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Neither the Quakers nor NC A&M had played much football up to this point in the season. The Farmers had originally planned to open their season against the Danville Military Institute, but, owing to a sickness at the Virginian college, delayed the game and instead opened against the Crimson and Gray of Guilford. The Greensboro team, on the other hand, had played their opening game of the season on September 26th against North Carolina, in Chapel Hill. Guilford lost the match, which started just after half past noon, 0-15, with the low score apparently caused by heat and "the superfluous flesh gained during the summer" by the UNC players, though the fact that Guilford's kicker often sent the ball either straight up or backwards likely didn't help Guilford's team either (The Tar Heel, October 3rd, 1903, pp. 1-2; Guilford Collegian, Vol. XVI, No. 1 (October 1903), pp. 20-21). The game did not have many interesting or brilliant plays, but on the bright side, no injuries were reported to Guilford's team.

Sadly, the Guilford Collegian was not published in September of 1903 as it usually was due to a large staff turnover, so there is no recorded predictions from Guilford's sports writers on how the team would fare for the season, though in October their college periodical lamented that they only had three players returning from the previous year and that they only had not been able to properly condition in time for their hardest games, which came towards the start of the season (Guilford Collegian, Vol. XVI, No. 1 (October 1903), p. 20). The Red and White made no specific preditions on the outcome of the team's first game, but warned students not to be over-confident or conceited about the coming season, but added that they did have a strong team (Red and White, Vol. V, No. 1 (September 1903), p. 14).

In retrospect, the outcome of the game was clear very early on. The game, which was played in 20 and 15 minute halves, reportedly had a large crowd present to watch the game. The game, which started at an unspecified time in the afternoon, was warm for football but not unbearably warm, with a local high of 85 degrees on the day and no rain. Guilford never once made a single first down throughout the game, and was never able to keep the Red and White from gaining the required distance (News and Observer, October 6th, 1903, p. 8).

The game opened with Miller of A&M kicking the ball 40 yards downfield to Hobbs, who returned the kick 20 yards, to Guilford's 35 yard line. Guilford kicked the ball an unspecified distance away; the kick was brought right back to Guilford's 30 yard line by Miller. After two runs by Shannonhouse for 4 yards, the Farmers had a third and short around Guilford's 25 yard line. Abernathy then made an 8 yard run, and finally, Gardner ran the ball over the goal line for a touchdown. There had been just 2 minutes and 45 seconds of playing when the Farmers scored their first touchdown. Miller added the extra point with his goal kick and the score became 6-0.

Guilford kicked the ball 30 yards to Abernathy, who carried the ball 20 yards back, to the 45 yard line. After another 4 yard run by Shannonhouse, Neal made a long, 10 yard run, but fumbled the ball. Thankfully, Darden managed to land on the fumbled ball. After that, Buckley ran once for 7 yards and then a second time for 27 yards. After 17 yards of gains in four carries by Darden, Miller, and Gardner, Gardner ran the ball the final distance to the goal for his second touchdown of the day; Miller kicked the second goal, and the Farmers were up 12-0.

Guilford again kicked the ball 30 yards down the field. This time, Buckley caught the ball and returned the kick 15 yards. Miller tried to kick the ball to advance it, but Guilford got the ball. Guilford subsequently failed to advance the ball again and kicked the ball away. The ball ended up in the hands of Abernathy at the Raleigh boys' 25 yard line. Welch immediately got to work for the Red and White, making a 15 yard pickup, followed by another impressive 14 yard run by Gulley which crossed the midfield line. After a 2 yard gain by Shannonhouse, Guilford got called for being off side, which gave the Farmers another 5 yards. Then, Darden tore off a long 20 yard run, followed by a 3 yard run gain by Neal. After Buckley gained 10 and Gulley 5 yards, the ball was fumbled and the Quakers got the ball. However, Guilford failed to make the distance and kicked the ball away; the kick went out of bounds, which gave A&M the ball. After a 10 yard gain by Abernathy, the Farmers got called for being off sides and immediately lost all 10 of those yards. The difference was soon made up by Darden, who gained 12 yards, followed by a 7 yard gain by Neal. After a pair of 4 yard gains by Gardner and Abernathy, Shannonhouse carried the ball, fumbling it at first but eventually crossing the goal line. After getting the touchdown, Miller performed a "kick out" and Buckley heeled the ball, which allowed Miller to attempt the kick with better position. Miller made the kick again, and the score became 18-0 in favor of A&M.

The Crimson and Gray kicked the ball off 25 yards to Abernathy, who returned the ball 4 yards. From there, Miller attempted to advance the ball by kick, sending the ball 15 yards downfield, but kicking out of bounds, Guilford getting the ball after it went out of bounds. Clark got 1 yard and Thornburg 1/2 a yard, but the Quaker drive was saved by an A&M off sides penalty, which gave the Guilford boys 10 free yards--more than they had earned themselves the entire game. After being gifted the 10 yards, the Quakers fumbled the ball away after Thornburg carried the ball for no gain; Hadley landed on the ball for the Red and White. Immediately after regaining possession of the ball, Darden tore off for 26 yards, aided by good blocking by Buckley. After another 3-1/2 yards by Welch, Shannonhouse made a long 20 yard run, followed by 8-1/2 more yards by Neal, Abernathy, and Lykes, Abernathy made the touchdown. Though it is not explicitly stated, it appears as if Miller missed the goal kick, or that the kick was not attempted. That put the Red and White up 23-0 not long before the end of the half, though the Farmers did apparently carry the ball to Guilford's 15 yard line before the half ended.

Guilford opened the second half with a 30 yard kick to Buckley, who returned the ball 23 yards, just 7 yards short of midfield. On the next carry, Welch made a sizeable 20 yard gain, followed by a 3 yard gain by Lykes and a 5 yard pickup by Squires. The Raleigh boys again fumbled the ball to Guilford, however, the Quakers again failed to make a first down after a run for no gain by Clark and a 1 yard run by Thornburg. Guilford kicked the ball 35 yards away to Miller, who returned the kick 20. Immediately after that, Wilson ran the ball twice, once for 25 yards and a second time for 20 yards. With Wilson having covered nearly half of the field, Abernathy carried the ball the rest of the way to cross the line. Miller successfully made the goal, and the Farmers were up 29-0.

The next touchdown came quickly. Guilford kicked the ball off about 40 yards, and Buckley carried it 20 yards back. On the next play, Abernathy broke loose for an impressive 70 yard touchdown run. The paper wrote that Buckley failed to kick the goal, though this seems odd since Miller was still in the game. Nonetheless, the score became 34-0.

Guilford's sixth kickoff went 20 yards; Abernathy caught the kick and carried the ball 17 yards back. Miller attempted to advance the ball by kicking, sending the ball 35 yards, but out of bounds in the process, giving the ball back to Guilford. The Crimson and Gray's drive went worse than usual, this time losing 3 yards on the first carry by Thornburg, and gaining no ground on his second. Guilford kicked the ball 20 yards away; Miller caught the balland returned it for 10 yards. Wilson continued his impressive driving and took the ball another 10 yards. Buckley made Wilson's run look short on the next run, though, carrying the ball 45 yards down the remainder of the field for a touchdown. A&M again did the "kick out" trick, this time using Miller to kick the ball out to Asbury, who heeled the ball. Miller made the kick, and the score became 40-0.

The Quakers began the familiar process of kicking off the ball, sending the ball 30 yards into Farmer territory. Neal returned the ball 20 of those yards. After Neal's kick return, Gulley drove another 30 yards. After Abernathy and Wilson combined for 11 yards over two carries, Squires made a fairly long 15 yard run, followed by a 6 yard carry by Gulley. Lykes carried the ball the remainder of the distance to the goal line, making his first touchdown of the game. Miller missed the kick, leaving the score 45-0.

In the last kickoff of the game, Guilford sent the ball 30 yards into A&M territory; Asbury returned the kick 29 of those yards. After an 8 yard gain by Gulley and a 10 yard pickup by Lykes, Abernathy failed to gain, so Howle kicked the ball 30 yards. The ball was caught by an unnammed Guilford player who was "down in [his] tracks by Gulley." After a run for no gain by Thornburg and a loss of 5 yards by Cathey, Guilford kicked the ball 30 yards to Howle, who carried it back 10 yards. Gulley, Wilson, and Gaither combined for 10 yards in three plays, and finally Neal carried the ball across the line for a touchdown. Asbury missed the goal kick, and the game ended with a final score of 50-0 (News and Observer, October 6th, 1903, p. 1).

Clearly, the Red and White dominated. "Guilford," Gardner wrote for the subsequent issue of Red and White, "was not strong enough to enable us to form an opinion concerning the weak places in our team. We could barely form an estimate as to our real strength."

Despite this dominance, the win came with a heavy cost: over the course of the game, Buckley, Darden, and Gardner were all injured. Their injuries, described at the time as "lame legs," proved to be rather serious, keeping Gardner and Darden out for most of the rest of the season. As the Agromeck told it, "This game did the team more harm than all of the others put together." Other papers reported further injuries during the game, with The Wilmington Messenger reporting that "several players were pretty hurt," including an unnamed player with a dislocated knee and another player who was knocked unconscious for "quite a while" (Red and White, Vol. V, No. 2 (October 1903), p. 11; The Agromeck, Vol. II (1904), p. 142; The Wilmington Messenger, October 7th, 1903, p. 3).

Guilford's Collegian had little to say on the game. Describing the game as her "waterloo [sic]," their sports writer derided the A&M team as "heavy, experienced, and professional," while also maintaining the fact that the Quakers had been missing so many players that the team they brought to Raleigh was closer to "Guilford's kid team" than her primary one, writing that "Cowles, our kid quarter back" was their star of the game, despite the fact that his name did not appear in the only detailed recap of the game. The Collegian went on to remind its readers that while Guilford had only 200 boys and girls to choose from, including prep school kids, A&M had five or six hundred men to pick from, before bitterly claiming that the the Farmers paid for their players, writing "we leave it for her [A&M] to say how much money she spends on her ball players annually" (Guilford Collegian, Vol. XVI, No. 1 (October 1903), pp. 21-22).

Since the original publication of the football schedules of both A&M and Guilford, a game had been planned for November 11th, to be played at Guilford to reciprocate the season-opening game in Raleigh. Despite this, the game was canceled with little explanation by the Red and White in their college periodicals. Though the incentive was likely from injuries sustained during the Kentucky game, it is hard to be sure. The Guilford Collegian alluded to the fact that the game was canceled due to injuries afflicting A&M players, writing that in several of her earlier games in the season, Guilford "knew that she was in a very poor condition to play strong teams... but she remembered that she had scheduled these games and that was enough. Honor, reputation, and duty was at stake. These games had to be played" (The Guilford Collegian, Vol. XVI, No. 2 (December 1903), p. 34).

Guilford's criticism here is especially ironic considering their cancelation of a game against Clemson for (according to Clemson, at least) even less justifiable reasons. The Clemson College Chronicle scathingly explained Guilford's cancelation by writing that "for some unaccountable reason the team positively refused to play" (The Clemson College Chronicle, Vol. VII, No. 3 (December 1903), p. 111). In light of this inconsistency by Guilford, it is difficult to know if the cancelation was truly A&M's.