On this day in 1869
The first ever college football game was played today back in 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton. Rutgers won 6-4.
According to Wikipedia: 'immediately after Rutgers won this game, Princeton's players were literally run out of town by the winning Rutgers students. The Princeton students reportedly jumped in their carriages and quickly made the 20-mile trip back to their campus.'
I would seriously love nothing more than running Rutgers out of town on carriages after the game tomorrow.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:22 PM ^
November 6th, 2015 at 1:43 PM ^
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November 6th, 2015 at 1:46 PM ^
that i wont be ridiculed out of here
November 6th, 2015 at 2:13 PM ^
my "cultural" ignorance but who is this Bob Ross that's all over the board today? I could Google him but prefer an explanation from my fellow MGoBloggers.
November 6th, 2015 at 2:19 PM ^
arguably the most famous painter ever (to live in muncie indiana). had a long running PBS "The Joy of Painting" television show
November 6th, 2015 at 2:35 PM ^
that did help. He is a badass painter indeed and has inspired me to head to Michael's and hit up Etsy and start painting.
November 7th, 2015 at 8:05 AM ^
He was like Chuck Norris with a paintbrush brush and a 70s afro
November 6th, 2015 at 2:28 PM ^
Look at all the happy trees and their happy friends.
November 6th, 2015 at 4:32 PM ^
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November 6th, 2015 at 1:25 PM ^
neat!
November 6th, 2015 at 1:48 PM ^
In honor of Bob Ross and MeanJoe, here's a neat way to draw a koala
November 6th, 2015 at 3:25 PM ^
November 6th, 2015 at 3:49 PM ^
that pointy chin is terrible. Is this the Jay Leno of Koalas?!? Despicable!
November 6th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^
It turns out that it was more of a soccer game than anything resembling a football game. It was played with a completely round ball and there was no running with the ball.
The first "football" game that we would recognize was played by Harvard and Tufts in 1875:
the first game which included running with the ball, 11-man sides, an oval-shaped ball, and tackling to end a play occurred on June 4, 1875, between Harvard University and Tufts University
Rutgers' only claim to fame and they did not even get that right.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:32 PM ^
has really gotten shafted by the playoff committee so far.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:33 PM ^
Tufts shit.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:47 PM ^
Eh, losing to Trinity and Amherst by a combined 32 points and needing OT to knock off Hamilton has the committee running scared. Looks like they have a chance for some major style points against Colby tomorrow, though.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:52 PM ^
have you seen the Amherst defensive line?! Those guys are animals. I don't think that loss should take them out of consideration. Colby could be a trap game.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:37 PM ^
Football, rugby and soccer all evolved from one game in the 1850s to three very distinct games by the twentieth century (four games if you don't forget about the Australians). The evolutions occurred because of politics and geography. RU football has literally had nothing going for them since that date (I think they didn't beat Princeton again until the 1930s). Let's let them have this one.
November 6th, 2015 at 4:57 PM ^
Happy to ruin everything Rutgers ever loved
November 6th, 2015 at 1:42 PM ^
And the key turning point for the developement of American football occurred during 1873-74. First, Harvard rejected the invitation of its rivals Yale, Princeton, Columbia, yes, Rutgers to join the "Intercollegiate Football Association," which played association football (aka soccer here in the US).
Then, the following year, Harvard visited McGill University in Montreal, where they played rugby. Harvard took to the game, returned home with the rules of rugby, and later shared the game with its rivals, like Yale.
Later on in the decade, Walter Camp of Yale would begin adjusting the rules of rugby to create the sport we would all come to know and love as American football.
November 6th, 2015 at 3:21 PM ^
Handling was an integral part of the game. The ball could be advanced by bouncing it like a basketball, or dribbling like a soccer ball. It could be passed by kicking or batting (like an overhand volleyball serve).
They played with 20-30 or more per side. Some of the players had fixed positions, others roamed with the ball. The main feature was running interference for the ball carrier, knocking opponents out of the way who were trying to get at the ball. The goals were just two posts in the ground, 25-40 feet apart. Scoring was a matter of putting the ball between the posts, on the ground or in the air. There was no time limit - a "game" continued until a goal was scored. A match would consist of a fixed set of games (10, in the case of Princeton/Rutgers).
One of the problems was that there were no fixed rules - every college had its own version. They were broadly similar, but there was a distinct home field advantage, in that the home team got to play by their rules. It was more of a playground game than anything. They borrowed some of the concepts of Association Football to give it some structure and mke it more of an organized contest than just a free-for-all, but the game itself wasn't much like soccer at all.
Harvard never really liked the game, and after McGill came to Cambridge and showed them Rugby, they convinced everyone else to change over. However, the Americans really liked interfering for the ball carrier and wouldn't give it up. Walter Camp and co. finally gave in and officially allowed it in 1878, which started the process of changing Rugby into American Football.
November 6th, 2015 at 9:55 PM ^
It was Rawkus, we robbed the Wells Fargo on our way out of town.
Died of Dysentery 23 days later in Fort Hall, Idaho.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^
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November 6th, 2015 at 2:01 PM ^
Cool article.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:49 PM ^
6-4!!! In today's dollars that's a 55-52 Big 12 shootout....
November 6th, 2015 at 4:59 PM ^
Texas Tech and Oklahoma State are staunch traditionalists. Real football is played without defense
November 6th, 2015 at 1:56 PM ^
November 6th, 2015 at 1:59 PM ^
That's downright ACC territory.
November 6th, 2015 at 2:06 PM ^
The rematch between the two teams resulted in an 8-0 Princeton win. Here's to hoping for another shutout.
Since that day in 1869, Rutgers has won 640 games. In comparison, Michigan has won 921.
November 6th, 2015 at 2:16 PM ^
November 6th, 2015 at 3:05 PM ^
November 6th, 2015 at 3:10 PM ^
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November 6th, 2015 at 3:41 PM ^
So does Rutgers claim the 1869 national championship?
November 6th, 2015 at 3:57 PM ^
They actually do. I believe they played Princeton again that year, a game in which Princeton won, so both teams actually claim titles, despite both having a record of .500...
November 6th, 2015 at 3:51 PM ^
November 6th, 2015 at 3:53 PM ^
because they're going to lose tomorrow
November 6th, 2015 at 4:47 PM ^
Yes, they missed the snap on 30% of the plays back then, too. Don't ever change, BTN.
November 6th, 2015 at 5:44 PM ^
November 6th, 2015 at 5:29 PM ^
On this day in 1869, The Ohio State University did not exist.
November 6th, 2015 at 5:37 PM ^
November 6th, 2015 at 8:27 PM ^
He put a tigersch head on and it was relayed by telegraph across the country.
November 7th, 2015 at 9:30 AM ^
Can we reenact the event, beating them today, and running them out of the B1G tonight?
November 7th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^
not nearly washing my brush enough! Or beating the Devil out of it....Oh the shame. ; )