Return to the 1905 season page
The Farmers took a long break after their close game against Virginia, going nearly three weeks without a game. After playing UVA, the team felt it had "discovered its weak points" and made "every effort to strengthen them." In addition to their usual practices, a free matchup between the first and second teams of A&M was advertised publicly, with free admission for any who wanted to watch. The practice game was played at 4:30 PM on Tuesday, October 24th, before the Varsity team left for South Carolina; this game had the added benefit of giving the scrubs one more public practice game before their matchup in Red Springs, NC, against the North Carolina Military Academy. The practice was good for both teams; the Varsity team won 32-0 before leaving for Columbia on the night of October 25th, while the scrub team beat the Military Academy 27-0 (The Raleigh Evening Times, October 11th, 1905, p. 1; News and Observer, October 24th, 1905, p. 8; The Raleigh Evening Times, October 25th, 1905, p. 3; The Raleigh Evening Times, October 26th, 1905, p. 1; The (Raleigh) Morning Post, October 26th, 1905, p. 5).
Before the A&M cadets left for Columbia and the South Carolina State Fair, a few minor changes were made to the team's starting lineup. Thompson, who was the Red and White's starting quarterback for the first two games of the season, was replaced by Steele, a new player. Thompson was supposed to move to to left end, a position which had been first by Clardy and second by Coffin. Thompson, however, did not play in the South Carolina game, with Clardy returning to his original role instead. Clardy's second spot, at left tackle, was filled by Tull, who had previously been a sub (The (Raleigh) Morning Post, October 26th, 1905, p. 5).
The Garnet and Black of South Carolina, on the other hand, had yet to face a real challenge this season. The Gamecocks opened their season on October 13th with a 14-0 win over Welsh Neck High School (now Coker University, in Hartsville, South Carolina) and followed that win up with a second win a week later over the Robert Bingham School of Asheville, this time by a score of 18-6. South Carolina's team was reported to be in "good condition" before the game (The (Sumter, SC) Watchman and Southron, October 25th, 1905, p. 1).
A&M | South Carolina | |
---|---|---|
Gregory (Capt.) | RE | McKay (Capt.) |
Beebe | RT | Wilds |
Perkins | RG | Sligh |
Lykes | C | Jones |
Sykes | LG | Croft |
Tull | LT | Fendley |
Clardy | LE | Foster |
Steele | QB | Gibbs |
Wilson | RHB | Holmes |
Hardy | LHB | Hyde |
Shaw | FB | Swigert |
SUB | Mabry | |
SUB | Moore |
Period | Time | Description | NCSU | USC |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | t-10 | NCSU - Beebe - unk yd Run (Hardy kick) unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk | 6 | 0 |
1st | t-11.5 | NCSU - Hardy - 3 yd Run (Hardy kick) unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk | 12 | 0 |
1st | unk | NCSU - Wilson - 25 yd Run (Hardy kick) unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk | 18 | 0 |
2nd | ~19 | NCSU - Hardy - 100 yd Kickoff Return (Hardy kick failed) unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk | 23 | 0 |
2nd | unk | NCSU - UNKNOWN - unk yd Run (Hardy kick) unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk | 29 | 0 |
NCSU | Opponent | Rushing TDs | Hardy (2), Beebe (1), Wilson (1), UNKNOWN (1) | none | Passing TDs | N/A prior to 1906 | N/A prior to 1906 | Receiving TDs | N/A prior to 1906 | N/A prior to 1906 |
---|---|---|
Defensive TDs | none | none |
PATs | Hardy (4/5) | none |
2PT: | N/A/ prior to 1958 | N/A/ prior to 1958 |
FGs | Steele (0/1) | none |
Safety: | none | none |
Length: 40 (20 / 20) - Duration: 2:15 Attendance: 3,000 Location: Fair Grounds - Columbia, SC Temperature: ??? Weather: ??? Wind: ??? |
Once the game restarted, Shaw and Beebe made short gains, but on one of the following plays, Holmes broke through and tackled Wilson for no gain. Shaw managed to cross the first down line, but a bad pass on the following play lost the Farmers 15 yards and gave South Carolina the ball. Holmes made 5 yards on the following play by skillfull cutting, but after a run for no gain by Croft, Swigert punted the ball 20 yards away to Hardy, who caught the ball but was downed by Croft. After two plays by the Red and White, they were assessed another penalty and elected to punt the ball. Wilson's booming kick sent the ball out-of-bounds and on the other side of a barbed-wire fence located behind Carolina's goal. As a touchback, the Gamecocks were required to perform a kickout maneuver, requiring them to drop-kick the ball away from their own 25-yard line.
The Garnet and Black's kick went 30 yards to Wilson, who was waiting at midfield. This time, the Farmers' drive never relented. Using "the old Yale system mixed with some [Fielding H.] Yost," the Aggies carried the ball the bulk of the distance down the field in "a series of heavy smashes" interspersed with the "Heisman delayed pass trick." Wilson and Steele were noted for their ground-gaining ability throughout the drive. South Carolina's Croft nearly made a stop at the USC 12-yard line, but a few plays later, Beebe carried the ball over the goal line for the touchdown. Hardy made the kick, and the score became 6 to 0.
After being scored upon, South Carolina elected to receive the kick. The Aggies kicked the ball to Gibbes, who successfully fielded the kick his own 15-yard line, and carried the ball 9 yards on the first play of the drive. On the next play, Swigert attempted a double pass to Foster, but the ball was fumbled; Beebe recovered the ball on the South Carolina 20-yard line. Despite committing an offsides penalty once, the ball was brought to within 3 yards of the goal line "hard work and quick gains." From there, Hardy carried the ball across across the goal line and made the game's second goal after between one and one-and-a-half more minutes of play. The Farmers were up 12 to 0.
A&M's Clardy received the next kick at his own 25 yard line, where he was stopped by McKay before he could advance the ball. Over the next few drives, the Farmers advanced the ball a little bit (a 20-yard run by Steele was called back for holding), but after failing to convert before their third and final down, "Babe" Wilson decided to punt the ball 30 yards up the field to Holmes, who was unable to make any gains. Upon receiving the kick, Carolina was unable to advance it, and either fubmled or turned the ball over on downs back to A&M at about their own 49-yard line. Steele managed to advance the ball 6 yards, to midfield, despite having his "jersey torn from his back." After two consecutive first down runs by Shaw (for roughly 30 total yards), Croft managed to stop Wilson without a gain. On the next play, Beebe managed to earn a first down, and on the next play "Babe" carried the ball the remaining 25 yards to cross the goal line. Hardy made another goal kick, putting the score at 18-0 in favor of A&M. A little more action took place, but nothing of note took place before time was called.
The second half started off with a bang. South Carolina kicked off, with Hardy again waiting to return the kick. He fielded the kick around the 10 yard line, and then carried the ball the remaining 100 yards to the goal line "like a flash" for a touchdown, aided by some "pretty interference." Hardy's play was reportedly so good it even earned the applause of the South Carolina fans at the fair. Hardy missed his first goal kick of the day, making the score 23-0.
South Carolina kicked off once again to Steele, who was tackled at his own 10-yard line by Foster and McKay before he could advance the ball any. There, a punting duel ensued: Wilds punted to midfield, where Wilson caught the ball and sent it back to Gibbes; South Carolina subsequently turned the ball over on a fumble. Another A&M offsides penalty and stiff defensive work by South Carolina forced Steele to attempt a drop kick field goal from the South Carolina 30-yard line; his attempt failed, allowing South Carolina to bring the ball back out to their own 25-yard line for a kickoff. At this point, "Moore went in and Mabry was led weeping to the side lines." (At some point, the latter player had replaced Wilds at left halfback.) The Farmers fumbled shortly after the kickoff, ceding possession to South Carolina; the sandlappers promptly committed an infraction. On the following play, Holmes advanced the ball 30 yards. South Carolina accused Tull of attempting to injur Holmes by chopping at his neck: "the crowd went for the A. and M. man," but "Fortunately there was no disturbance." Soon, the Farmers were back in control of the ball and marched down the field for the game's final touchdown, Tull carrying the ball over and Hardy kicking the goal.
A feature of the game was reported to be Wilson's punting, as was the work of Steele's "cool and fast" playing, and the work of Lykes, Shaw, Hardy, Tull, and Beebe for the Farmers. Hardy in particular was described as "a Whole Team in Himself." For South Carolina, the best work was done by Holmes, Wilds and Gibbs (The State, October 27th, 1905, p. 5; Red and White, Vol. VII No. 3 (November 1905), pp. 118-119; The (Raleigh) Morning Post, October 27th, 1905, p. 2).
Newspapers emphasized the significant disparity in weights between the two teams, concluding that South Carolina was essentially destined to lose due to the differential: A&M was reported to be an average of 17 pounds heavier, weighing an average of 173 pounds as opposed to the more meager 156 pounds of South Carolina's team. As The Morning Post summarized, "It was a case of a very heavy team meeting a light." The Sumter, South Carolina Watchman and Southron put it more bluntly: "The [A&M] Tar Heels were entirely too heavy for the [South] Carolina boys and made mince meat of them in short order." The paper also reported that the play was rather rough, which other papers failed to mention (The Watchman and Southron, November 1st, 1905, p. 2).
Following their loss to the Farmers, South Carolina would go on to beat Davidson 6-4 in Charlotte. The following week, the Gamecocks would head up to Asheville to play a second game against the Robert Bingham School; one of the few Varsity teams the 2-2-2 record Bingham cadets played that year, the Asheville cadets managed to pull off a 5-5 tie, aided by several star players who returned from injuries, though South Carolina did complain of unfair treatment by the Asheville umpires. According to some papers, a slight rivalry had developed between the two schools despite not having played since 1902. The next week, South Carolina was smashed by Virginia Polytechnic Institute 0-34, but then closed their season on a high note with a 47-0 Thanksgiving Day victory over the first football team ever fielded by The Citadel.
Last updated: 6/4/2024