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The 1903 Kentucky University (now Transylvania University; not to be confused with the present-day University of Kentucky, which at that time was Kentucky State College) was one of the strongest football teams in the South, and would eventually go on to claim a championship of the South. The Crimson of Kentucky opened their season on September 24th, with an 11-2 win against the Lyndon-based Kentucky Military Institute on their own field in Lexington, KY. A week later, the Kentuckians took down St. Xavier College (now Xavier University) by the score of 24-0. Over two weeks later, on October 17th, the Kentucky boys lost their first game in a close matchup against then-juggernaut Virginia 0-6. The Kentuckians then traveled southeasterly, meeting North Carolina in Greensboro on October 31st, edging out a close 6-5 win.

The A&M boys were excited for the game; since North Carolina had refused outright to play the Aggies on multiple occaisions, speculation on the result of a possible 1903 rematch had abounded--since both teams were set to play Kentucky, a hypothetical result could be extrapolated. Despite Kentucky's recent defeat of in-state powerhouse UNC, the Farmers were confident in victory; though the game was never mentioned in Red and White, an article written in The Morning Post said that "the A. and M. cadets... are freely predicting that they will hold the state championship by Monday night" (The (Raleigh) Morning Post, November 1st, 1903, p. 5).

Kentucky's football team was described as "The Blue Grass Giants" in one local report, with estimates saying they outweighed A&M's team by 25 lbs, "and had at least five to ten years more experience in footballing." The first half of the game lasted 25 minutes, while the second half lasted 20.

Miller of A&M kicked the ball off to the Crimson’s 10 yard line. The boys from the bourbon state received the kick, carried it back "a short distance," and then returned the kick, kicking the ball to Buckley, who caught the ball and carried it 10 yards to the center of the field. Either Miller or Welch opened up the drive for the Farmers, carrying the ball 2 yards, followed by a 1-1/2 to 3 yard gain by Buckley. Having failed to gain the required 5 yards, Miller kicked the ball away, sending the ball 25-30 yards; Kentucky returned the kick 15-17 yards. Cantrill carried the ball 1 yard; Ware then kicked the ball away 35 yards to either Koon or Buckley, who carried the kick back 5-10 yards. After that, Abernathy and Shannonhouse combined for 4 yards on two carries, followed by a 10 yard penalty on the Crimson for being off sides, helping keep the Raleigh boys' drive alive. Buckley and Shannonhouse then combined for 5 yards, with a touch by Abernathy between their two runs for no gain. Miller, Shannonhouse, and Abernathy combined on 3 carries for about 7-1/2 yards before a 1 yard carry by Welch left the Farmers short of a new set of downs. Miller kicked the ball 30 yards away; his kick was returned 5 yards. Kentucky then began driving the ball steadily towards the Farmer goal line. Cantrill, H. Yancey, and Wallace combined for 19 yards over 4 plays before H. Yancey tore off on a long, 30 yard run, which was brought back 15 yards for holding. But, as The Morning Post lamented, the penalty "made no difference for the terrific struggle gradually bent the ball toward Kentucky's goal." After the penalty, the Crimson lost another 3 yards and decided to kick the ball away, sending the ball 45 yards deeper into A&M's territory. Buckley attempted to return the kick, but fumbled the ball, giving possession back to the Blue Grass boys. A series of four carries for 12 yards, capped off by a 2 yard plunge by Ware, brought the ball across the Farmers' goal line. Wallace kicked the goal kick, and the score became 0-6 in favor of the Crimson after 12 minutes of play.

The Red and White kicked off a second time; this time, Miller's kick went 25-35 yards and was returned 5-8 yards by Kentucky. Their drive soon stalled, with Cantrill failing to advance and H. Yancey moving the ball just 2 yards. Facing a loss of the ball on downs deep in their own territory, Kentucky kicked the ball away, sending the ball 30-35 yards away. Buckley returned the Lexington boys' kick 10-14 yards, followed by a 6 yard pick-up by Shannonhouse. The Morning Post said that "Other short gains" were also made, while the News and Observer did not report any. Either way, after some short gains were made by the Aggies, the ball was fumbled or stolen--reports differ--and carried 8-10 yards into Red and White territory by the Crimson before the runner was tackled by Buckley. The ball was advanced 14-1/2 yards over the course of 5 carries by Cantrill, Woodard, and Ware, before a 14 yard tear by Wallace broke the short gains. From there, Yancey, Ware, and Wallace moved the ball 20 yards in 7 carries, bringing the ball 2-1/2 yards from the Farmers' goal line. Finally, Yancey carried the ball the last few yards over the goal line. Wallace again made the goal kick, and after about 12 more minutes of play, the score was 0-12 in favor of Kentucky. No description of the remainder of the half was given.

The second half opened with H. Yancey kicking the ball 40-45 yards to Miller, who returned the ball 10-15 yards. Though the game summaries differ slightly, The Red and White advanced the ball, moving the ball roughly 21-25 yards using mostly Abernathy, Shannonhouse, and Welch (though The Morning Post credits a 1 yard run to Neal which the News and Observer omits) over the course of around 6 carries before losing the ball to Kentucky on downs. Ware and Yancey combined for 12 yards on 3 plays before time was stopped for the Farmers to switch several players around. At this point, Sykes was replaced by Squires, Shannonhouse was replaced by Seifert. After gaining another 3 yards by way of Cantrill and Yancey, A&M got the ball and 5 free yards after Kentucky illegally tried a forward pass. Miller and Abernathy made about 2 yards of gain before Miller kicked the ball away, sending the ball only 8 yards.

Here, summaries of the game differe greatly. The News and Observer wrote that after the Crimson recovered the ball, Ware, Cantrill and Yancey combined for 15 yards in 5 plays; at this point, Neal became injured, and was replaced. In the body of the text, the report said Gaither took Neal's place, but the line-up at the end of the article said that Neal was replaced by Hadley, who was replaced by Gaither. After play resumed, Yancey took off on a long, 12 yard dash, followed by a steady burst of gains totaling 6 yards over 3 carries by Yancey and Cantrill before being penalized 5 yards for being off side. The penalty turned out not to matter much, though, as Yancey scored a touchdown on a 7 yard run on the next play. After Wallace made his goal kick, the score became 0-18 after 14 minutes and 42 seconds of play in the second half.

The Morning Post's description of the previous drive is a bit more grandiose; I will quote part of it. Starting shortly after Miller's short kick, the report read: "A. and M. was fighting valiantly to keep down the score and Kentucky was equally determined to increase it. A few short gains were made and a fleet footed bourbon snatched the ball and skirted right end for twenty yards. The run looked good for a touchdown, but Asbury was to be reckoned with. He struck the tall Kentuckian amidships and the two went down in a shapeless heap. It was the prettiest play of the entire game and was loudly cheered. Then another bold bourbon went down for ten yards, and he, too, was tackled and thrown by the game little Asbury" before the Crimson eventually scored.

The Red and White kicked the ball 30 yards, who kicked the ball 45 yards back to Asbury, who returned the ball 15 yards. Welch and Hadley then combined for 3-4 yards before Miller booted the ball away, kicking the ball 25-35 yards. Here Squires made a tackle excellent enough to be mentioned in both papers; after the tackle, "A mighty yell rent the air in an attempt to rally the locals," but the effort proved unsuccessful. After a short 2 yard gain by Yancey, Cantrill reeled off a 20 yard run, followed by another 7 yards by Ware and Yancey. Finally, the Kentucky drive stalled, after Wallace lost a yard and Yancey and Ware gained 3. Unfortunately, the Red and White did not do much with their second chance. Reports vary somewhat here, with the News and Observer writing that the Farmers immediately lost 5 yards on a fumble before Miller kicked the ball 35 yards further away, while The Morning Post said that Squires gained 6 yards in two carries before Miller kicked the ball the same distance away. Kentucky returned the kick 10-15 yards by W. Yancey. After the Crimson fumbled the ball for a loss of 4-5 yards, time was called, and the game ended with the ball on A&M's 40 yard line.

The loss was a particularly brutal one for the Farmers. Desperate to prove that they could have defeated a Chapel Hill team that refused to schedule a game against them, the Farmers injured themselves greatly in the game. An immense crowd witnessed "one of the fiercest games of foot ball ever witnessed in Raleigh." The Morning Post continued, adding that "Several times during the game time was called in order to allow some knocked-out player to regain his wind or recover from sheer exhaustion," with three or four of A&M's players so badly injured that they had to be taken out of the game.

Despite a few long runs being present, nothing about the game was especially remarkable. While the News and Observer said that the star players of the game were Yancey, Ware, and Cantrill for Kentucky, and the News and Observer said that H. Yancey did "the star work all through for Kentucky," a later writeup on Kentucky's football history said that "Three touchdowns were made and in each instance, the ball had been slowly advance to the one-yard line, followed by a pile drive of the entire team scoring the touchdown, making it impossible to give the credit to any one man." For Raleigh, the best work was done by Shannonhouse, Welch, and Asbury (News and Observer, November 3rd, 1903, p. 1; The Morning Post, November 3rd, 1903, p. 5; History of Football at Transylvania College, p. 71).