Anniversary of 1st College Football Game

Today is the 141st anniversary of the first intercollegiate football game between Rutgers and Princeton University. 

The two schools, both of which I know well growing up in Princeton and partying at Rutgers, had always been rivals since they are about 20 miles apart. Two things really led up to Rutgers challenging Princeton to the game. First there was the fight for possession of a Revolutionary cannon - abandoned after the Battle of Princeton, Princeton had it until it was sent to New Brunswick to help defend the city in 1812. In the late 1830s, 100 Princeton students stole it and put it in front of Nassau Hall at Princeton and then in 1840, to make sure Rutgers couldn't steal it back, they cemented it into the ground muzzle-down.  Second, Princeton had beat Rutgers in baseball 40-2. 

So, Rutgers challenged Princeton to a series of three football games, the first being on November 6th, 1869, at College Field in New Brunswick, NJ (only the second game game was played because both school's protested that the games were interfering with the students' studies).  The game was played under Rutgers' rules and was a sort of mix between rugby and soccer.  With 25 players on each side, the teams had to score by kicking the ball into a goal, not by throwing or carrying it.  The teams played 10 "games", each "game" ending when a team scored; teams got 1 point for every score.

Rutgers scored 1st with the help of what would become known later as the "flying wedge." Princeton then scored in the 2nd, but Rutgers went up 4-2 after the 6th game.  Princeton won the 7th thanks to an unnamed Rutgers player who kicked the ball toward his own goal posts - despite the kick being blocked, Princeton capitalized on the opportunity and made the goal. Rutgers was all disorganized after this and Princeton won the 8th game a few minutes into play, tying it up at 4 all. 

Rutgers captain John W. Leggett then introduced a new strategy after noticing that Princeton's players were taller than Rutgers' - keep the ball closer to the ground. Following the new strategy, Rutgers scored in the 9th and 10th game to win 6-4.

There are two different stories of what happened after the game.  William Preston Lane, a player for Princeton, says that the Rutgers players ran the Princeton team out of town, while Rutgers' undergrad newspaper, The Targum, says that a meal was prepared for both teams after the game. 

As a Rutgers fan, I'd like to hope that they run the preppy Princeton kids out of town.