Return to the 1895 season page

This game was the first recorded game that A&M played outside the state of North Carolina, and the Farmers went all out, traveling to the 1895 Cotton States and International Exposition, hosted in Atlanta, GA, from September 18th through December 31st. The main purpose of the exhibition was to promote the South and show the world, especially South America, that the South had modern technologies and was an option in international trading. Reportedly, about six thousand exhibits were judged by an Awards Committee, with exhibits ranging in focus from the fine arts to agriculture, to football. A&M had been planning their trip to play in Atlanta since late September, though they had initially planned on playing "a Georgia college" twice. Reportedly, the entire student body was expected to travel with them (The Press-Visitor, September 23rd, 1895, p. 1).

A&M's football team left Raleigh for Atlanta on Monday, October 21st, by then expecting to play South Carolina and "Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical [Georgia Tech?]" (News and Observer, October 19th, 1895, p. 5; The Press-Visitor, October 24th, 1895, p. 1). For a round-trip cost of $5 (about $150 in 2019), 75 students and professors of the college, in addition to the football team, made the trip down to Atlanta aboard a specially-charted train, planning to reteurn on Sunday, October 27th (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 23rd, 1895, p. 1). Another paper wrote that "the main portion" of A&M's student body had left for Atlanta, writing that "here and there" a student could be spotted but that otherwise the campus was quiet (News and Observer, October 25th, 1895, p. 5). C. D. Harris wrote in his history of A&M Football that part of the reason for the high student attendance was because the student body had 3 days off for the North Carolina State Fair. Harris wrote that "Everybody in Atlanta knew when the train pulled in" due to the boisterous behavior of the students (Harris, p. 176).

As for the game itself, Harris wrote that it was "without a doubt the biggest A&M had ever tried." The Virginia Military Institute was one of the early giants of the Southern football scene. Since the Keydets' football program restarted in 1891, they had failed to win only three games, tying fellow powerhouse Washington & Lee once in 1891 and tying a surprisingly successfull Wake Forest team in 1892, with their sole loss coming in 1893 to the biggest of the Southern football giants, Virginia. The team went undefeated in 1894 (though failed to play Virginia), and had an overall record since 1891 of 16 wins, 2 ties, and 1 loss, with a score differential of 390 to 62. Though many of these games were against very small, non-college opponents, such as St. Albans, a local boy's school, or the Hampton Athletic Club, VMI was still one of the elite football teams of the South at that time.

The seven-game winning streak of VMI was maintained after the game against A&M. It would eventually reach 11 games, ending at the end of the 1895 in a close 4-6 loss to Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Virginia Tech). Atlanta's Constitution, the morning of the game, reported that the game would be between VMI and "a similar organization from the University of North Carolina," writing that "The two teams are famous as college players" and that the game would be "a great game from beginning to end" (Atlanta Constitution, October 25th, 1895, p. 7). UNC instead played Georgia on the following day in the game reported to have the first (though illegal) forward pass.

Though the A&M team and students "made things hum with their yells and songs," the relatively-green Red and White team was no match for the Keydets (Harris, p. 176). Before going into a summary of the game, the next morning's Constitution wrote that the VMI team "outclassed the North Carolina boys in every way." To add to the superior football skill of VMI's team, the Black and White team outweighed the Farmers by 15 lbs, averaging about 165. Reportedly, VMI had the ball for the entirity of the game, though Alexander and Sugishita were reported to be good, with Sugishita, at quarterback, making a number of excellent tackles.

A&M started with the first half, which was 25 minutes long, with the ball, and kicked off to VMI. The ball landed around the 25 yard line, and Twiggs, VMI's fullback, attempted to catch the ball after the bounce. Twiggs fumbled the catch and Vick "made a pretty dodge, caught the ball on a bounce and left the crowd to rear," running the ball across the goal line for a touchdown. A&M made the goal kick, and the score stood 6-0 in favor of A&M after just 30 seconds of play.

Unfortunately, the Red and White's stroke of good fortune was short-lived. "From this time on the Tarheels never crossed the center line in the direction of their goal," with the huge disparity in weight between the teams driving A&M backwards on nearly every possession. VMI kicked the ball to A&M, but VMI got the ball shortly thereafter. The first pass of VMI's drive was a pass to Dickinson, VMI's right halfback, who ran for 40 yards, until he was tackled by Alexander. VMI continued to make "small gains anywhere from five to forty yards," and after 10 minutes, VMI had tied the score.

The report starts to become a little more brief in reference to the following few drives. VMI's second touchdown took six minutes, with the drive being described as "a case of push and shove all through," with most of the work being done by Dickinson and Holt, with Alexander and Sugishita tackling well. Another six minutes later, and VMI scored again. This drive featured VMI running "the criss-cross, or double pass" all the way down the field for "continual gain." The skill of the Keydets was enough that "altrough [sic] the A. M. C. caught on they were unable to do anything with the play." VMI's fourth score in the quarter took five more minutes, and featured a 25-yard run. The first 25-minute half ended with VMI up 24-6.

After a ten minute rest, A&M started with the ball, but soon kicked it off. Unfortunately, the entire second half is contained in just one paragraph of 3 sentences. "The fifth touchdown was made in twelve minutes. Twiggs kicked goal, making the score 30 to 6. It only took the V. M. I. 'leven four minutes to make the sixth touch-down and they ended the game with the last touch-down in eight minutes. Score 42 to 6." Those times add up to 24 minutes, meaning the second half was also probably 25 minutes long.

Though North Carolina papers (and later C. D. Harris) greatly detailed the number of A&M students who traveled to the game, the paper only mentions the large attendance of VMI, writing "The entire delegation of the Virginia Military boys attended the game and had the air ringing all during the game" (The Atlanta Constitution, October 26th, 1895, p. 5).

It is very likely that A&M played additional games during their trip to Atlanta. In addition to the aforementioned games against South Carolina and what was probably Georgia Tech, there may have been others. It was written on October 27th that A&M had played 4 games in the past week. Unfortunately, the paper did not specify any of the games or their results (Daily Charlotte Observer, October 27th, 1895, p. 6).