91-656: The Bayou Classic is an annual college football classic rivalry game between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars , first held under that name in 1974 at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans , although the series itself actually began in 1932. A trophy is awarded to the winning school. Since 1974 the game has been held the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day , at
182-455: A "classic" as early as the 1948 meeting, a game that the Jaguars won in an 18–0 upset before 10,000 fans. A brawl during that game led to a suspension of the series for the next decade (a period in which the Jaguars won three black national championships) and delayed GSU's admittance to SWAC membership until 1958, shortly before the rivalry was resumed. With the renewal of the series in 1959, the game
273-552: A 0–0 tie. The Army–Navy game of 1893 saw the first documented use of a football helmet by a player in a game. Joseph M. Reeves had a crude leather helmet made by a shoemaker in Annapolis and wore it in the game after being warned by his doctor that he risked death if he continued to play football after suffering an earlier kick to the head. In 1879, the University of Michigan became the first school west of Pennsylvania to establish
364-456: A 56-game undefeated streak that included a 1902 trip to play in the first college football bowl game , which later became the Rose Bowl Game . During this streak, Michigan scored 2,831 points while allowing only 40. Organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of Minnesota on September 30, 1882, when Hamline was convinced to play Minnesota . Minnesota won 2 to 0. It
455-422: A Louisiana high school battle of the bands, college recruitment fair, a Bayou Classic Parade, and a job fair for graduating students of both institutions. An annual Grambling vs. Southern "Miss Bayou Classic" beauty pageant was also held from 1976 to 2002. The Bayou Classic is a major source of revenue ($ 50 million) to the city of New Orleans and the state of Louisiana. 250,000 visitors descend upon New Orleans over
546-503: A college football team. On May 30, 1879, Michigan beat Racine College 1–0 in a game played in Chicago. The Chicago Daily Tribune called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies ." Other Midwestern schools soon followed suit, including the University of Chicago , Northwestern University , and the University of Minnesota . The first western team to travel east
637-447: A great deal to Harvard's rugby. They decided to play with 15 players on each team. On November 13, 1875, Yale and Harvard played each other for the first time ever, where Harvard won 4–0. At the first The Game (as the annual contest between Harvard and Yale came to be named) the future "father of American football" Walter Camp was among the 2000 spectators in attendance. Walter, a native of New Britain, Connecticut , would enroll at Yale
728-536: A liking to the rugby game, and its use of the try which, until that time, was not used in American football. The try would later evolve into the score known as the touchdown . On June 4, 1875, Harvard faced Tufts University in the first game between two American colleges played under rules similar to the McGill/Harvard contest, which was won by Tufts 1–0. The rules included each side fielding 11 men at any given time,
819-487: A new code of rules based on the rugby game first introduced to Harvard by McGill University in 1874. Three of the schools—Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton—formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, as a result of the meeting. Yale initially refused to join this association because of a disagreement over the number of players to be allowed per team (relenting in 1879) and Rutgers were not invited to
910-516: A one-year move to Houston, then with a slight drop-off in attendance upon the classic's return to New Orleans—all while the Florida Classic and Magic City Classic gained significantly in prominence over that same time period. Though the Bayou Classic also lost its title sponsor in 2011 and GSU faced numerous issues during its 2013 season , officials in 2014 rejected suggestions to remove GSU as
1001-404: A participant and instead resolved to quickly rejuvenate the classic. Attendance has now climbed significantly each year since 2011 and is again near pre-Katrina levels. The game also remains nationally televised, although NBC did briefly move the game broadcast over to its old sister sports-only network between the years of 2015 and 2021. Historically, Grambling State and Southern have arguably had
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#17328515541621092-499: A player to pick up the ball and run with it whenever he wished. Another rule, unique to McGill, was to count tries (the act of grounding the football past the opposing team's goal line; there was no end zone during this time), as well as goals, in the scoring. In the Rugby rules of the time, a try only provided the attempt to kick a free goal from the field. If the kick was missed, the try did not score any points itself. Harvard quickly took
1183-462: A professional roster spot as an undrafted free agent . Despite these opportunities, only around 1.6% of NCAA college football players end up playing professionally in the NFL. Even after the emergence of the professional National Football League (NFL), college football has remained extremely popular throughout the U.S. Although the college game has a much larger margin for talent than its pro counterpart,
1274-504: A rougher version of football called "the Boston Game" in which the kicking of a round ball was the most prominent feature though a player could run with the ball, pass it, or dribble it (known as "babying"). The man with the ball could be tackled, although hitting, tripping, "hacking" and other unnecessary roughness was prohibited. There was no limit to the number of players, but there were typically ten to fifteen per side. A player could carry
1365-524: A round ball instead of a rugby-style oblong ball. This series of games represents an important milestone in the development of the modern game of American football. In October 1874, the Harvard team once again traveled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, where they won by three tries. In as much as Rugby football had been transplanted to Canada from England, the McGill team played under a set of rules which allowed
1456-537: A team be required to advance the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby football into the distinct sport of American football. Camp was central to several more significant rule changes that came to define American football. In 1881, the field was reduced in size to its modern dimensions of 120 by 53 1 ⁄ 3 yards (109.7 by 48.8 meters). Several times in 1883, Camp tinkered with
1547-505: A youth, he excelled in sports like track , baseball, and association football, and after enrolling at Yale in 1876, he earned varsity honors in every sport the school offered. Following the introduction of rugby-style rules to American football, Camp became a fixture at the Massasoit House conventions where rules were debated and changed. Dissatisfied with what seemed to him to be a disorganized mob, he proposed his first rule change at
1638-424: Is for beer runs and bathroom breaks. At the (Florida Classic), halftime is the reason to go." Over the years fans have agreed with these types descriptions of the game's halftime show. They also point out that areas under the stadium clear out as fans go to their seats or stand on walkways located at the stadium's end zones because they provide unrestricted views of the football field and the halftime show. Prior to
1729-581: Is generally considered to be the second tier of American and Canadian football; ahead of high school competition , but below professional competition . In some parts of the United States, especially the South and Midwest , college football is more popular than professional football. For much of the 20th century, college football was generally considered to be more prestigious than professional football. The overwhelming majority of professional football players in
1820-877: Is held at Camping World Stadium in Orlando . Previous games were at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach and Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee until the two schools agreed on a permanent site in Tampa in 1978. The Florida Classic has now drawn in excess of 1.8 million fans since 1978. Since 1997, a total of 1,115,783 fans have watched the Florida Classic in the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium, an average of 61,988 per year. By comparison,
1911-661: Is held during the football game's halftime show. There is no official judge for the band battle. Since 1992, members of Grambling's Army ROTC , Southern's Army ROTC, and the Navy ROTC run with the game ball from Southern's campus in the Scotlandville area of Baton Rouge to the Caesars Superdome in the New Orleans Central Business District for the annual "Bayou Classic Motivation Run." The event happens
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#17328515541622002-839: Is most popular in the United States and Canada. While no single governing body exists for college football in the United States, most schools, especially those at the highest levels of play, are members of the NCAA . In Canada, collegiate football competition is governed by U Sports for universities. The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (for colleges) governs soccer and other sports but not gridiron football. Other countries, such as Mexico , Japan and South Korea , also host college football leagues with modest levels of support. Unlike most other major sports in North America , no official minor league farm organizations exist for American football or Canadian football . Therefore, college football
2093-560: Is the largest margin in the all-time series. Multiple trophies have been awarded to the winner of the Bayou Classic over the years. The most recent trophy, consisting of Waterford Crystal , was retired after the 2014 game after more than 25 years of service and presented to the Smithsonian Institution for its National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. A newly designed trophy has been showcased since
2184-417: Is today. After it was re-branded as the Bayou Classic and moved to New Orleans, a trophy was added and numerous events were also scheduled to be held throughout the week leading up to the game itself. Games in the series played before 1974 are generally not included within the context of the Bayou Classic's historical lineage (SU led the series 15–10 up until that point). The annual game was known to be touted as
2275-658: Is widely regarded as having originated with a game played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada. Early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional " mob football " played in Great Britain. The games remained largely unorganized until
2366-510: The NFL and other leagues previously played college football. The NFL draft each spring sees 224 players selected and offered a contract to play in the league, with the vast majority coming from the NCAA . Other professional leagues, such as the CFL and UFL , additionally hold their own drafts each year which also see primarily college players selected. Players who are not selected can still attempt to obtain
2457-662: The Old Main lawn on campus in State College, Pennsylvania . They compiled a 12–8–1 record in these seasons, playing as an independent from 1887 to 1890. In 1891, the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Football Association (PIFA) was formed. It consisted of Bucknell University , Dickinson College , Franklin & Marshall College , Haverford College , Penn State, and Swarthmore College . Lafayette College , and Lehigh University were excluded because it
2548-651: The Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). The game is operated by Florida Citrus Sports, a non-profit group that also organizes the Pop-Tarts Bowl and Citrus Bowl . The Classic has approximately a $ 31 million impact on Orlando's economy; it was the largest MEAC conference football game before the schools left for the SWAC, and remains the largest Division I FCS football game in Florida. Florida A&M won
2639-606: The Superdome . Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina , organizers moved the 2005 event from the Superdome to Reliant Stadium in Houston , Texas , where many of New Orleans' evacuees were living. This was the only time that the Bayou Classic was held outside of Louisiana . The 2006 Bayou Classic returned to the Superdome. It is the best known annual game and rivalry in historically black college or university (HBCU) football and
2730-574: The "Black Super Bowl ", although that name is not used in any official capacity by either school due to the National Football League 's restrictions on the use of the "Super Bowl" name. Both schools typically forgo FCS playoff eligibility to participate in the Bayou Classic. The game is one of two black college football classics to be associated with Thanksgiving weekend (the other is the older Turkey Day Classic ). The game had State Farm Insurance as its title sponsor from 1996 to 2011. Of
2821-468: The 1920s. Florida A&M holds an 18–10 edge in the meetings since the instate rivalry moved from a home-and-home scenario to an annual neutral site game in Tampa Stadium in 1978. The two schools went through a two-year hiatus in 1983 and 1984, when they could not agree on a playing site, but public pressure from alumni, fans and state officials brought them back to the negotiating table and they resumed
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2912-401: The 19th century, when intramural games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football. Princeton University students played a game called "ballown" as early as 1820. In 1827, a Harvard tradition known as "Bloody Monday" began, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes. In 1860, both the town police and
3003-592: The 2015 game. People prominently involved in the series include Ace Mumford (SU coach from 1936 to 1942 and again 1944–61), Eddie Robinson (SU student—for just a week, as a freshman —in the 1930s and GSU coach from 1941 to 1942 and again 1945–97), Doug Williams (GSU player from 1974 to 1977, SU consultant in 1985, and GSU coach from 1998 to 2003 and again 2011–13), Marino Casem (SU athletic director from 1986 to 1999 and coach from 1987 to 1988 and again 1992), Pete Richardson (SU coach from 1993 to 2009), and Rod Broadway (GSU coach from 2007 to 2010). Mumford once had
3094-515: The College of New Jersey, in the first collegiate football game . The game more closely resembled soccer than football as it is played in the 21st century. It was played with a round ball , and used a set of rules suggested by Rutgers captain William J. Leggett , based on The Football Association 's first set of rules , which were an early attempt by the former pupils of England's public schools, to unify
3185-746: The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to codify the first set of intercollegiate football rules. Before this meeting, each school had its own set of rules and games were usually played using the home team's own particular code. At this meeting, a list of rules, based more on the Football Association's rules than the rules of the recently founded Rugby Football Union , was drawn up for intercollegiate football games. Old "Football Fightum" had been resurrected at Harvard in 1872, when Harvard resumed playing football. Harvard, however, preferred to play
3276-476: The MEAC's contract with ESPN to broadcast the game, the two bands enjoyed almost unlimited time to perform their last, longest and undoubtedly best show of the year. In fact, in the 2002 Florida Classic halftime, both bands performed shows that were almost 45 minutes long, nearly tripling the halftime's allotment of only 30 minutes based on NCAA rules. The rivalry between the two programs is also evident in phrases used by
3367-512: The NCAA to vacate wins in multiple sports due to the questionable eligibility of hundreds of their student athletes in the 2010s. It is not immediately clear just which football games are effected by these rulings, but the NCAA did make a special point to specify that Grambling's 2011 season record and championships remain fully intact; games played between 2012 and 2015, however, appear to remain possible candidates for being vacated (the 2015 Bayou Classic
3458-510: The NFL, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries. Colleges are only allowed to provide non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books. With new bylaws made by the NCAA, college athletes can now receive "name, image, and likeness" (NIL) deals, a way to get sponsorships and money before their pro debut. Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as "football", played at public schools in Great Britain in
3549-730: The North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, North Carolina . On November 13, 1887, the Virginia Cavaliers and Pantops Academy fought to a scoreless tie in the first organized football game in the state of Virginia . Students at UVA were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim that some industrious ones organized a game against Washington and Lee College in 1871, just two years after Rutgers and Princeton's historic first game in 1869. But no record has been found of
3640-428: The ball only when being pursued. As a result of this, Harvard refused to attend the rules conference organized by Rutgers, Princeton and Columbia at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City on October 20, 1873, to agree on a set of rules and regulations that would allow them to play a form of football that was essentially Association football; and continued to play under its own code. While Harvard's voluntary absence from
3731-476: The ball was advanced by kicking or carrying it, and tackles of the ball carrier stopped play – actions of which have carried over to the modern version of football played today Harvard later challenged its closest rival, Yale, to which the Bulldogs accepted. The two teams agreed to play under a set of rules called the "Concessionary Rules", which involved Harvard conceding something to Yale's soccer and Yale conceding
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3822-445: The bands' announcers. Although good friends, Horatio "In Stereo" Walker of Bethune–Cookman's Marching Wildcats and radio jockey Joe Bullard of FAMU's Marching "100," don't express any kind words for the opponent band as they narrate their marching band's respective shows. The marching bands' appeal is also used to attract fans to other events during the Florida Classic weekend. On Fridays, both bands perform after high school bands during
3913-473: The bench seating). This allows them to seat more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium, which tends to have more features and comforts for fans. Only three stadiums owned by U.S. colleges or universities, L&N Stadium at the University of Louisville , Center Parc Stadium at Georgia State University , and FAU Stadium at Florida Atlantic University , consist entirely of chair back seating. College athletes, unlike players in
4004-474: The center. Later changes made it possible to snap the ball with the hands, either through the air or by a direct hand-to-hand pass. Rugby league followed Camp's example, and in 1906 introduced the play-the-ball rule, which greatly resembled Camp's early scrimmage and center-snap rules. In 1966, rugby league introduced a four-tackle rule (changed in 1972 to a six-tackle rule) based on Camp's early down-and-distance rules. Camp's new scrimmage rules revolutionized
4095-546: The city of New Haven , banned the play of all forms of football in 1860. American football historian Parke H. Davis described the period between 1869 and 1875 as the 'Pioneer Period'; the years 1876–93 he called the 'Period of the American Intercollegiate Football Association'; and the years 1894–1933 he dubbed the "Period of Rules Committees and Conferences". On November 6, 1869, Rutgers University faced Princeton University , then known as
4186-482: The college authorities agreed the Bloody Monday had to go. Harvard students responded by going into mourning for a mock figure called "Football Fightum", for whom they conducted funeral rites. The authorities held firm, and it was another dozen years before football was once again played at Harvard. Dartmouth played its own version called " Old division football ", the rules of which were first published in 1871, though
4277-442: The course of the events leading up to the game, and the national television audience has attracted between four and five million viewers. The success of the game has inspired the promotion of numerous other HBCU classics. Historically, the stadium attendance had averaged between 50,000 and 70,000 annually which makes it one of the highest attended Division I FCS matchups every season. Hurricane Katrina brought some challenges, first with
4368-410: The day before the game begins and is an approximately 100 mile run that takes between seven and ten hours to complete. ROTC members take turns running with the ball while a police escort trails them along the way. Other activities usually include a press conference, black business showcase, golf tournament, coaches luncheon, a concert/fan festival, tailgating , fashion show, pep rally, alumni functions,
4459-421: The decision to create the Bayou Classic. College football NAIA : NJCAA : College football ( French : football universitaire ) is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football first gained popularity in the United States . Like gridiron football generally, college football
4550-460: The distinction of being the only coach to have ever won a black national title at three different schools, one of which was Grambling. Prior to 1974, the game was viewed as a big in-state rivalry between the two schools (in the days of Jim Crow, Southern and Grambling usually had the pick of most of the good black high school players in Louisiana). However, it was not nearly the media spectacle that it
4641-408: The first Florida Classic game in 1978, 27–17, overcoming a 17–0 halftime deficit. The team went on to win the inaugural NCAA Division I-AA championship. Bethune–Cookman made the series competitive starting in 1973, winning 11 of their 14 series victories during that span, including a 58–52 overtime win in 2004, which was the first-ever three-peat for the 'Cats in the overall series, which dates back to
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#17328515541624732-634: The first game in Virginia. On April 9, 1880, at Stoll Field , Transylvania University (then called Kentucky University) beat Centre College by the score of 13 + 3 ⁄ 4 –0 in what is often considered the first recorded game played in the South . The first game of "scientific football" in the South was the first instance of the Victory Bell rivalry between North Carolina and Duke (then known as Trinity College) held on Thanksgiving Day , 1888, at
4823-404: The first meeting he attended in 1878: a reduction from fifteen players to eleven. The motion was rejected at that time but passed in 1880. The effect was to open up the game and emphasize speed over strength. Camp's most famous change, the establishment of the line of scrimmage and the snap from center to quarterback , was also passed in 1880. Originally, the snap was executed with the foot of
4914-404: The first time. The Yale team was coached and captained by David Schley Schaff, who had learned to play football while attending Rugby School . Schaff himself was injured and unable to play the game, but Yale won the game 3–0 nonetheless. Later in 1872, Stevens Tech became the fifth school to field a team. Stevens lost to Columbia, but beat both New York University and City College of New York during
5005-454: The following year. By 1873, the college students playing football had made significant efforts to standardize their fledgling game. Teams had been scaled down from 25 players to 20. The only way to score was still to bat or kick the ball through the opposing team's goal, and the game was played in two 45-minute halves on fields 140 yards long and 70 yards wide. On October 20, 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers met at
5096-551: The fourth most at the FCS-level (11). The two schools also represented the SWAC in 11 of the 12 Pelican and Heritage bowls, as well as in multiple Celebration Bowls . Through 2015 Florida A&M , formerly of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference , was the only FCS-level HBCU school with more football wins (588) than Southern (578) or Grambling (565). However, Florida A&M, Southern, and Grambling were ordered by
5187-431: The game dates to at least the 1830s. All of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities. They remained largely "mob" style games, with huge numbers of players attempting to advance the ball into a goal area, often by any means necessary. Rules were simple, and violence and injury were common. The violence of these mob-style games led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them. Yale , under pressure from
5278-487: The game drew 70,125 fans to Orlando, the sixth-largest football event ever held in the Orlando Citrus Bowl Stadium. The 2000 MEAC title game drew 70,719 to see a 31–28 thriller won by the Rattlers. The 2003 game stands as the largest crowd ever in the series with 73,358 in attendance. In 2005, the game made its debut on ESPNU , the 24-hour college sports network, as a part of a commitment to broadcasting HBCU games. The game
5369-404: The game, though not always as intended. Princeton, in particular, used scrimmage play to slow the game, making incremental progress towards the end zone during each down . Rather than increase scoring, which had been Camp's original intent, the rule was exploited to maintain control of the ball for the entire game, resulting in slow, unexciting contests. At the 1882 rules meeting, Camp proposed that
5460-468: The last two decades of the 19th century. Several major rivalries date from this time period. November 1890 was an active time in the sport. In Baldwin City, Kansas , on November 22, 1890, college football was first played in the state of Kansas . Baker beat Kansas 22–9. On the 27th, Vanderbilt played Nashville (Peabody) at Athletic Park and won 40–0. It was the first time organized football played in
5551-446: The longest winning streak in the all-time series, 9 games from 1970 to 1978 (including the 1972 forfeit). Southern claims the longest winning streak in the Bayou Classic era, 8 games from 1993 to 2000 (the Jaguars also had a previous 8-game winning streak at the start of the series, in the games played between 1932 and 1946). SU's 49–7 victory in 2020 ranks as the largest margin of victory in the Bayou Classic, while SU's 1935 victory (64–6)
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#17328515541625642-553: The many activities held in conjunction with the game, the most anticipated and well-attended is the two-part Battle of the Bands , where both universities' marching bands —Grambling's "World Famed" Tiger Marching Band and Southern's Human Jukebox —perform. Following the Greek show, the two renowned bands stage elaborately choreographed performances on the Friday night before the game. The final part
5733-493: The meeting made it hard for them to schedule games against other American universities, it agreed to a challenge to play the rugby team of McGill University , from Montreal , in a two-game series. It was agreed that two games would be played on Harvard's Jarvis baseball field in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 14 and 15, 1874: one to be played under Harvard rules, another under the stricter rugby regulations of McGill. Jarvis Field
5824-415: The meeting. The rules that they agreed upon were essentially those of rugby union at the time with the exception that points be awarded for scoring a try , not just the conversion afterwards ( extra point ). Incidentally, rugby was to make a similar change to its scoring system 10 years later. Walter Camp is widely considered to be the most important figure in the development of American football. As
5915-452: The mid-19th century. By the 1840s, students at Rugby School were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and run with it, a sport later known as rugby football . The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges. The first documented gridiron football game was played at University College , a college of the University of Toronto , on November 9, 1861. One of
6006-710: The nearest college to play football. It took place at Hamilton Park in New Haven and was the first game in New England. The game was essentially soccer with 20-man sides, played on a field 400 by 250 feet. Yale wins 3–0, Tommy Sherman scoring the first goal and Lew Irwin the other two. After the first game against Harvard, Tufts took its squad to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine for the first football game played in Maine . This occurred on November 6, 1875. Penn 's Athletic Association
6097-603: The next year. He was torn between an admiration for Harvard's style of play and the misery of the Yale defeat, and became determined to avenge Yale's defeat. Spectators from Princeton also carried the game back home, where it quickly became the most popular version of football. On November 23, 1876, representatives from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met at the Massasoit House hotel in Springfield, Massachusetts to standardize
6188-472: The participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was William Mulock , later chancellor of the school. A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play then are unclear. In 1864, at Trinity College , also a college of the University of Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football. Modern Canadian football
6279-482: The rules of their various public schools. The game was played at a Rutgers Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey . Two teams of 25 players attempted to score by kicking the ball into the opposing team's goal. Throwing or carrying the ball was not allowed, but there was plenty of physical contact between players. The first team to reach six goals was declared the winner. Rutgers won by a score of six to four. A rematch
6370-615: The rules were changed to allow tackling below the waist, and in 1889, the officials were given whistles and stopwatches. After leaving Yale in 1882, Camp was employed by the New Haven Clock Company until his death in 1925. Though no longer a player, he remained a fixture at annual rules meetings for most of his life, and he personally selected an annual All-American team every year from 1889 through 1924. The Walter Camp Football Foundation continues to select All-American teams in his honor. College football expanded greatly during
6461-435: The rules were formulated before the game. Florida Classic The Florida Classic is the annual college football rivalry game between Bethune–Cookman University and Florida A&M University . The game has been televised nationally by ESPN Classic as a part of a multi-year contract with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), which had been both schools' home conference until their July 2021 departure for
6552-570: The score of this contest. Washington and Lee also claims a 4 to 2 win over VMI in 1873. On October 18, 1888, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels 6 to 4 in the first intercollegiate game in the state of North Carolina . On December 14, 1889, Wofford defeated Furman 5 to 1 in the first intercollegiate game in the state of South Carolina . The game featured no uniforms, no positions, and
6643-431: The scoring rules, finally arriving at four points for a touchdown, two points for kicks after touchdowns , two points for safeties, and five for field goals . Camp's innovations in the area of point scoring influenced rugby union's move to point scoring in 1890. In 1887, game time was set at two-halves of 45 minutes each. Also in 1887, two paid officials—a referee and an umpire —were mandated for each game. A year later,
6734-623: The series in 1985. Bethune–Cookman won the rivalry renewal game, 31–27 in 1985. The 1997–2007 games saw the Florida Classic revived to the point that it overshadowed the drawing power of the Bayou Classic in New Orleans, between Grambling and Southern University in terms of attendance. In 1998, 66,245 packed the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium for the game which determined the 1998 MEAC Championship and postseason invitations. In 1999,
6825-427: The sheer number of fans following major colleges provides a financial equalizer for the game, with Division I programs – the highest level – playing in huge stadiums, six of which have seating capacity exceeding 100,000 people. In many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests (although many stadiums do have a small number of chair back seats in addition to
6916-487: The state of Tennessee . The 29th also saw the first instance of the Army–Navy Game . Navy won 24–0. Rutgers was first to extend the reach of the game. An intercollegiate game was first played in the state of New York when Rutgers played Columbia on November 2, 1872. It was also the first scoreless tie in the history of the fledgling sport. Yale football starts the same year and has its first match against Columbia,
7007-412: The third most wins among all college football coaches (behind Pop Warner and Amos Alonzo Stagg ), and Robinson later had the most. Today Robinson still has the third most wins (behind John Gagliardi and Joe Paterno ) and also has the most wins among all who coached at HBCU schools; Mumford now has the fourth most wins among HBCU coaches behind Robinson, Billy Joe , and John Merritt . Broadway holds
7098-558: The total attendance for the 18 years prior to Orlando was 765,529, an average of only 45,031. Between Orlando and Tampa, the Classic has drawn 1,801,587 fans. The record for attendance at the game is 73,358, set in Orlando in 2003. Marching bands from both universities compete during the Florida Classic halftime show and at various events during the weekend. In a 2006 article, Orlando Weekly Magazine said, "at most college football games, halftime
7189-425: The two most successful football teams in the Southwestern Athletic Conference . Through the 2021 season, Grambling has more SWAC football titles than any other school (25, not including their vacated 1975 title); Southern has the second most with 18. GSU and SU also have more black national titles than any other SWAC schools; as of 2021, Grambling has the second most in the entire country with 15 total, while SU has
7280-466: The two schools organized a game for October 23, 1869, but it was rained out. Students of the University of Virginia were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim it organized a game against Washington and Lee College in 1871; but no record has been found of the score of this contest. Due to scantiness of records of the prior matches some will claim Virginia v. Pantops Academy November 13, 1887, as
7371-492: Was again billed as a "classic" but proved a bittersweet return as five fans were killed in a vehicular accident on their way to the game. The series was again interrupted in 1972, this time due to political unrest on host Southern's campus—which resulted in a forfeiture by SU. The game was then permanently moved to off-campus neutral sites the following year, drawing a large crowd of 40,000 in Shreveport, Louisiana , and influencing
7462-473: Was also the first time one team scored over 100 points and the opposing team was shut out. The next week, Princeton outscored Lafayette 140 to 0. The first intercollegiate game in the state of Vermont happened on November 6, 1886, between Dartmouth and Vermont at Burlington, Vermont . Dartmouth won 91 to 0. Penn State played its first season in 1887, but had no head coach for their first five years, from 1887 to 1891. The teams played its home games on
7553-454: Was at the time a patch of land at the northern point of the Harvard campus, bordered by Everett and Jarvis Streets to the north and south, and Oxford Street and Massachusetts Avenue to the east and west. Harvard beat McGill in the "Boston Game" on the Thursday and held McGill to a 0–0 tie on the Friday. The Harvard students took to the rugby rules and adopted them as their own, The games featured
7644-527: Was felt they would dominate the Association. Penn State won the championship with a 4–1–0 record. Bucknell's record was 3–1–1 (losing to Franklin & Marshall and tying Dickinson). The Association was dissolved prior to the 1892 season. The first nighttime football game was played in Mansfield, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1892, between Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary and ended at halftime in
7735-556: Was looking to pick "a twenty" to play a game of football against Columbia. This "twenty" never played Columbia, but did play twice against Princeton. Princeton won both games 6 to 0. The first of these happened on November 11, 1876, in Philadelphia and was the first intercollegiate game in the state of Pennsylvania . Brown entered the intercollegiate game in 1878. The first game where one team scored over 100 points happened on October 25, 1884, when Yale routed Dartmouth 113–0. It
7826-480: Was nationally televised in the U.S. by NBC from 1991 to 2014. Beginning in 2015, it aired on the NBC Sports Network (NBCSN); after NBCSN shut down at the end of 2021, the Bayou Classic returned to NBC. The Bayou Classic was the only National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Championship Subdivision game to be shown regularly on broadcast television . Fans have been known to refer to it as
7917-429: Was one that was apparently vacated). Southern, meanwhile, had to vacate all of its 2013 and 2014 wins, at the very least (which also includes 2 Bayou Classic wins). Southern leads the overall series with Grambling, begun in 1932, by a 41–34 margin. This total does not take into account the 2 wins vacated by Southern or the 1 vacated by Grambling, but it does include the 1 game forfeited by Southern.) Grambling State claims
8008-542: Was played at Princeton a week later under Princeton's own set of rules (one notable difference was the awarding of a "free kick" to any player that caught the ball on the fly, which was a feature adopted from The Football Association's rules; the fair catch kick rule has survived through to modern American game). Princeton won that game by a score of 8 – 0. Columbia joined the series in 1870 and by 1872 several schools were fielding intercollegiate teams, including Yale and Stevens Institute of Technology . Columbia University
8099-590: Was the 1881 Michigan team , which played at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. The nation's first college football league, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (also known as the Western Conference), a precursor to the Big Ten Conference , was founded in 1895. Led by coach Fielding H. Yost , Michigan became the first "western" national power. From 1901 to 1905, Michigan had
8190-638: Was the first game west of the Mississippi River . November 30, 1905, saw Chicago defeat Michigan 2 to 0. Dubbed "The First Greatest Game of the Century", it broke Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak and marked the end of the "Point-a-Minute" years. Organized collegiate football was first played in the state of Virginia and the south on November 2, 1873, in Lexington between Washington and Lee and VMI . Washington and Lee won 4–2. Some industrious students of
8281-488: Was the third school to field a team. The Lions traveled from New York City to New Brunswick on November 12, 1870, and were defeated by Rutgers 6 to 3. The game suffered from disorganization and the players kicked and battled each other as much as the ball. Later in 1870, Princeton and Rutgers played again with Princeton defeating Rutgers 6–0. This game's violence caused such an outcry that no games at all were played in 1871. Football came back in 1872, when Columbia played Yale for
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