10/6/1906 - at Virginia

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The Aggies of NC A&M, still reeling with success from their big win over Randolph-Macon, left for Charlottesville on the morning of Friday, October 5th. Anticipation for the Farmers was high: they knew the Virginian team would be a strong one, but they were also optimistic that they could pull off the defeat. Virginia's team had long been one of the strongest in the South, and this season was no exception; pulling off a win would help legitimize the burgeoning A&M team.


A photo of Virginia's team from Corks and Curls Vol. XX (1907), p. 223.

The UVA team was, however, no slouch. The Orange and Blue of Virginia had played two games in their season already, opening with an 11-0 victory over St. John's college of Maryland, and followed by a 22-0 victory over Richmond. Both games were bogged down by heavy rains and shortened lengths (30 minutes and 35 minutes, respectively), with the Richmond game in particular being described as "like water-polo" due to the heavy rains that had been inundating the area. Though College Topics claimed that both games were good fights, most local observers recognized that the football season was not truly under way until after the completion of the A&M game (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 7th, 1906, p. 2F).


Roster

A&M Virginia
Stevens RE Maddux
Beebe RT Cooke
Perkins RG Spear
Temple C Gloth
Sykes LG Williams
Stroud LT Lind
Thompson LE Myers
Eskridge QB Randolph
Wilson (Capt.) RHB Waples
Hardie LHB Johnson (Capt.)
Shuford FB McMurdo
SUB Woods

Source 1, Source 2


Period Time Description NCSU UVA
FINAL No Scoring 0 0

NCSU Opponent
Rushing TDs none none
Passing TDs none none
Receiving TDs none none
Defensive TDs none none
PATs none none
2PT: N/A prior to 1958 N/A prior to 1958
FGs none Randolph (0/1)
Safety: none none
Game Notes:
Kick Off Time: 3:45 PM - 10/6/1906 - at Virginia
Length: 40 (20 / 20) - Duration: unk
Attendance: unknown
Location: Lambeth Field - Charlottesvilla, VA
Temperature: ???
Weather: ???
Wind: ???

The game, which was played in two 20-minute halves, kicked off at precisely 3:46 PM, according to Virginia's College Topics. That Saturday was the first time in 10 days rain had not fallen on Charlottesville's field, which was an appreciated change of pace for both the Orange and Blue and the Red and White. There was, however, a strong breeze blowing from the West which gave whichever team defended the western goal a decided advantage, especially in the kicking game; this was Virginia first, as Captain Johnson won the toss.

From the start of the game, the equivalence of the two teams was manifest, as both coaches (Heston of A&M and "King" Cole of Virginia) had been teammates at Michigan and taught their teams similar strategies. Having lost the toss, Shuford kicked the ball off to start the game, sending the ball towards Waples, who caught the ball at Virginia's 18 yard line and advanced the kick to the 29 yard line, and after Waples failed to advance the ball 10 yards on his second try, Randolph kicked the ball 52 yards away to A&M's 27, where Eskridge fielded the kick and returned the ball 6 yards. After Wilson and Hardie combined for 11 yards and a first down, Hardie, Wilson, Shuford advanced the ball only 9 yards, turning the ball over to Virginia on their own 53-yard line.

That back-and-forth volley of gaining a few and then either kicking the ball away or turning the ball over on downs manifested the remainder of the game's playstyle. Overall, the Farmers did a better job in the first half running the ball, but were helpless to stop the gain of Virginia by the aid of the wind, according to local papers. On the following drive, A&M forced Virginia to kick the ball away but blocked the kick, allowing Thompson to recover the ball at their own 39 yard line. Not long later, Randolph kicked a ball that reportedly rolled 60 yards after landing across the Farmers' goal line; fortunately, Eskridge landed on the ball, resulting in a touchback. At this point in time, teams were still required to kick the ball away after a touchback, so Wilson kicked the ball away to Lind on Virginia's 36 yard line.

Later in the first half, following a second touchback (this time by Johnson), Randolph secured a free kick by signalling for a fair catch at midfield. The free kick, a new rule adopted in 1906 which allowed a team to attempt a goal from placement for 4 points (now worth 3 and called a field goal) without interference following a fair catch; this rule is still in effect (as of 2020) but is rarely used. Unfortunately for Virginia, Randolph's "futile attempt" to kick missed low, which allowed Wilson to attempt to return the kick, catching the ball at A&M's 10 yard line and running the ball another 22 yards before being forced out of bounds (The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress, October 8th, 1906, p. 1).

Following Wilson's return, Wilson kicked the ball away into the wind. For the first time in the 1906 season the Techs utilized the rule which allowed either team to recover a kick after Stevens recovered the kick on Virginia's 53 yard line. After the teams exchanged kicks a few times, Wilson made the longest run from scrimmage of the day, carrying the ball 19 yards with the assistance of "perfect interference" by Hardie.

The remainder of the first half was primarily spent kicking the ball back and forth. Time-outs were taken three times; first for a slight injury to Wilson, later after the linesmen's chain broke, and a third time for an unspecified dispute, which, based on the 5 yard penalty assessed to A&M, was probably for one of A&M's players tackling a Virginian below the knees. The half reportedly ended at 4:12 PM, meaning the playing of the half lasted less than a half hour, including stoppages, meaning the rules intended to shorten the time taken to play each half were successful.

After 10 minutes of time between halves, the teams took the field again, maintaining the same lineups as before, but on opposite sides of the field. At exactly 4:22 Johnson kicked the ball to Beebe to start another half of kicking back and forth. After sending a few kicks back and forth, with the ball in A&M's possession on Virginia's 25 yard line, in great field position after a poorly-executed fake run kick by Johnson and a few runs by Wilson and Shuford for 9 yards. On third down, Hardie attempted to run the ball through center for the final yard of gain; this decision made sense, since the Farmers outweighed Virginia. Hardie's run was close enough that time had to be paused for the linesmen to come measure the distance, but unfortunately for the Farmers, his run came up short, giving the Orange and Blue the ball back.

After that, the Old Dominion boys started moving rapidly. An 18 yard run by Johnson was followed with a 6 yard pickup by Randolph, and another 13 yards by Johnson. Unfortunately for the Virginians, however, McMurdo, Waples, and Johnson came up short on the following 10 yards, giving the Farmers the ball on Virginia's 46 yard line. After a run by Eskridge, A&M was penalized 15 yards for holding. After the holding penalty, the North Carolinians kicked the ball away; Virginia eventually advanced the ball to A&M's 50 yard line, at which point Johnson, on a fake run, kicked the ball 26 yards, where it was recovered by Myers. After 3 more gains on two runs by Johnson, Johnson executed the first forward pass of the game with "perfect" execution for 6 yards of gain, placing the ball on the Red and White's 11 yard line. After 1 yard of gain by McMurdo and 4 by Johnson, Spears retired, with Woods taking his place; the ball was on the Farmers' 7 yard line. On their third and final down, McMurdo fumbled the ball, gaining 1 yard still, but not enough to gain the new set of downs. As The Daily Progress put it, "the Carolinians held like a stone wall" (The (Charlottesville) Daily Progress, October 8th, 1906, p. 1).

At that point in the game, the officials took a time out "to find who has the ball." Starting from their own 6 yard line, with disaster only barely averted, Wilson kicked the ball away. Delivering the kick from behind his own goal posts, Wilson sent the ball to A&M's 48 yard line. Again, Virginia started rapidly advancing the ball up the field, with a 13 yard pickup by Johnson and a 3 yard run by McMurdo taking the ball to the 28 yard line. There, another time out had to be taken after Wilson delivered a hard tackle on Johnson. Virginia again lost the ball on downs, allowing Wilson to again kick the ball away, this time to centerfield. The game ended with the ball in Virginia's hands on A&M's 32 yard line (College Topics, Vol. XVIII No. 5 (October 10th, 1906), pp. 1, 8).

The College Topics was very laudatory of their own team, reporting their own stars to be Johnson, McMurdo, Randolph, Myers, and Gloth, while also praising the "exceptional work" of Spear, Cooke, and Williams. Other sources were not as kind to the Virginians, with The Daily Progress electing Johnson, McMurdo, and Randolph as the best players on the Orange and Blue. Coach Heston called Johnson Virginia's "shining light," adding that "without him the college eleven would have been unable to gain any ground."

For the Farmers, the best players were reported to be Stevens, Beebe, Thompson, Shuford, Hardie, and Eskridge by College Topics, in addition to Wilson, who was called "the all-around athlete of the Mechanical College." The Daily Progress put out a similar list of star A&M players, leaving off only Shuford and Eskridge. Coach Heston praised Wilson and Hardie as the primary ground gainers, but also praised Wilson as "the most conspicuous player of the A. and M. aggregation on both offense and defense," while also singling out Thompson's work. Red and White praised the playing of Wilson, Hardie, Beebe, and Thompson (Red and White, Vol. VIII No. 2 (October 1906), p. 68).

After tying the Raleigh boys, Virginia went on to have a phenomenal season, defeating Randolph-Macon 38-0 (notably just one less point than the Farmers), Hampden-Sydney 38-5, the Virginia Military Institute 4-0, Richmond 12-6, and a strong Georgetown team 12-0. The only other teams not defeated by Virginia were two strong Northern teams and a strong team from the District of Columbia: Bucknell by the score of 5-12, Carlisle by the score of 17-18, and George Washington University, who Virginia tied 0-0. That gave Virginia a 7-2-2 overall record, winning nearly all of her Southern games save the matches against NC A&M and George Washington.

Last updated: 6/4/2024