In 1966, Augustana (SD) played Augustana (IL) for the first time (the only other game between them was one year later), and besides sharing the same name they had another couple of similarities:
1) Both teams were nicknamed the Vikings
2) Both teams had the same school colors
3) Both teams had a assistant coach that had a last name of Kessinger
For the record, Augustana, IL was the first of the two to field a team (1893) - 27 years before the Vikings of Augustana, SD...
In order to get an entry in before bed so that I keep up with my "at least one entry a day..."
1) North Dakota's acceptance to the Missouri Valley Football Conference is an example of conference realignment done right. I am thrilled that they are renewing old rivalries - but unfortunately it won't happen until 2020
2) I enjoyed watching the Senior Bowl, but am a bit saddened that this will be the last game in the college ranks for 7 months! I really like the throwback helmets that Pitt has...brings me back almost 40 years.
3) I also watched a replay of the 1981 USC/UCLA football game. A couple of things that I noticed: Kickers being able to use a tee for extra point and field goal attempts and offensive pass interference back then cost the offending team 15 yards and the loss of a down. The call I saw was more like incidental contact in today's game...
These teams not only won every game in their season, but they weren't scored on either...
1901: Michigan (11-0)
1911: Utah State (5-0)
1917: Texas A&M (8-0)
1919: Texas A&M (10-0)
1932: Colgate (9-0)
1938: Duke (9-0)
1939: Tennessee (10-0)
Kentucky once won a game back in 1900 against the Louisville YMCA 12-6 without running a single offensive play. They decided to punt on first down every time they got the ball. The way that they scored in this game: recovered fumbles.
The longest run in a Lehigh/Lafayette game was accomplished by Snooks Dowd in 1918. He ran in the wrong direction, circled his own goalposts, and then ran the length of the field for a touchdown. It is thought that he covered 115 yards in the run, but it has been exaggerated up to 210 yards. Dowd ended up with a very brief career in major league baseball (16 games).
When I listed out my favorite FBS teams, I mentioned that Wyoming's War Memorial Stadium is at the highest elevation in all of Division I at a little over 7,200 feet. I wasn't surprised when I found out that Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs (Air Force Academy) had the third highest elevation, 6,615 feet.
What did surprise me was that the stadium with the 2nd highest elevation in Division is Walkup Stadium (6,900 feet) on the campus of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff. Another surprise was that the college football stadium with the highest elevation in any division is the Mountaineer Bowl at Western State in Gunison, Colorado. Its elevation is 7,769 feet - more than 500 feet above War Memorial Stadium.
Here are three recent stories out in the world of college football...
1) We should know tomorrow if North Dakota is welcomed into the MVFC. It would be great to see them in the same conference again with the other schools from the Dakotas.
2) Speaking of the MVFC, Curt Mallory was named the head coach of Indiana State. You might recognize his last name - his dad, Bill, is the winningest coach at Indiana University.
3) Paul Petrino, Idaho's head coach, earned $46,345 per win in 2016, which was the best value for a FBS school. The worst value? Bronco Mendenhall received $1,637,500 per win from Virginia.
Since a new president has been sworn into office this past week, I thought it would be interesting to share with you three presidents who played college football:
Dwight Eisenhower: Army
Richard Nixon: Whittier (Div. III school in California)
Gerald Ford: Michigan
JFK was the president in the Kennedy clan, but his brothers Robert and Ted played football at Harvard.
Not a lot of FCS schedules have been released yet, and a lot of FCS schools are playing FBS schools for the first week or two, but here are five FCS Games that I really like for Week 1:
1) Maine vs. New Hampshire
2) Villanova vs. Lehigh
3) Richmond vs. Sam Houston State
4) Furman vs. Wofford
5) Delaware vs. Delaware State
1) Maryland - love the team, but not the uniforms
2) USC - Anthony Davis was my first favorite player
3) Michigan - always chose the Wolverines over the Buckeyes in the 70s
4) Army - got to give the service academies some love
5) Navy - almost put the Midshipmen as 4b
6) Texas - wasn't always the case because I remember cheering for A&M in the 70s and early 80s
7) Purdue - the uniforms and always being an underdog got them on the list
8) Colorado - the Buffs were always my favorite Big 8 team
9) Pittsburgh - nothing like that 1976 team to get you hooked - besides I couldn't have four Big Ten teams (Iowa) on the list
10) Wyoming - War Memorial Stadium, beautiful setting and the highest elevation in all of Division I football
Remembering what Beano Cook thought was great about College Football:
1) Dotting the i at Ohio State
2) Hearing the Victory March at Notre Dame
3) Walking though the woods at North Carolina
4) An autumn afternoon at West Point
5) The Yale Band
6) A night game at LSU
7) The Florida - Georgia game
8) Nebraska fans
9) The Trojan Horse at USC
10) The Michigan - Ohio State game
This list deserves to be read over and over, and each item deserves a lot of contemplation. I'm sure that I will repeat this entry again come September...
Three other things from the Early Era of College Football besides the Cumberland-Georgia Tech football game:
1) From 1907 through 1917, Washington played 63 consecutive games without losing
2) Speaking of consecutive games, Yale held opponents scoreless from 1890 to 1893 - 35 consecutive games
3) Another future Ivy League school, Harvard, banned football for 11 years from 1860 to 1871 because school officials felt that the game was too rough. They were right - there were an estimated 18 football fatalities in just 1905!
The score at the end of the first quarter of this game on October 7, 1916 was Georgia Tech 63 and Cumberland 0. At halftime, Gegia Tech's lead grew to 126 points. The second half didn't get any better for Cumberland as GT eventually won the game 222-0, which is still the record for margin of victory and total points in a college footbal game.
I'm not sure that the score was the most amazing thing to come out of this game. First, the Yellow Jackets didn't throw a single pass - not a big deal. Secondly, Cumberland fumbled nine times - other teams have fumbled more. But what I can't believe is that neither team recorded a single first down!
I have added my favorite FBS Games for week 1 under my Favorite Games Tab...
I just got done watching the East-West Shrine game, and for the first time in a long time I watched all four quarters. I know that the Senior Bowl has the better players, but there was still enough talent in this game that will have a chance to play at the next level. This game is also a great chance for some lower division players to play against the big boys. Some observations that I have:
Lastly - what a great cause for the game. How could you not be touched by the kids!
I don't have much else to offer tonight, but before shutting down for the night, I do have three things to mention:
1) Tomorrow at 3:00 pm, you can watch the East-West Shrine game on the NFL Network. This game usually holds my interest through halftime as I try to match up all the helmets I see with the school.
2) On the website http://www.lsufootball.net/tvschedule.htm, you can see 527 games listed by week. This tops http://www.fbschedules.com, which has FBS games only through the thid week of the season.
3) With the addition of the Davenport Panthers to Division II this fall, that brings my tally of teams in all divisions up to 671. That number will go up to 672 in 2018 when the University of New England, in Biddeford, Maine, joins the ranks of college football. Their nickname of the Nor'easters will make for 305 unique school nicknames - by my count.
Tonight I will start my series of favorite uniforms (and probably comment on some not so favorite) by conference in the FBS and FCS. My first look will be at the Pac-12, where my three favorite are pretty easy.
I would have to say that my favorite uniform is UCLA's home blues. Those jerseys really accent the gold helmet with UCLA in blue script. Next would have to be the home uniform of the USC Trojans. To me, one of the highlights of my uniform watch is seeing the annual UCLA-USC game since they both wear their home uniforms no matter the location. My third favorite would be Colorado's home uniform - when they aren't wearing their alternative jerseys or helmets - which aren't too bad.
Uniforms that don't do much for me are Arizona's and Oregon State's outfits. The Wildcats uniforms have never done much for me through the years, and as for Oregon State, I miss their helmets that used to have their nickname in script. There are many alternative uniforms for Oregon, which for the most part are ugly, but every once in a while they will have a combo that is nice to see.
In addition to Richmond's 2017 schedule that was released earlier this week, other CAA schools have followed suit and released their schedules in the last couple of days: James Madison, UNH, UMaine, and William & Mary. Some of the highlights include:
The one thing that I am not happy about with the schedules is seeing UMaine opening the season at UNH on September 2nd. The "Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket" hasn't been played as a season opener since 1992. To me it should be the final regular season game for each team, which it has been for 16 of the last 18 years.
Here is a list of 24 entries that I missed the first time around...my apologies for the error:
Jerome Lane (WR) – Akron
Adam Sheehan (TE) – Ashland
Ishmael Zamora (WR) – Baylor
Jeremy McNichols (RB) – Boise State
Artavis Scott (WR) – Clemson
Alex Anzalone (LB) – Florida
Travis Rudolph (WR) – Florida State
Isaiah McKenzie – Georgia
Ukeme Eligwe (LB) – Georgia Southern
Howard Wilson (CB) – Houston
Marcus Oliver (LB) – Indiana
Devine Redding (RB) – Indiana
Elijah Lee (LB) – Kansas State
Carlos Henderson (WR) – Louisiana Tech
Deon-Tay McManus (WR) – Marshall
Isaiah Golden (DT) – McNeese State
Jermaine Grace (LB) – Miami, FL
Al-Quadin Muhammad (DE) – Miami, FL
Josh Jones (S) – N.C. State
Josh Malone (WR) – Tennessee
Speedy Noil (WR) – Texas A&M
Derrick Griffin (WR) – Texas Southern
Aaron Jones (RB) – UTEP
Shelton Gibson (WR) – West Virginia
Appalachian State and East Carolina have agreed to a four-games series starting in Charlotte on September 4, 2021. ECU's Director of Athletics is excited for the two schools and their student athletes because he feels that each institution has "a rich history of success and outstanding fan support."
The two schools have met 31 times starting in 1932 and continuing through the decades into the 70s, but have played only twice since 1979. East Carolina has won six straight over Appalachian State, but the Mountaineers still lead the overall series 19-12.
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