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Following their massive win against William & Mary, the Farmers got their first real rest since October 11th. Though the Farmers had played three tie games so far in the season, most of the ties could be easily explained away: Virginia was perennially one of the strongest teams in the South; the Richmond team's strength was underestimated; and the Washington & Lee game was lost due to the Lexingtonians "extracurricular" activities. Their wins, on the other hand, had been extraordinary, with two large blowouts and a third substantial win. While I have found no Raleigh newspapers that explicitly can confirm the claim, The Clemson College Chronicle wrote that "Captain Wilson expected his men to win, as did many outsiders" (The Clemson College Chronicle, Vol. X No. 2 (November 1906), p. 74). In fact, other papers wrote that the betting was nearly even but slightly favoring A&M (Charlotte Daily Observer, October 25th, 1906, p. 3).

Clemson, on the other hand, had not played much football to date. The Tigers had lost games against Welsh Neck High School and Mercer to open the season; though they were able to replace the Mercer game with one against Virginia Polytechnic Institute which resulted in a 0-0 tie, the only other game they had played so far was a small, 6-0 win against a typically-weak Georgia team who finished the year with a 2-4-1 record. While tying VPI was impressive, the small margin of victory against Georgia was less cause for concern than it initially appeared because reportedly the game was played primarily by the "scrub" team (The Raleigh Evening Times, October 24th, 1906, p. 2). According to the College Chronicle, Clemson and her fans went into the game with fairly low expectations: "Clemson realized what she was going up against, and most of her supporters were doubtful as to the outcome." Clemson rooters were further encouraged by reminders that their team was returning six of their starters from their fairly successful 1905 team.

The game was looked forward to with particular interest to Columbia residents, given that the South Carolina College (now University of South Carolina) had recently banned their school from participating in intercollegiate athletics before the start of the 1906 season. As such, the games played at the State Fair represented the only way residents of The River City could watch a game without traveling.

The Farmers got a special Seabord line from Raleigh to Columbia; reportedly, it was the first time such a service was ever proffered for the team. Ironically, however, Wilson and Eskridge missed the special train, forcing them to take another train; arriving at just 9 o'clock in the morning, the two players "rush[ed] to the field without breakfast... playing the game tired and hungry."

Unfortunately, no complete summaries of the game exist, though The State's coverage is certainly the most complete. The game was played in two halves, the first lasting 25 minutes and the second lasting 20. The first half primarily favored A&M, while the second half turned in favor of the Tigers. Overall, though, many viewers felt A&M should have won, but suffered setbacks from both unlucky breaks and the new rule changes. "A. and M. would have a team 25 per cent. more strong than last year's," declared one observer, "if they could use the old rules." Described as "one of the hardest fought games ever played in Columbia," the game was marked by the inability of either team to advance to the ball the newly-required 10-yard distance in order to get a first down.

In the first half, the Farmers came "very near" to Clemson's goal line. The Chronicle said A&M "possibly could have made a touch-down by hard work," but instead, Thompson* elected to attempt a kick. His sure-footed kicking, which had been heavily praised following the William & Mary game, was not enough; Thompson's kick fell about one foot short. He would try for one two kicks in the second half, but both were attempted from "such a distance as to make them practically impossible." The Tigers attempted a goal kick (field goal) of their own at some point during the game, but when was not reported. Clemson, for their part, reportedly came within A&M's 15 yard line with five minutes to play in the second half, but turned over the ball before they could make a touchdown.

According to reports, the Aggies repeatedly fumbled the ball, especially on kick returns, and was penalized for various fouls six times throughout the game; many of their pass attempts also yeilded interceptions. Complaints were made in Raleigh papers about the work of referee Bradley Walker for favoring Clemson over A&M, but the officiating was mostly satisfactory otherwise. Reportedly, both teams were often assessed a two yard penalty for talking back to the referee. The only complaint from the A&M team was that one of Clemson's players was said to have slugged Edwards illegally in the first half but went unpunished; as The State put it, Edwards "got cruel treatment. His eyebrows were badly cut and the grisly wounds let the blood rain down into his eyes. However," the paper noted, "like a true football player he remained in the game." Former A&M player and Columbia resident Job H. Koon was an umpire for the day.

Stars of the game for Clemson varied greatly depending on reported to be either Furtick, McLaurin, Keel, and Gaston (according to The Chronicle), Derrick and Warren (News and Observer), or McLaurin, Keel, and Warren (The Atlanta Constitution). For A&M, Wilson was a star according to all reports, with other papers picking either Edwards (The Chronicle), Stevens and Temple (News and Observer), or Wilson, Eskridge, Thompson, and Beebe (The Atlanta Constitution).

Despite the tie score, both Coach Williams, of Clemson, and Coach Heston were satisfied with the outcome, with Heston in particular being quoted to have said: "When two teams as equally matched as these are get together, the result is likely to be a pair of goose eggs. That is," he opined, "under the new rules.... Offense," he continued, "has gone to pieces nowadays, and it isn't like it was when I played the game." Clemson fan and one-time coach Walter Riggs was a bit more tepid in his summation of the game when he said "it was a great deal better than I had hoped."

Exactly how large the crowd was that day is hard to say. The State, the best authority on the game, described at length the bustling crowd, calling it the biggest ever seen for a State Fair game in Columbia, but estimated a throng of just 2,500. The News and Observer wrote that the crowd was 3,000 strong, while The Raleigh Evening Times wrote that 4,000 watched. The Atlanta Constitution and The Charlotte News claimed 5,000 fans watched. The Charlotte Observer, on the other hand, said that a huge crowd of 10,000 watch the game. Averaging those numbers together yields 4,900 fans in the bleachers (The State, October 26th, 1906, p. 5; The Clemson College Chronicle, Vol. X No. 2 (November 1906), pp. 74-75; The Charlotte News, October 25th, 1906, p. 10; News and Observer, October 26th, 1906, p. 2; The Atlanta Constitution, October 26th, 1906, p. 9; Charlotte Daily Observer, October 26th, 1906, p. 3; The Raleigh Evening Times, October 25th, 1906, p. 1).

* The State reported Wilson attempted the kick, but Thompson is the significantly more logical player.

After the game, however, some controversy erupted. Prior to the game, Clemson protested Eskridge and Thompson (and perhaps one or more additional players) had competed in summer baseball professionally, and wrote to Georgia to inform her of as much. Though Clemson argued the illegality of her men before the game, A&M "didn't give a durn, and would play nevertheless," according to Georgia's student magazine, The Red and Black. Clemson apparently chose to play anyways, using the logic that, since A&M was not a member of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), the game was acceotable. If Georgia, however, were to play against those men, according to logic issued by Clemson and echoed by A&M, the Bulldogs would be blacklisted from the SIAA due to her strict rules on professionalism. Georgia reportedly offered to let A&M select any two replacement players from Raleigh and pay for their travel expenses so that the game could still be played, but the Farmers could not be reached before the left back for North Carolina (The Atlanta Constitution, October 27th, 1906, p. 9).

Georgia was furious at the Farmers for leaving without waiting to ameliorate the situation, sure of their own victory for several reasons. First and foremost was the logical explanation that the Farmers would be banged up from their recent match with Clemson. Secondly was the fact that, given that A&M had tied Clemson, and that Georgia had lost to Clemson by only 6 points, the Red and Black felt that they could beat the Aggies since they had improved since their game against Clemson. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, was the fact that former A&M coach (1905) and current Georgia coach George S. Whitney had traveled to Columbia to watch the Clemson-A&M game and "was laying [in wait] for these former proteges of his with their own game up his sleeve." For the cancelation, Georgia strongly insinuated that the actions of the Farmers were cowardly and not as altruistic as they had claimed to be; The Red and Black summarized the feelings of Georgia well, writing "A. & M. fearing (so they said) that should Georgia play against these three men she would be blacklisted, and being strongly averse to meeting us sans les, took her pen in hand to drop us a few lines and high balled for home" (The Red and Black, Vol. XIII No. 6 (October 27th, 1906), p. 1).

Aside from their own convictions on the outcome of the game, Georgia had other reasons to be upset. Firstly, they lost the money the game would have brought them--especially against such a high-profile an opponent as the Farmers then were. Secondly was the fact that, for various reasons, Georgia had only played two games since her season opened on October 13th: a 0-15 loss at Davidson and a 0-6 loss to Clemson a week later. Though Georgia hoped to schedule a replacement game against Mercer, finding an opponent willing to play in a one day window was a tall order.

The Farmers were likely disappointed because they lost the chance to add what certainly would have been a fourth win to their belt: Georgia's anemic start to the season would not turn around, with the Red and Black going on to lose games against Georgia Tech (0-17) and the Savannah Athletic Club (0-12), while managing to defeat Mercer (55-0) and Auburn (4-0) and tie Tennessee (0-0). Additionally, as mentioned in the introduction to the game summary, Georgia's near-win against Clemson was against a scrub team, discrediting at least one of Georgia's purported reasons for their assured victory.