and heartbreaks, of green and white confetti dancing in the California breeze, and of a tradition forged in Spartan spirit and tested on the gridiron of history.

The Spartans' inaugural Rose Bowl journey began in 1954, a baptism by fire against a UCLA squad boasting the legendary Johnny Unitas. Though victory eluded them that day, the stage was set for a legacy destined to unfold. Just three years later, the magic struck. Led by the unflappable John Hannah, the Spartans conquered the Rose Bowl, earning their first victory and etching their name onto the game's illustrious trophy.

But the Rose Bowl wasn't always kind to the Spartans. The 1970s saw three consecutive heartbreaking losses, each leaving behind a bittersweet tinge of "what if." Yet, in true Spartan fashion, they never faltered. In 1988, led by the dynamic duo of Bobby Williams and Mark Ingram, the Spartans finally exorcised the ghosts of "almost" and reveled in a Rose Bowl victory under the confetti shower.

Mark Dantonio's arrival in 2005 ushered in a new era of Spartan resilience. He led the Spartans to three Rose Bowl appearances in seven years, including a thrilling 24-20 victory over Ohio State in 2014, a game forever etched in Spartan lore. Victories came against powerhouses like Stanford and USC, cementing the Spartans' place among the Rose Bowl's elite.

Today, the Michigan State Spartans and the Rose Bowl remain forever intertwined. It's a testament to their unwavering spirit, their relentless pursuit of excellence, and their ability to rise to the occasion on the grandest stage. It's a tradition that transcends generations, a whisper of Spartan pride carried on the California breeze, reminding us that the Rose Bowl will always hold a special place in the hearts of every Spartan.

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Born May 7, 1953, in Villa Park, California, was Harvard University’s talented wide receiver from 1972 through the 1974 season, Pat McInally. This player not only was a standout on the field but also in the classroom as well, earning the prestigious NFF National Scholar Athlete award and becoming a First Team All-American in 1974. The NFF states that Pat finished his career as the Crimson’s single-game, single-season and career record-holder for touchdowns and receptions and as the school’s leader in career receiving yards. McInally ranked second in the nation in receptions in 1973 and fourth in 1974 while also serving as Harvard’s punter. The National Football Foundation selected Pat McInally for entrance into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016. He was the only player to ever to have a perfect score on the Wonderlick Test and became the first starting Harvard Grad to play in the Super Bowl, after he became the Cincinnati Bengals. NCAAF Jersey 84

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In this edition of the Football History Rewind series, part 29, we examine the rules changes and the 1911 season. This was the final season of old-time football before bigger changes.

Football at the end of 1910

The History of Football year-by-year series in the last few editions has just journeyed through one of the most radical rules revision periods of the game's history in 1910. The Game of 1910 was much different because of these rules changes than a few years earlier. From our twentieth-century perspective, the rules more closely resemble what we are familiar with with the football game in 1910, whereas the rules of 1900 would lead one to believe it was a different sport altogether. It was a different game!

Items such as the forward pass, seven men on the line of scrimmage before the snap, and tackling rules took the game from a brutal battering ram of humanity thrust into a wall of flesh to a strategic game where individuals could make a difference. However, the concept of working as a team was still prevalent. The coming years after the year of significant revision would have coaches and players exploring the new rules and ideas. They would open the door for new strategies and philosophies on the gridiron. The rules makers would make their tweaks to the latest regulations as well as experiment to make the game safer for participants while at the same time trying to keep the playing field level for both sides of the ball and keep the fans interested in the spectacle of the sport.
New strategies?
The 1910 rules revisions shocked the coaches that first year, for only one truly new concept was introduced that season. The University of Minnesota and its coach, H.L. Williams ( a Yale product), were the only ones brave enough to tread out into the unknown waters of change. All other teams stayed with what they knew and had performed before, but many had to adapt these old standards to conform to the legality of the rules.

Minnesota's Williams tried a new concept where he would not show the look of his formation until just before the snap. Under this strategy, Minnesota's offense would gather around the line of scrimmage but not be in certain positions or formations. Then, just before the snap, the players would leap into their proper positions, creating a legal formation, and snap the ball. Defenses never knew what they would get coming at them until the ball was snapped! The defenders never had a chance to shift to match the offensive formations due to this masking of the offensive formation. The new concept was fondly called the Minnesota Shift.
Results of change
What was important to those inside and outside of football's inner ring was whether the safety of the players increased due to the rule changes or if it was still the same bloody game it was prior. Statistics from the 1910 season proved that injuries in the game of football were drastically reduced, and the new rules were the factor that caused this decrease! The public outcry against the game's brutality had been quieted.
At the same time, the critics of football who did not want change because they felt the game would become dull and uninteresting to spectators were silenced as well because the games were still exciting and entertaining to the masses. The rules makers could not have hoped for better results! They and their innovations had probably saved the game!
1911, the tweaking begins
The men who met and made the rules did not sit on their hands, though, in the next year. On the contrary, they kept at the drawing board to revise the rules further and enhance the game to new levels. The biggest change to the rules in 1911 had to do with the forward pass aspect of the sport.

The forward pass was still only a few years old at this point in history, and it was used less due to the risk versus rewards factor. The risk was that a pass not caught was treated the same as a fumble and almost invariably was a turnover. Coaches were afraid to use the pass in their game plans as a regular play because of the risk of losing possession of the ball. The forward pass held the status of what today we call a gadget play. It was used mainly by offenses as a surprise tactic or one of desperation.
The rules makers decided to change this characteristic of the forward pass because most wanted to see it become a standard weapon in an offensive's arsenal. The "fumble" aspect of the dropped passes also provided roughness, which the rules committee wanted removed from the game. In the spring meetings of 1911, the rule committee changed the rules of a dropped or incomplete forward pass that hit the ground to be a dead ball. The incomplete pass was born!
The Season of 1911
This season was the last era of old rules, as we will see in the major reforms of the 1912 rules body. With that, a big group of teams went undefeated. Navy finished with a record of 6–0–3. An excellent record indeed as two of the Midshipmen ties were scoreless games with the other top unbeaten teams, Penn State, who sported an 8–0–1 ledger, and Princeton, who recorded an 8–0–2 mark themselves. Other unbeaten teams that finished the season were Florida at 5–0–1 and Minnesota at 6–0–1. The Helms Athletic Foundation, established years later in 1936, declared retroactively that Princeton had been the best team of 1911, and the Tigers were recognized as the National Champions.
On the professional circuit, the Shelby Blues once again captured the Ohio State title in football by knocking off the Akron Indians twice. They won the title in their season-ending victory against the up-and-coming Canton Professionals. You can learn more about the Blues in a post and podcast we did a few months back titled The Shelby Blues.
The forward passing rules still had some ways to go through, and more progress would be made in 1912 in that respect. Please look back to the next edition of Football History Rewind, part 30, in which we will examine how the 1912 revisions would make their mark on the game we love.
Photo Credits
The photograph in the banner above is courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons collection of public domain pictures. It is a cropped version of the Pomona College football team, 1911. First published in the 1911 Metate yearbook of Pomona College and taken by an Unknown.

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The Georgia Southern Eagles football program, with its iconic blue turf and triple-option offense, boasts a unique and fascinating history. But where did it all begin?


Early Glimpses:


1909: The seeds of Eagles football were sown as early as 1909, with unofficial teams like "The Culture" playing local squads.
1924: The Eagles officially took flight, fielding their first continuous team under the nickname "Blue Tide."
1941: World War II grounded the program for nearly four decades, with players, like many Americans answering the call to duty.


Rebirth and Rise to Prominence:
1978: President Dale Lick, recognizing the potential of football for the university and community, championed the program's revival.
1981: Enter Erk Russell, a legendary defensive coordinator from the University of Georgia, tasked with building the Eagles from scratch.
1984: The Eagles, now sporting their iconic "Eagles" nickname, joined the NCAA Division I-AA (now FCS) ranks, ready to soar.

Golden Age under Erk Russell:


1985-2000: This period marked the Eagles' dominance in I-AA, capturing a record-setting six national championships under Coach Russell's leadership.
Triple-Option Takeover: The Eagles became synonymous with the innovative and exciting triple-option offense, led by stars like running backs Tracy Ham and Adrian Peterson.
"The Prettiest Little Stadium in America": Paulson Stadium, with its intimate atmosphere and iconic blue turf, became a beloved symbol of Eagles football.

Transition to FBS and Beyond:


2014: The Eagles embarked on a new chapter, joining the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and the Sun Belt Conference.
Facing New Challenges: The transition to FBS brought stiffer competition and adjustments to new rules, requiring the Eagles to adapt and evolve.
Sun Belt Champions: Demonstrating their resilience, the Eagles captured their first Sun Belt Conference title in their FBS debut season, proving their continued competitiveness.

Present and Future:


2023: The Eagles continue to soar in the Sun Belt, aiming for further conference championships and national recognition.
Developing Champions: The program emphasizes player development and academic success, nurturing well-rounded individuals both on and off the field.
A Legacy of Soaring: With a dedicated coaching staff, passionate fanbase, and rich traditions, the Georgia Southern Eagles football program is poised for continued success and exciting chapters in its ongoing story.

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The 1925 Chicago Bears, led by the legendary "Galloping Ghost" Red Grange, weren't just playing another game when they faced the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. This seemingly ordinary December matchup marked a pivotal moment in the history of professional football. Here's why:

-Red Grange: A Superstar Ignites the Nation

Red Grange was a college sensation at the University of Illinois. His electrifying running style captivated audiences. Chicago Bears owner George Halas recognized his potential to boost pro football's popularity and signed Grange to a controversial and record-breaking contract. However, Grange was still technically an amateur in NFL eyes, leading to an internal League battle.

The 1925 season became a nationwide spectacle as the Bears embarked on a grueling post-Thanksgiving road trip, showcasing Grange's talent. The New York game was a pivotal stop. A large, enthusiastic crowd, estimated at nearly 70,000, packed the Polo Grounds, eager to witness Grange in action.

-Boosting Pro Football's Legitimacy

Professional football, in its early stages, struggled to compete with the established popularity of college football. Many saw it as a rough and unsophisticated sport. Grange's electrifying performance, coupled with the massive New York crowd, helped legitimize the professional game.

National media attention skyrocketed after the game. Newspapers across the country reported on the spectacle, exposing a wider audience to the thrills of professional football. This positive exposure helped shift public perception, paving the way for future growth.

-Financial Lifeline for the Giants

The Giants, facing financial difficulties, desperately needed a boost in attendance. Grange's star power was the answer. The packed Polo Grounds provided a much-needed financial injection, helping the team stay afloat. This demonstrated the potential for professional football to be a profitable enterprise, attracting more investors and solidifying the league's future.

-A Turning Point for the NFL

The 1925 Bears' season, culminating in the Polo Grounds game, marked a turning point for the NFL. The sheer interest generated by Grange and the packed stadium proved that professional football could be a major spectator sport. This success led to increased investment in the league, improved facilities, and ultimately, a rise in overall quality of play.

-Conclusion

The 1925 Chicago Bears' game against the New York Giants transcended the win-loss column. It was a cultural phenomenon that propelled professional football into the national spotlight. Red Grange's electrifying talent, combined with the massive attendance, helped legitimize the sport, secure its financial future, and pave the way for the NFL's eventual dominance in the American sporting landscape.

-Transcription of Fielding Yost and the Fake Field Goal with Timothy Brown

Hello, my football friends, Darin Hayes and PigskinDispatch.com. It is Tuesday, and once again, we are going to visit with Timothy P. Brown of FootballArcheology.com. Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey, Darin. Thank you.

Look forward to chatting again. I think we've got a good one to cover this evening. Yeah, this one is a subject that I know a little bit about.

I've talked to an author that's wrote quite a bit about this famous coach, Fielding Yost of Michigan. This is probably his most famous stance or most famous position. That's where the school he's most associated with.

Let me try to get that out of my mouth. But you have a very interesting story on him that sort of takes back through his whole career and sort of settles a dispute by digging through the old newspapers and everything. It's a really interesting, great job of work on your part.

I will let you take it from here, sir. Yeah, thank you. This is one that you're kind of digging around for playing detective, reading old newspapers.

All of a sudden, you find something that I wasn't expecting, quite the ending to the story. This is one of these ideas or issues where everybody talks about football. There's nothing new, right? There's nothing new in football.

Everything gets recycled. Everything gets adapted. That's, at some level, reasonably true.

There are certain true innovations, and one of those is embedded here. It's also a bunch of these people copying ideas over and over again. Part of the funny thing about this story is that there's an instance where things got copied, and this sports writer didn't know that.

Apparently, it was the first time he saw this occur in a game. What it was is that I came across an article from a 1913 game when Michigan played Penn. During the game, Michigan attempted a fake field goal.

This writer just wrote a follow-up after the game about this fake field goal attempt and praising Fielding Yost, talking about what a great innovator he is and blah, blah, blah. When I came across that, I was like, is that possibly the first time somebody ran a fake field goal? I would have thought, even just due to a bad snap or whatever, somebody would have tried one. Then maybe said, geez, this works pretty well.

I'm going to do this again. I'm going to back up just a little bit and say that until 1886, every field goal attempt was a dropkick. There was no snap from the center to a holder who held the ball for the kicker.

It took some human beings to figure out how to do that. It turned out it was these two brothers who played at Otterbein in Ohio, a small school there. They figured out, hey, we could snap the ball, have a guy hold it, and the kicker could kick it.

We've got a better chance, especially under the right weather conditions, a place kick typically had more power and was more accurate than a drop kick because the ball didn't bounce true off the uneven turf and grass at the time. We moved ahead then to 1913 and this Penn-Michigan game. Michigan sets up for a regular field goal attempt.

They snapped the ball, but instead of the holder putting the ball down on the ground, the kicker moved forward and swung his leg forward just like normal, but the holder stood up and then went sprinting around the left end. He scored a touchdown rather than the field goal attempt. Part of what's funny about that is that the writers said, this is tremendous.

The execution of this play was incredible. In fact, the play got called back due to holding, so the execution wasn't that great. Then it was like, here was a fake field goal, obviously a planned fake field goal.

I started looking around, when did these things first occur? As I said earlier, 1886 was the first time that any team snapped to a holder and then executed a placement kick. The first fake field goal that I could find, and this is just through searching newspaper articles, was an 1897 game between Kansas and Iowa when Kansas faked a field goal. Then, the next year, the second one I found is 1898, when Nebraska ran a fake field goal against Kansas.

The guys who did it, as far as I can tell, invented it, and have it executed against them the following year. Then the key thing about that, or the interesting thing about that, is that the coach of Nebraska in 1898 was Fielding Yost, a coach at Michigan whom this writer was just effusive with praise about. So anyway, after doing additional searching and everything, there were fake field goals all over the place.

I'm not saying there were thousands a year or anything like that, but most years, once the placement kick from scrimmage got started, people were also executing the fake field goals. Unfortunately, the writer was an anonymous column, so I couldn't figure out who the writer was that came up with this because otherwise, I would have tried to reach his relatives and tell them that their grandpa was lacking in his football history skills. Okay, so Kansas did it first, and then they had it done against them the following year by Nebraska.

That's correct. Fielding Yost was the coach at Nebraska, and then he was coach again at Michigan when they did this in 1913. Well, I was trying to think about it, because I know from a previous author I had on the biography on Yost, I know he was in Kansas too, but I'm looking right now, he was in Nebraska 1898, he was at Kansas 1899, so it was reverse, where I was thinking he might have been a coach for both of those games, head coach who did it, but he was Kansas on the other side.

And then he ended up, he was at Stanford, right? In 1900? Yeah, Stanford, and then at the end of the season, San Jose State, he did a championship game and then went to Michigan. Pretty well-traveled coach. Yeah, for a little bit there.

And he was Ohio Wesleyan before all of that too. And he was a ringer when he played in college too. Yeah.

He went to West Virginia, but he played for Lafayette in the big game where they took down Penn and snapped their win streak, whatever it was, 2018. Yeah, Park H. Davis, the famous historian, was the coach of Lafayette. So yeah, there's a lot of historic ties there.

Which is why he names that team the National Champs. Yeah, he named a lot of odd ones, National Champs. You can go back and scratch your head a few times.

Yeah, that's a really, really cool story. I love how that sort of circles back around to him, you know. And what was there, 20, almost 20 years in between, 15 years in between the plays.

But I guess the credit is due to him in some respects. Yeah, well, hey, you know, he picked up something, he saw something he liked and executed it. Yeah, plus I think there was, I don't have my note here on it, but I'm almost positive Michigan ran a fake field goal too before the 1913 game, so under Gilst.

Yeah. You know, it brings back that fake field goal. And I'm sure it wasn't a rule at the time.

I'm sure it was a rule put in afterwards. But there was a rule in high school, and I think it was at the collegiate level too, that if somebody, you know how a holder was usually down on a knee to take the snap. That's the only exception where you can have a live ball with a person with their knee on the ground.

So with that exception, they have to hold for a kick or an attempted kick. So if that holder is on a knee, takes that snap, and stands up and throws a pass or runs, it's a dead ball because he was a runner with his knee on the ground with a live ball. So I'm sure, like I said, it probably wasn't back in that era.

They probably put it in. So we had a game, a high school game, where a very clever coach told us before the game, you know, usually they want to make sure we don't kill their brainstorm idea that they had all overnight or something. This guy would get down in a catcher's position.

So both knees are off the ground. He's just in a squat. And the defense, you know, is probably not paying attention to what he's doing, but he would catch the ball.

The kicker would come up similar to what you're saying, fake a kick. This kid would, the holder would pound the ball with his hand. So it sounded like there was a foot hitting the ball and then taking off.

And I think he was going to throw a pass is what his intent was. So, you know, just some clever things that they do out of these, these fake field goals, but that knee-on-the-ground exception. Well, you know, back then, both in the 1898 and the 1913 example, having a knee on the ground, wasn't yet a rule that made the ball dead.

Right. I mean, in that race, you could be tackled and still get up and run. You know, you had to be held to the ground still, but yeah, you know, the, the, the, the catcher squat that you mentioned, that was actually some of the early field goal teams did that.

I mean, those, those executing a placement kick, they did that instead of, of going to the knee. And part of that was because that was still in the time when they, when a lot of teams, still were rolling the ball sideways back from the center to the quarterback. Right.

And so the quarterback, if he was on one knee, he couldn't, you know, the ball would bounce crazily. And so, you know, the squat helped them just, you know, catch the ball properly, or at least be able to reach the ball. And I've even, I've got a picture of Arizona.

And I want to say it was like 1938 or 1936, something like that, where their, their holder is in that kind of squat position. So people continue doing that for, you know, for some time. And probably, you know, they may have just been in a situation where, you know, who knows? It might've had a substitute center, or somebody just wasn't a very, very effective long-snapper.

And so. He was a substitute center. He was also a starting catcher on the baseball team in the spring.

Yeah. Great stuff. That's very fascinating.

Just like every evening, you have these great little pieces and nuggets of information about football history that you don't hear mainstream. And you don't see in every football history book you read in, you know, just like tonight, you took, it took some digging for you to do that. I'm sure, you know, it took a few hours of research going through the old newspapers.

I can feel your pain on that sometime, but it's fun. Yeah. The problem is that, you know, half the time I'm doing these things while I'm watching some football games.

So I don't even watch half the game. I'm just looking online where those 30 points come from. Yeah.

Yeah. Good stuff as always. Why won't you share with the listeners that they, too, can enjoy your tidbits each and every night? Yeah.

So, you know, my website is footballarchaeology.com. So you can go on there. You know, every post allows you to subscribe, which then means you will get an email every night, you know, into your inbox with the story. You can also follow me on Twitter at football archaeology.

And so whichever one works for you, whichever way you prefer to consume information, have at it, or hey, you can do both. So either way. Yeah, I do.

And you get double the pleasure. You get the, the Twitter and the email. So good stuff as always.

Tim, we appreciate you sharing this with us, as well as the great research you do at footballarchaeology.com, your daily tidbits, and, you know, your great writings. Thank you very much for sharing with us each and every week. We hope to talk to you again next Tuesday.

Very good. Always enjoy it. And glad to, glad to spread the word with you on football history stuff.

Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.

The University of Georgia played its first football game in Athens against Mercer University on January 30, 1892. According to an interesting post on the UGA.edu website, the Bulldogs started their first gridiron campaign with Chemistry Professor Dr. Charles Holmes Herty, organized not on Georgia’s first football team but the first in the deep south of America.

In this first game, the Bulldogs hammered Mercer 50-0. Their schedule for that first season consisted of only one other game, which took place on February 20 against Auburn.

An exciting story that comes from the article tells that in this first game on the athletics fields (now known as Herty Field), some reports indicate that the official scorer for the game missed at least one touchdown when he walked to the city alcohol dispensary on Broad St. across from the campus to purchase a bottle of whiskey during the game. With a 50-point differential, the players from Mercer may have wished they had joined him!

A college football team's first game is a birth certificate and a blank canvas. It's the launch of a program's legacy, a chance to unveil its potential on the field. It serves as a rallying point for future generations of fans and a milestone for the university's athletic identity.

Join us for more fun in examining the origins of team and school mascots here on Pigskin Dispatch, your portal to positive football history. We tray and cover every angle of football history and the aspects of this college team are right smack dab in the middle of a great story of the gridiron.