This latest edition of Did you Know, will be somewhat more indepth.
Many in the college football community were shocked by the game-ending brawl that took place at the close of the Clemson-South Carolina game a few years back. However, a precedent had already been established in that long-heated rivalry.
Did you know that the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry in the early years was played on the State Fairgrounds in Columbia, South Carolina? It was called Big Thursday. The 1902 game ended with South Carolina defeating their rivals from the west 12-6. The cadets from Clemson who had bivouacked on the fairgrounds, weren’t pleased with the result. After the contest, the Cadets from Clemson fixed bayonets and marched on the South Carolina campus. Needless to say a riot ensued and the series was suspended. The two teams did not play again until 1909.
Not to be outdone…A similar story took place, deep in the heart of Texas. Following the 1926 Baylor-Texas A&M match-up a brawl erupted between fans from the rival schools. During the melee a Texas A&M student was killed when hit by a flying chair. The A&M cadets became so enraged that the next day they loaded a howitzer onto a flatbed rail car bound for Waco. Their intent was to shell the Baylor campus. Luckily, Texas Rangers were alerted and they chopped down trees to block the tracks.
Ohio State vs Michigan…hmph!
Speaking of Texas A&M, Did you know they are somewhat responsible for the naming of the University of Texas’ mascot? It seems that in 1916, an enterprising student collected enough money to buy a longhorn steer to become UT’s mascot. That’s where the story gets interesting. It seems that the steer was a tad bit ornery. Texas students had to keep him penned up until they could figure out something to do with him. Enter the Aggies. Texas A&M stole the longhorn, but just for a few hours. Long enough for them to brand the steer “13 – 0″…the score of the 1915 game. Obviously, the score had to go, so after some debate Texas students came up with a different branding iron to place over the brand scorched into the steer. They lengthened and combined the 1 and the 3 to make a B. They turned the hyphen into an E. They added a V. And they left the O…and all of a sudden, the steer had a name…BEVO!
The Florida State dynasty between 1987-2000 is well-documented. 14 consecutive years of being ranked in the top 5. 14 consecutive years of winning at least 10 games. 14 consecutive years of never losing more than two games in a year. A 14 year culmative record of 152-19-1. Did you know that two schools surpassed one of those marks?
It appears that Princeton went 30 years and never lost more than 2 games, while compiling a record of 209-18-11. That ain’t nothing…The leader is Yale. Yeah, the Bulldogs never lost more than 2 games in any one season for 43 consecutive years. Their overall record during that time span…357-26-25.
While we are speaking of the Ivy League, it appears that a genuine act of sportsmanship occured during the 1940 season. Cornell was riding an 18 game winning streak but were trailing late in the contest with Dartmouth 3-0. A fourth down pass was batted away and the Big Green had upset Cornell…or had they. The officials had lost track of the downs and on fifth down, with just seconds to play, Walt Scholl completed a pass to Bill Murphy for the winning score and Cornell’s unbeaten streak had been preserved…or had it.
Two days later after reviewing game films, Cornell officials wired Dartmouth, and announced that they had indeed been given an extra down and conceded defeat 3-0. (“Yoo-Hoo…Colorado…Missouri is waiting for the telegram!”)
Everybody knows that Princeton and Rutgers played in the first college football game. Did you know that Columbia was the third school to play college football? The Lions began a year later in 1870, and they set a precedent that follows them to this day…They Lost 6-3.
Did you know that Sewanee University played 5 games in 6 days in 1899, vs Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, LSU and Mississippi? They won them all by a combined score of 91-0.
Did you know that the University of North Carolina has had 24 different players rush for a 1,000 yards in a season? An NCAA record.
Did you know that North Texas has used 5 different shades of green as its school color? (Eventually, they’ll get it right)
Did you know that North Carolina St has had 3 color schemes? Pink and Blue, Brown and White and Red and White. (Too bad North Texas used up all the greens)
That’s it for today…more on the way…Later.
