#A football story quiz upgrade#

However, in 1881, 13 Penn State students played an informal game at Bucknell, winning 9-0. It's widely held that the first one came in 1887, when they beat Lewisburg 54-0. There's a dispute about when the Nittany Lions played their first football game, and the answer depends on whom you ask.

It stuck, and somewhere down the line we got 'Dawgs,' which is great. 3, 1920, that 'The Georgia Bulldogs' would sound good, and three days later, after a 0-0 tie with Virginia, Cliff Wheatley used Bulldogs in his story five times. The name came from the work of the Atlanta Constitution and a couple of writers. You would think that might have been the inspiration (many do), but it wasn't. The university's first president, Abraham Baldwin, was a Yale grad. You probably had a high school in the area where you grew up that had this nickname, and can name plenty of college teams with it as well.īut the way Georgia took on the name is uncommon. Prior to his time at Alabama, Scott spent time at Case Western Reserve, which is a Division III school in Cleveland (it also sounds like the name of a bank). He was the Crimson Tide's coach from 1919 through 1922 and had a 29-9-3 record while at Alabama, including a signature victory over Penn in his final season that put the program on the map. The prestigious Alabama football program you know today got off to a good start thanks to a former horse-racing journalist from Cleveland named Xen C. It's not because they didn't like Ormsby. There might have been some disappointed students in Columbus, Ohio, in 1926, when Maudine Ormsby won homecoming queen. Also, more than 100 years later, in 2018, Furman's backup quarterback against Clemson was actually a Clemson student, Harris Roberts. And to put a bow on everything, a riot between fans of the two schools broke out the night after the game because South Carolina students were parading a poster of a Gamecock standing over a Tiger holding its tail.Ĭlemson and South Carolina wouldn't play again until 1909, and the next memorable brawl wouldn't happen until 2004. South Carolina won 12-6, its first victory over Clemson. Clemson had beaten Furman 28-0 the week before.īronco Armstrong, a Yale player and official, was going to be the umpire, but he was in a railroad accident on his way to the game. 30, 1902, the only referee for a Clemson-South Carolina game was Furman coach Col. ClemsonĬould you imagine, say, Kirby Smart, being the referee for a Clemson-South Carolina game? Because on Oct. At the very worst, you could use this list as a means to remind yourself of these teams' past oddities once when we get back to college football. Some of these are going to be more recent (and surprising) than others, but the variation is representative of how random college football is. Using Mark Schlabach's Way-Too-Early Top 25 assembled in February and some help from my colleagues, I've collected each team's strangest historical fact.

#A football story quiz upgrade#

You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browserĬollege football's strange but true historical facts for each Top 25 teamĬlemson Tigers, Ohio State Buckeyes, Georgia Bulldogs, Alabama Crimson Tide, Penn State Nittany Lions, Oregon Ducks, Florida Gators, LSU Tigers, Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Oklahoma Sooners, Texas A&M Aggies, Oklahoma State Cowboys, Wisconsin Badgers, Auburn Tigers, Michigan Wolverines, Minnesota Golden Gophers, Cincinnati Bearcats, Iowa State Cyclones, Boise State Broncos, Iowa Hawkeyes, USC Trojans, Texas Longhorns, Appalachian State Mountaineers, Baylor Bears, North Carolina Tar HeelsĬollege football is a beautiful connection of sport and weird history.