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Following their victory over the Virginia Military Institute, the Aggies of North Carolina A&M had high hopes for the remainder of their football season. Though the Farmers had never defeated the Orange and Blue of Virginia, the team left for Charlottesville on the morning of October 7th "feeling confident of victory," emboldened by their victory over the Lexington cadets the previous week. Former A&M player O. Max Gardner, whose former articles for Red and White on A&M athletics were often fraught with hesitancy, even wrote "I believe firmly, unless I am badly fooled... that A. and M. is going to win this game." Gardner went on to add "I can only say if they do that the Legislature had better prepare, or have prepared designs for a new capitol, for Raleigh will be a wreck, the State house a ruin, and the female schools besieged" (News and Observer, October 7th, 1905, p. 5; Charlotte Daily Observer, October 7th, 1905, p. 3).
The Virginians, for their part, were similarly confident in a win. The Orange and Blue, who had also adopted faster "Western" tactics under the tutelage of first-year coach William "King" Cole, of Michigan, had won their first two games of the season handily, defeating Randolph-Macon 59-0 and St. John's College of Maryland by 30-5; Charlottesville papers wrote that this game "will be the first real test of Virginia's strength," as "Thus far Virginia has played teams out of her class." The papers recalled the "stiff contest" the Farmers had put up the previous year, and noted that the Red and White were even stronger this year. The importance of the game was also emphasized by the University of Virginia's administration, who let all of the college out of their regular weekend activities in order to watch the game. Finally, an ad on the front page of College Topics, UVA's student paper at the time, emplored students to come to the game, writing "Last year Virginia beat A. & M. by ONE touch down. This year A. & M. has defeated V. M. I., though V. M. I. had the Strongest Team in its History. Saturday's Game will be close and every man in college ought to be there" (The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress, October 6th, 1905, p. 1; College Topics, Vol. XVII No. 5 (October 4th, 1905), p. 1).
A&M | Virginia | |
---|---|---|
Gregory (Capt.) | RE | Barry |
Beebe | RT | Cooke (Capt.) |
Perkins | RG | Murphy |
Lykes | C | Dabney |
Sykes | LG | Davenport |
Koon | LT | Haskell |
Clardy | LE | Warren |
Thompson | QB | Randolph |
Wilson | RHB | Johnson |
Hardie | LHB | Dodson |
Shaw | FB | Crawford |
Period | Time | Description | NCSU | ORI |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 12 | UVA - Johnson - 60 yd Run (Warren kick) unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk | 0 | 6 |
1st | 9 | UVA - Warren - 35 yd Field Goal - unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk | 0 | 10 |
NCSU | Opponent | Rushing TDs | none | Johnson (1) | 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 | none | Warren (1) |
2PT: | N/A/ prior to 1958 | N/A/ prior to 1958 |
FGs | none | Warren (1/2) |
Safety: | none | none |
Length: 40 (20 / 20) - Duration: unk Attendance: 1,000 Location: Lambeth Field - Charlottesvilla, VA Temperature: ??? Weather: ??? Wind: ??? |
Unfortunately, this game did not get as detailed a writeup as the 1904 game at UVA in their student paper, which instead chose to reprint a generic game summary circulated among several local papers, meaning fewer details of this game are known. The game was played in two 20 minute halves.
Virginia started the game by kicking off the ball to A&M. The Farmers carried the ball back to the center of the field "by several good plays." Unfortunately for the Farmers, however, they lost the ball at the 55 on a fumble. The ball was eventually carried over the goal line for the Orange and Blue by Hammond Johnson. Johnson's run was a spectacular 60 yard dash made on a fake punt play; while running, Johnson "dodged nearly half the Carolina [A&M] team," and was able to end his run by placing the ball squarely between the goal posts, setting up Warren for a nice and easy goal kick, which he made, putting the Old Dominion boys up 6-0 after about eight minutes of play. The touchdown reportedly "set the crowd wild."
About three minutes later, the final points of the game were scored. After being held for downs, Virginia elected to attempt a "goal from placement," now more frequently called a field goal. Warren's kick, which was made from the 35-yard line, was enough to earn the Orange and Blue another 4 points, placing the Virginians up 10-0 after about half of the first half had taken place.
Other details of the game are scarce. The Aggies were reportedly in "striking distance" of Virginia's goal "several times" but were stopped by a stiff UVA line each time. Most of these runs near Virginia's goal line took place in the last ten minutes of the first half, when the Farmers "took a decided brace... and repeatedly sent their heavy backs through Virginia's center." Among these runs towards Virginia's goal line was a 25-yard dash by Wilson between Dabney and Murphy, letting the Farmers start their drive with a first down just 10 yards from Virginia's goal line. From there, the ball was brought to within 2 yards of Virginia's goal, but the advance was stopped, and Virginia recovered the ball on downs through "superb... first class" defensive work by Virginia.
Early in the second half, the Aggies stopped one Virginia drive within 5 yards of the Red and White goal, showing "very clever defensive work" in the progress. After that, however, the ball remained almost entirely in A&M's part of the field, with Virginia carrying the ball to within 2 yards of the A&M goal line twice, but losing the ball on downs each time. Warren attempted a second goal from placement during the second half, but missed "by a narrow margin." By rule, this would have required the Farmers to kick the ball away from their own 25 yard line. Warren also attempted a second field goal in this half, but missed "by a narrow margin."
A second event which took place in the second half caused much disappointment among the Charlottesville crowd. Duplicating his success from the first half, Johnson carried the ball 40 yards for a touchdown on the same trick play. Unfortunately for Virginia, referee "Doggie" Trenchard called the play back, owing to the fact that he had not yet blown his whistle to start the play. While the Farmers briefly appreciated Trenchard for this play, he would soon be vilified by Farmers and Mechanics two games later after his officiating of the A&M-UNC game.
Multiple papers noted that, despite the score, the game was very closely fought and well attended, with the Daily Progress commenting that the entire college was at the game, in addition to "a great many" Charlottesville locals, and that the game was "good enough to justify the large attendence," which was reportedly the biggest crowd to ever see a game on the newly-constructed Athletic Field, which was opened in the Spring of 1902.
For Virginia, the stars of the game were Johnson, Barry, Cooke, and Warren, while for A&M, papers had a harder time agreeing, variously listing Wilson, Beebe, Lykes, Hardie, Shaw, Sykes, and Gregory--in other words, over half the team--though Wilson and Shaw in particular were praised by Red and White. One impressive feature of this game was that not a single sub was required, as the game was entirely free of both "slugging" (players going out of their way to hit hard and injure each other) and injuries in general.
According to one Charlottesville paper, A&M's biggest mistake was their hubris going in to the game: "After beating V. M. I. by a score, A. and M. expected that its heavy team would be too much for [coach William "King"] Cole's lightweights." The bulk of Virginia's points came on a fluke, and the fact that A&M nearly scored at least once shows that the Farmers could have one the game, had things gone their way (Charlotte Daily Observer, October 8th, 1905, p. 1; The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 8th, 1905, p. 2A; The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress, October 8th, 1905, p. 1; Red and White, Vol. VII No. 2 (October 1905), pp. 63-64).
Following the loss at Virginia and the reportedly impressive displays of cheering and rooting at Virginia, Red and White lashed out at the college students for their lack of school spirit, writing "we have a good team and an excellent coach, but there is one thing in which we are yet lacking, and that is college spirit." The paper went on to encourage students to attend each practice and cheer on the teams to practice their "rooting," and to call for each class and society to organize rooting clubs, writing "Nothing will put more ginger and spirit in the team than this."
Last updated: 6/4/2024