Origins of College Football: The 1869 Rutgers Game

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Part of the first season of college football ever played, the game took place on November 6, 1869, at College Field (now the site of the College Avenue Gymnasium at Rutgers University) in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Because the game was played at a Rutgers field, it was also played under Rutgers' rules. As the first of the 10 games began, two players from each of the teams positioned themselves near the opponent's goal. This was presumably because the participants were hoping to easily score when the ball reached their territory on the field of play. On each team, there were eleven so-called "fielders" who were assigned to defend their own territorial area. There were 12 participants on each team that they named "bulldogs" who were the ones playing in the other team's territory. …show more content…

Gano and G.R. Dixon successfully kicked the ball across the Princeton goal, allowing the scarlet knights to take the early lead in the contest. At some point early in the contest, the flying "wedge" play was first used as the team with the ball formed what is considered a wall-like formation, allowing them to charge at the defenders. This flying wedge tactic was successful early on for Rutgers because of their perceived size disadvantage over Princeton. However, Princeton countered the tactic with a participant named J.E. Michael, but apparently better known by his nickname of "Big Mike". Big Mike had broken up the Rutgers flying wedge play during the fourth "game", and Princeton took advantage at that moment as they were able to tie the overall score at

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