Tuesday, September 18, 2007

This Week in College Football History

-Courtesy of the National Football Foundation and the College Football Hall of Fame

FEATURED MOMENT:


Sept. 27, 1969: Rutgers and Princeton celebrate the Centennial of college football (first game played in 1869 between these schools) as the Scarlet Knights blank Princeton 29-0. Antique car parades and appearances by surviving members of both universities' 1927 teams mark the occasion, while RU quarterback Rich Policastro goes 14-for-19 passing for 164 yards and one TD to pace the attack.

OTHER NOTABLE DATES:

Sept. 25, 1920: California knocks off the rival San Francisco Olympic Club football squad 21-0 to start a 50-game winning streak from 1920- 25.

Sept. 26, 1998: Prairie View A&M ends the NCAA's longest losing streak at 80 games by downing Langston 14-12 in Prairie View, Texas. The skein began on Oct. 28, 1989, and lasted almost a full decade. The second-longest losing streak in NCAA annals belongs to Columbia - almost half the total amassed by PVA&M in the 1980s and 1990s.

Sept. 28, 1995: Rhode Island tight end Brian Foster sets a national record (all divisions) for receiving yards in a game by a TE with 327 as the Rams defeat Brown in the 70th annual Rhode Island Governor's Cup Game. The receiving yardage still is tops for NCAA FCS individuals for a single contest.

Sept, 29, 1894: Yale opens a record-setting 16-0 season (no scheduling limitations in those pre- NCAA-1906 days) by topping Trinity (Conn.) 42-0. The Bulldogs outscore their opponents by an average of 31-1 in going undefeated.

Sept, 30, 1972: Army celebrates "Earl Blaik Day" in honor of the tri-founder of the NFF & College Hall of Fame and Hall of Fame member with a 21-21 tie of heavily-favored Washington State. "We need to chase Washington State to the Pacific Northwest," Blaik tells the Michie Stadium crowd in a halftime address. He almost gets his wish as Black Knights' halfback Jimmy Hill scores twice, rushes 23 times for 88 yards, and leads a near-comeback before the game ends in a deadlock.

Oct. 1, 1904: Baseball Hall of Fame member Branch Rickey coaches his first game at Allegheny (Pa.) - a 5-0 win over Warren (Pa.). Rickey guides the Gators to a 5-5 record in '04 and coaches the 1905 squad to a 3-8 mark before going back to baseball. He later breaks the modern Major League Baseball segregation barrier by bringing former UCLA football standout Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.

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