On this date 154 years ago, the Rutgers Queensmen beat the Princeton Tigers (???) 6-4. The game was played under rules closer to rugby, but it is the game recognized by the NCAA as the birthdate of college football.
Happy birthday, College Football
On this date 154 years ago, the Rutgers Queensmen beat the Princeton Tigers (???) 6-4. The game was played under rules closer to rugby, but it is the game recognized by the NCAA as the birthdate of college football.
(11-06-2023, 01:06 PM)yvonne Wrote: On this date 154 years ago, the Rutgers Queensmen beat the Princeton Tigers (???) 6-4. The game was played under rules closer to rugby, but it is the date recognized by the NCAA as the birthdate of college football.
And now we have leagues falling apart, NIL, and the transfer portal....ugg
(11-06-2023, 01:06 PM)yvonne Wrote: On this date 154 years ago, the Rutgers Queensmen beat the Princeton Tigers (???) 6-4. The game was played under rules closer to rugby, but it is the date recognized by the NCAA as the birthdate of college football.
And now we have leagues falling apart, NIL, and the transfer portal....ugg
(11-06-2023, 01:06 PM)yvonne Wrote: On this date 154 years ago, the Rutgers Queensmen beat the Princeton Tigers (???) 6-4. The game was played under rules closer to rugby, but it is the date recognized by the NCAA as the birthdate of college football.
In 1869, it would have been Rutgers College vs. College of New Jersey. Princeton College was used informally but "Princeton" didn't become the formal name until the school rebranded as Princeton University in 1896. "Tigers" came into use in the 1880s.
(11-06-2023, 01:06 PM)yvonne Wrote: On this date 154 years ago, the Rutgers Queensmen beat the Princeton Tigers (???) 6-4. The game was played under rules closer to rugby, but it is the date recognized by the NCAA as the birthdate of college football.
In 1869, it would have been Rutgers College vs. College of New Jersey. Princeton College was used informally but "Princeton" didn't become the formal name until the school rebranded as Princeton University in 1896. "Tigers" came into use in the 1880s.
11-06-2023, 04:31 PM
You're right. Princeton didn't become Princeton until 1896, although it apparently was already referred to unofficially to as Princeton. I didn't realize that Rutgers didn't become a university until 1924. There was already New Jersey for Women (1918) and an agricultural college in New Brunswick.
You're right. Princeton didn't become Princeton until 1896, although it apparently was already referred to unofficially to as Princeton. I didn't realize that Rutgers didn't become a university until 1924. There was already New Jersey for Women (1918) and an agricultural college in New Brunswick.
11-06-2023, 08:38 PM
Six interesting elements about that game:
1) The game was much closer to soccer than football. In fact, it was played with a soccer ball with local Rutgers rules. The first game that would be recognized as American football where players could carry the ball and advance until they were tackled and play stopped at the end of each tackle was between Harvard and Tufts in 1875.
2) Stanford and Cal have The Axe...Rutgers vs. Princeton had a revolutionary war cannon...seriously. The students used to steal it back and forth until the party-pooper Princeton students encased it in a cement base.
3) Yes, Rutgers won the first game. Princeton won the second game that season against Rutgers. Both teams finished 1-1.
4) The teams had played earlier in different sports. Princeton nipped Rutgers in baseball 40-2 in 1866. In the 1869 football game, the Rutgers players wore scarlet handkerchiefs and ribbons to differentiate themselves from Princeton...that was the start of the Scarlet Knight mascot for Rutgers.
5) The field was bigger...120 yards long and 75 yards wide (225 feet, compared with 160 feet today).
6) Princeton was indeed known as the College of New Jersey then, but their baseball uniforms the prior spring read "Princeton." But their orange and black wouldn't show up for another seven years.
7) The captain of the Princeton team, William S. Gummere, became the Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey's Supreme Court.
1) The game was much closer to soccer than football. In fact, it was played with a soccer ball with local Rutgers rules. The first game that would be recognized as American football where players could carry the ball and advance until they were tackled and play stopped at the end of each tackle was between Harvard and Tufts in 1875.
2) Stanford and Cal have The Axe...Rutgers vs. Princeton had a revolutionary war cannon...seriously. The students used to steal it back and forth until the party-pooper Princeton students encased it in a cement base.
3) Yes, Rutgers won the first game. Princeton won the second game that season against Rutgers. Both teams finished 1-1.
4) The teams had played earlier in different sports. Princeton nipped Rutgers in baseball 40-2 in 1866. In the 1869 football game, the Rutgers players wore scarlet handkerchiefs and ribbons to differentiate themselves from Princeton...that was the start of the Scarlet Knight mascot for Rutgers.
5) The field was bigger...120 yards long and 75 yards wide (225 feet, compared with 160 feet today).
6) Princeton was indeed known as the College of New Jersey then, but their baseball uniforms the prior spring read "Princeton." But their orange and black wouldn't show up for another seven years.
7) The captain of the Princeton team, William S. Gummere, became the Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey's Supreme Court.
Audaces fortuna iuvat
Six interesting elements about that game:
1) The game was much closer to soccer than football. In fact, it was played with a soccer ball with local Rutgers rules. The first game that would be recognized as American football where players could carry the ball and advance until they were tackled and play stopped at the end of each tackle was between Harvard and Tufts in 1875.
2) Stanford and Cal have The Axe...Rutgers vs. Princeton had a revolutionary war cannon...seriously. The students used to steal it back and forth until the party-pooper Princeton students encased it in a cement base.
3) Yes, Rutgers won the first game. Princeton won the second game that season against Rutgers. Both teams finished 1-1.
4) The teams had played earlier in different sports. Princeton nipped Rutgers in baseball 40-2 in 1866. In the 1869 football game, the Rutgers players wore scarlet handkerchiefs and ribbons to differentiate themselves from Princeton...that was the start of the Scarlet Knight mascot for Rutgers.
5) The field was bigger...120 yards long and 75 yards wide (225 feet, compared with 160 feet today).
6) Princeton was indeed known as the College of New Jersey then, but their baseball uniforms the prior spring read "Princeton." But their orange and black wouldn't show up for another seven years.
7) The captain of the Princeton team, William S. Gummere, became the Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey's Supreme Court.
1) The game was much closer to soccer than football. In fact, it was played with a soccer ball with local Rutgers rules. The first game that would be recognized as American football where players could carry the ball and advance until they were tackled and play stopped at the end of each tackle was between Harvard and Tufts in 1875.
2) Stanford and Cal have The Axe...Rutgers vs. Princeton had a revolutionary war cannon...seriously. The students used to steal it back and forth until the party-pooper Princeton students encased it in a cement base.
3) Yes, Rutgers won the first game. Princeton won the second game that season against Rutgers. Both teams finished 1-1.
4) The teams had played earlier in different sports. Princeton nipped Rutgers in baseball 40-2 in 1866. In the 1869 football game, the Rutgers players wore scarlet handkerchiefs and ribbons to differentiate themselves from Princeton...that was the start of the Scarlet Knight mascot for Rutgers.
5) The field was bigger...120 yards long and 75 yards wide (225 feet, compared with 160 feet today).
6) Princeton was indeed known as the College of New Jersey then, but their baseball uniforms the prior spring read "Princeton." But their orange and black wouldn't show up for another seven years.
7) The captain of the Princeton team, William S. Gummere, became the Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey's Supreme Court.
Audaces fortuna iuvat
11-07-2023, 12:50 AM
(11-06-2023, 08:38 PM)Mick Wrote: Six interesting elements about that game:Mick, thank you for this post. I have a Princeton degree, and I did not know any of this. Then again, while I was at Princeton, I was a committed Stanford fan ;)
1) The game was much closer to soccer than football. In fact, it was played with a soccer ball with local Rutgers rules. The first game that would be recognized as American football where players could carry the ball and advance until they were tackled and play stopped at the end of each tackle was between Harvard and Tufts in 1875.
2) Stanford and Cal have The Axe...Rutgers vs. Princeton had a revolutionary war cannon...seriously. The students used to steal it back and forth until the party-pooper Princeton students encased it in a cement base.
3) Yes, Rutgers won the first game. Princeton won the second game that season against Rutgers. Both teams finished 1-1.
4) The teams had played earlier in different sports. Princeton nipped Rutgers in baseball 40-2 in 1866. In the 1869 football game, the Rutgers players wore scarlet handkerchiefs and ribbons to differentiate themselves from Princeton...that was the start of the Scarlet Knight mascot for Rutgers.
5) The field was bigger...120 yards long and 75 yards wide (225 feet, compared with 160 feet today).
6) Princeton was indeed known as the College of New Jersey then, but their baseball uniforms the prior spring read "Princeton." But their orange and black wouldn't show up for another seven years.
7) The captain of the Princeton team, William S. Gummere, became the Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey's Supreme Court.
Throughout my whole career I resented the fact that my academic regalia, which I have to wear at various ceremonial occasions, is orange and black to reflect Princeton's colors, presumably because of the "Tiger" mascot. I was told that Princeton used a conventional and very tasteful black velvet on black taffeta regalia until some time in the 1960s they decided to make the regalia reflect the official school colors. Now I look like a road construction sign every year at graduation.
(11-06-2023, 08:38 PM)Mick Wrote: Six interesting elements about that game:Mick, thank you for this post. I have a Princeton degree, and I did not know any of this. Then again, while I was at Princeton, I was a committed Stanford fan ;)
1) The game was much closer to soccer than football. In fact, it was played with a soccer ball with local Rutgers rules. The first game that would be recognized as American football where players could carry the ball and advance until they were tackled and play stopped at the end of each tackle was between Harvard and Tufts in 1875.
2) Stanford and Cal have The Axe...Rutgers vs. Princeton had a revolutionary war cannon...seriously. The students used to steal it back and forth until the party-pooper Princeton students encased it in a cement base.
3) Yes, Rutgers won the first game. Princeton won the second game that season against Rutgers. Both teams finished 1-1.
4) The teams had played earlier in different sports. Princeton nipped Rutgers in baseball 40-2 in 1866. In the 1869 football game, the Rutgers players wore scarlet handkerchiefs and ribbons to differentiate themselves from Princeton...that was the start of the Scarlet Knight mascot for Rutgers.
5) The field was bigger...120 yards long and 75 yards wide (225 feet, compared with 160 feet today).
6) Princeton was indeed known as the College of New Jersey then, but their baseball uniforms the prior spring read "Princeton." But their orange and black wouldn't show up for another seven years.
7) The captain of the Princeton team, William S. Gummere, became the Chief Justice of the State of New Jersey's Supreme Court.
Throughout my whole career I resented the fact that my academic regalia, which I have to wear at various ceremonial occasions, is orange and black to reflect Princeton's colors, presumably because of the "Tiger" mascot. I was told that Princeton used a conventional and very tasteful black velvet on black taffeta regalia until some time in the 1960s they decided to make the regalia reflect the official school colors. Now I look like a road construction sign every year at graduation.
11-08-2023, 05:40 PM
On the international front, there were back-to-back games played in Cambridge between Harvard and McGill, on May 14/15, 1874. The first used "Boston rules" (as followed by Harvard), and the second rugby rules (as followed at McGill).
11-08-2023, 06:22 PM
And 54 years ago, during the 1969 college football season, several schools honored the centennial with "100" on their helmets. I must admit, despite being an undergrad at the time, I have no memory of the Oregon State and $C helmets>
http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/1969.htm
http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/1969.htm
And 54 years ago, during the 1969 college football season, several schools honored the centennial with "100" on their helmets. I must admit, despite being an undergrad at the time, I have no memory of the Oregon State and $C helmets>
http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/1969.htm
http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/1969.htm
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