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The final game of the Farmers' 1906 campaign was against Virginia Tech (VPI), the state agricultural school of Virginia. The two schools had several similarities: in addition to both being military-oriented land-grant schools, both also spent the better half of the first decade of the 20th Century steadily progressing to the point where they could reasonably challenge their biggest in-state rivals--UNC and UVA, respectively. Though the teams had not met since 1903, in a game where the Orange and Maroon bested the Farmers 21-0, things seemed different this year, as A&M had tied Virginia in a close game in Charlottesville; the Virginians, for their part, had tied UNC. Since neither school played their closest in-state rivals in 1906, this blossoming inter-state rivalry was the game looked forward to the most by students from both schools.

The Red and White had faired well in the season so far, but had faced some disappointments; while all of their wins had come by large margins and the ties against Virginia and Clemson were nothing to scoff at, the tie against Richmond was a bit of an embarrassment, as was the controversy the team became embroiled in following the Clemson game. Additionally, the Farmers lacked a true marquee win over a strong opponent, and were hoping to get one against the Blacksburg boys. The game, which was to take the place of the traditional UVA-UNC game in Richmond, was heavily anticipated in Red and White; the feature of a 2-1/2 page writeup, reportedly "On to Richmond" was the slogan of A&M's campus in the weeks heading up to the game.

This was easily the biggest Thanksgiving Day game the Aggies had ever participated in, outshining previous matchups against Davidson (1905, won 10-0; and 1901, won 27-6), Clemson (1904, won 18-0), Richmond (1902, won 30-5), South Carolina (1900, lost 5-17), as well as other prestigious local opponents such as the Oak Ridge Institute and Guilford (twice each), and the Wilmington Athletic Club. Some authors went as far as saying that this was "unquestionably the biggest thing A. and M. [had] ever engaged in" (Red and White, Vol. VIII No. 4 (December 1906), p. 180).

VPI's record was, much like A&M's, very respectable but lacking a signature win. The Hokies entered Thanksgiving Day with a 4-2-2 overall record, having defeated William & Mary twice (12-0 and 28-0), Roanoke (18-0), and Davidson (10-0), tied Clemson and UNC (both scoreless), and having lost only to two strong Northern teams: Bucknell (0-10) and the Navy (0-5). The second big game VPI had played in Richmond (the first being against UNC), the Blacksburg boys were well-acquainted with Broad Street Park and perhaps the home favorite to win.

This record was especially impressive considering the Virginians essentially started their season with only three returning veterans and no coach; after meeting their would-be coach in the Spring of 1906, the supposed trainer "beat a hasty retreat" and was never seen again. As August and September came and the time to select a coach passed, a second potential coach, former Pennsylvania star Nathan Stauffer, was almost secured, but was nixed at the last second by faculty. Finally, the Orange and Maroon's coach from 1905, Clarence "Sally" Miles, "old reliable," was called up and managed to whip the team into shape, "a hard proposition" for Mr. Miles (The Bugle, 1907, pp. 134-135).

There was, of course, some controversy heading into the game. First and foremost was the fact that the Tar Heels were trying in vain to poach the game away from A&M. There were a few reasons for this, the primary being that new athletic rules had forced the cancelation of UNC's traditional Thanksgiving Day matchup against Virginia, leaving the Carolinians gameless, but the eligibility concerns that had been brewing about Wilson were at play as well. UNC asked VPI to protest the playing of Wilson in solidarity with her; to do this, the Hokies needed only to cancel their game against A&M and play the White and Blue instead. After that request failed, the Tar Heels resorted to cheering on the Techs via a telegram that was widely publicized by state papers. A&M students were outraged by both moves, writing "We don't intend to be euchered [sic] out of this game," going on to deride UNC for meddling in the game and calling the telegram "a cowardly trick" which they would never have attempted (Red and White, Vol. VII No. 3 (November 1906), pp. 117-119; Red and White, Vol. VIII No. 4 (December 1906), p. 180).

While the denunciation of UNC's interference insisted that the playing of Wilson was a non-issue in the VPI game, other observers were not so sure, and even as late as mid-November there was still some uncertainty in the public eye as to whether the game would come off or not (The Raleigh Evening Times, November 16th, 1906, p. 3). Even so, as the game drew closer, anticipation built. While at least one Raleigh paper predicted the game would be A&M's "waterloo" owing to VPI's "stiff" loss to Bucknell, other sources thought the Techs of Virginia would stand no chance against A&M; though the close game against Navy helped to turn some of those sceptics, even on the day before the game "The betting odds favored the Carolinians, and it was difficult to find Virginia money" (The Raleigh Evening Times, November 16th, 1906, p. 3; The Virginia Tech, Vol. 4 No. 10 (December 7th, 1906), p. 1).

It’s not hard to believe betting odds heavily favored the A&M team given the herculean descriptions given the Farmers in local Virginian papers. Though the descriptions of each player is similarly grandiose, perhaps the most loquacious description was given to Perkins:

"Si" Perkins, the good-natured man, has a record of never having been mad from infancy to the present. You can step on "Si's" pet corn and he will laugh, but you had better keep yours out the way or later on it will come to grief. The things that ordinarily make one weep are a source of joy and delight to "Si." He says the only pleasure greater than receiving a good, hard jolt, is to give the other fellow one just a little harder.

All the other playeres on A&M's team received similarly loquacious and embellished descriptions of their on-field prowess (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, November 25th, 1906, p. F3).

Both teams would have some losses and gains heading into the game. VPI would be without star Luttrel, who broke his cheek in the Techs' game against Davidson; he was replaced by Grant. On the other hand, the Farmers were out Hardie, who broke his leg during the Washington & Lee game; he was replaced by Frank Thompson. The Red and White did, however, return both Captain "Babe" Wilson, who was reportedly healing from a leg which had been troubling him for "some time," and Edwards, who was apparently "severely injured" in the Clemson game (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, November 25th, 1906, p. F3; The Raleigh Evening Times, November 24th, 1906, p. 2).

To balance that set of positives out, though, was the fact that the Farmers would be without their coach. Coach Heston was released "at his own request" so that he could coach and play for an "All-Western" super-team dubbed Heston's All-Collegiate Stars in a Thanksgiving Day matchup against the Massillon Tigers in Chicago, Illinois; Heston was paid $500 ($14,200 in 2019) for his troubles* (The Raleigh Evening Times, November 24th, 1906, p. 2). In his place, A&M brought back former coach Dr. Joel Whitaker, along with former A&M star and then-coach for Hampden-Sydney, O. Max Gardner, to assist him; Former coach W. C. Riddick also assisted in a more minor capacity (The Raleigh Evening Times, November 19th, 1906, p. 3; The Raleigh Evening Times, November 28th, 1906, p. 3). Virginia Tech sources also wrote that former coach Willis Kienholz came to help coach the team after UNC failed to acquire a Thanksgiving game; though it is known that Kienholz failed to return to Chapel Hill following the team's season-ending loss to Navy, no other contemporary newspaper accounts substantiate that claim (The Bugle, 1907, p. 135). Heston, Whitaker, and Gardner did briefly work together to train the Aggies before Heston's departure for Illinois; the trio put the Farmers through a grueling regime involving two practices a day almost two weeks before the Richmond date.

This kind of intense practicing was necessary given the stakes of the game: the winner of this game could claim, according to some, the title of Champion of the South, given that both teams had tied their in-state institutions, as well as SIAA co-champion Clemson. Since the game had such an important claim on the line, and since Richmond lacked their usual neutral-site matchup, no expense was to be spared in the game; the teams were housed in the prestigious Richmond Hotel, and "Specially decorated automobiles" were rented to carry the team to and from the playing grounds. With seating room for 10,000 and standing room for another 3,000, the 10,000 fans in attendance easily made the Richmond game the most heavily attended game in A&M history, beating their previous record of 7,500 (set in a loss at the North Carolina State Fair to the same team six years prior) by over 2,000 fans.

Reports indicated that, regardless of the expected winner, a large crowd was expected. With four trains from Raleigh alone (supposedly "half the population" of the capitol city, as well as "practically all" of A&M's student body), plus another train each from Durham, Oxford, and Elizabeth City, nearly 5,000 North Carolinians were expected to attend the game; as Richmond-based papers put it, "North Carolina has gone football mad this season." In addition to at least 400 A&M cadets, the 35-member strong band was also to be brought along (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, November 25th, 1906, p. F1; Red and White, Vol. VII No. 3 (November 1906), p. 116)

One heralded addition to the playing grounds before the game was the addition of large fences and twenty-five armed police officers to keep fans off the field. This was necessitated after VPI's most recent game in Richmond, their loss to Bucknell. With five minutes left to play, VPI's Nutter ran for 80 yards and a touchdown, Referee Suter whistled the play dead for holding by VPI' s line; Virginian fans were enraged by this decision. Suter was surrounded by a mob of angry VPI fans who hopped the fence; one fan even hit Suter in the head with a cane. The crowd was eventually quelled after police came in, revolvers drawn (The Wilmington Messenger, November 11th, 1906, p. 1).

The Aggies left for Richmond just before noon on the 27th; the Tuesday before that, the team lined up on their new athletic field in uniforms and practice formations so the people of Raleigh could see them in "football clothes" one last time before the game. After some light practice, the band struck up some music and the crowd cheered for the team (The Raleigh Evening Times, November 26th, 1906, p. 1).

* Heston's team lost the game 9-4. The game was unusually violent; Heston--who had reportedly never left the field of play for an injury--broke "one of the small bones in his ankle," while one of his teammates, Roseth, of Wisconsin, dislocated his shoulder.

The weather on the day of the game was described as "ideal for football," with a clear sky and a low of 38 that night indicating that temperatures at the time of the game were around the mid-to-upper 50s (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, November 30th, 1906, p. 2).

Captain "Babe" Wilson won the toss for the Aggies and decided to defend the West goal, which the wind favored; VPI chose to kick to start the game. After quite a bit of deliberation, it was decided to play the game in two 27-1/2 minute halves. The opening of the game is described very differently from the two known sources of the game: The Virginia Tech wrote that VPI's Wilson kicked off to Eskridge, who caught the ball on the 30 yard line and advanced the ball 1 yard before being stopped; The News and Observer wrote that Captain Nutter kicked the ball off to Shuford, who advanced the ball 5 yards. After that, though, the discrepencies went away: Wilson ran the ball 9-10 yards before eventually failing to earn a new set of downs and kicking the ball 20 yards, where it landed out of bounds. VPI got the ball at about the 45-yard line, but lost the ball on downs after three tries, losing yardage on two of their three tries.

Once back in control of the ball, Shuford advanced the ball 3 yards. On the following drive, Thompson kicked the ball in a play called an "on side kick" (a trick play taking advantage of the new rule change which allowed either team to recover any kick) to Wilson, who advanced the ball 20 yards, to Orange and Maroon's 10 yard line. After a run by Wilson for a short gain (betweel 1 and 5 yards) and then a slight loss (about 2 yards) the ball was on VPI's 12 yard line. Wilson attempted a place kick (field goal), but had the attempt blocked by one of VPI's linemen; VPI's Wilson landed on the ball on the 18 yard line to give the ball back to Virginia.

Once back in control of the ball, Nutter tried to run the ball for VPI but lost a yard; on the following play, Hodgson tried an end run but made no gains. On their third and final down, Nutter attempted to kick the ball away, but his kick was a bad one: caught by the wind, the ball traveled about 10 yards backwards, to VPI's 8 yard line, where it was recovered by Verner. Despite this free new set of downs, the Blacksburg boys failed to advance the ball the necessary 10 yards, with Diffendal gaining only 2 yards and an unnamed player failing to gain any. Worthington kicked the ball away for the Virginians, sending the ball to the middle of the field to either Shuford or Eskridge, who was stopped before he could advance the ball.

The Red and White's drive started off strong, with Thompson gaining 10 yards on two tries. On their third play of the drive, however, a 10 yard forward pass from Wilson to Thompson was either intercepted or dropped incomplete, resulting in a turnover; either way, Virginia Tech got the ball back on their own 25-yard line. The Virginians continued their trend of not getting any first downs; after Nutter and Smith combined for 6 yards, Worthington kicked the ball away, sending the ball to the 48-yard line. Fortunately for the Techs', though, Eskridge missed the fair catch and Varner landed on it. After another 5 yards of gaining by Hodgson and Smith, Worthington attempted a second kick, which went to the 20 yard line. In a stroke of fantastic luck for VPI, A&M's returner again fumbled the catch; Diffendal landed on the ball. Despite being the closest yet to A&M's goal line, the Orange and Maroon again failed to advance the ball, with a run by Nutter losing 5 yards and a forward pass resulting in an injury to VPI quarterback Wilson and a turnover. Wilson, however, was only "slightly hurt" and was up again in two minutes' time.

Given that the ball was so close to their own end line, A&M's Wilson conservatively chose to kick the ball away, sending the ball 45 yards to the VPI 40-yard line, where VPI recovered it. Thompson was hurt "in the mix-up" but showed "spunk" and got back up again after not much time. On VPI's first play, Nutter attempted a double pass which resulted in a loss of 2-3 yards, but on the next play VPI ran a fake kick for a gain of 10-12 yards and what was possibly their first first down. VPI built on that momentum; Smith went through the line for a 2 yard line and followed that up with a 15 yard reception on a forward pass. On the next play, Diffendal then "took the ball through the line with the whole team clinging to him." On this play, Eskridge got his ankle "severely sprained" but managed to get back in playing shape within four minutes after "much bandaging." Hodgson continued the Techs' drive with two runs for 3 yards each, and Nutter continued their advances with a 7 yard run. After two line plunges failed to gain, Nutter attempted a place kick from the 20 yard line; his kick failed, resulting in a touchback.

A&M brought the ball back to the 25-yard line and kicked the ball to VPI, as required by rule at that time. VPI's Wilson returned the kick 10 yards before being stopped, and Nutter gained and then lost 5 yards. Worthington then kicked the ball 30 yards, to A&M's 44 yard line, where either Eskridge or Shuford recovered it. It's not totally clear what happened next (reports differ, but neither fully explained what happened), but the play resulted in a touchback for VPI, who kicked the ball off from their own 25. A&M reportedly recovered the kick despite a fumble, but on the very next run, Eskridge fumbled the ball, giving VPI the ball on the 40 yard line; on the fumble, Diffendal, Nutter, and Temple were all hurt slightly but not seriously.

Nutter lost yardage on his next carry and another VPI player lost yardage on the next. It's not clear what happened next, but Virginia Tech either kicked the ball away or threw an incomplete pass, resulting in A&M possession of the ball. In the final seconds of the first half, A&M got off two long plays, the first being a 20 yard forward pass completion to Wilson, and the second a 15-yard run by Shuford. Time was then called and the first half ended an hour and thirty-six minutes after the game started with A&M 35 yards from the VPI goal line.

It was noted that not a single penalty was called during the first half; Umpire Whitehurst "expressed his belief during the intermission that it was the cleanest game he had ever seen." Also of note during halftime was the playing of the A&M band and the cheering of A&M's fans. It was noted that the this was "the only systematic rooting" of the entire game owing to the fact that there were few VPI students present.

After a 20 minute break, at 4 PM on the dot, the teams got back to work. A&M kicked the ball to VPI, who caught it at their own 10-30 yard line (reports vary). Nutter failed to advance the ball twice, forcing Worthington to kick it away; unfortunately for the Virginians, the kick was blocked and recovered by A&M at the 20-yard line by Si Perkins. The Farmers failed to advance the ball, resulting in a turnover on downs. Once back in control of the ball, the Orange and Maroon immediately kicked the ball away, sending the pigskin to the 48-yard line on a boot by Worthington. Upon getting the ball, A&M then kicked it back towards the Virginians. Nutter returned the ball about 20 yards, but was stopped by Thompson before he could gain any more. On that play, Eskridge's injured ankle finally gave in, forcing him to be taken out and replaced by Drake, one of A&M's six substitutes who made the trip. Notably, Drake had not played in a Varsity game yet all year.

Following Eskridge's injury, Sykes broke through VPI's line for a tackle for a loss; that play was followed by a run for no gain by the Techs. Worthington again kicked the ball, sending it to A&M's 5 yard line, where it was recovered by A&M and advaned 5 yards. A&M then kicked the ball to the 45-yard line; on the following play, it was advanced 15 yards by Nutter, followed by a 4 yard gain by Branch. After that, Nutter made "the most sensational and telling run of the game"; on a fake place kick, Nutter "passed the whole A. and M. team" only to be stopped just 4 yards from A&M's goal line. On the next play Nutter finished what he started and carried the ball across the goal line. Wilson kicked the goal kick using the punt-out technique, resulting in a 6-0 lead for the Virginians.

The remainder of the half was called "an occaision of the wildest excitement" for NC A&M's fans. VPI kicked the ball to A&M's 5 yard line; Shuford carried the ball 15 yards back. On the following play, Wilson kicked the ball to the Orange and Maroon's 30 yard line. After a series of kicks by each team which neither known account of the game bothered to describe, Virginia wound up with the ball back on A&M's 30 yard line. There, the Old Dominion boys turned the ball over on downs, and then committed the first two recorded penalties of the game, losing 5 yards for being off sides and another 15 for tripping one of the Red and White players. Here, Stevens was hurt but "had to be taken from the game by main force"; he was replaced by Abernathy.

The teams again struggled back and forth for a while in an undescribed series of plays where neither team could hold their ground. Eventually, the ball wound up at VPI's 10 yard line. On the next run, the ball was carried to within 3-4 yards of the Blacksburg boys' line; "the whole North Carolina delegation [went] wild." As The Virginia Tech put it, the ball rested "under the shadow of the goal posts... a score for the Downhomers and a tied game seemed almost certain." Then, however, disaster struck: "The ball mysteriously went into the air for a fraction of a second and the V. P. I. quarterback [Nutter] got it." The Virginia Tech wrote that the ball was passed and intercepted, but The News and Observer is, as quoted previously, less specific.

Whatever the cause, Nutter "shot out of the confused mass" with the ball in hand and ran 70 yards to A&M's 35 yard line, where he was tackled by Stroud. The Aggies, though "despondent," continued to make gains using kicks and end runs. VPI was penalized for an an an injury resulting in a delay of game. The injured Virginian was Capt. Nutter, who fractured his right collar bone; he was replaced by Treadwell. Wilson managed to catch a 25-yard forward pass, but it was too late, and time was called with the ball either on A&M's 45-yard line or on VPI's 35-yard line; reports differ (The Virginia Tech, Vol. 4 No. 10 (December 7th, 1906), pp. 1, 3-4; News and Observer, November 30th, 1906, p. 1).

Despite the loss, the Farmers were encouraged by the result of the game. Red and White waxed at-length about the changing fortunes of the Farmers. After writing that the school hoped to soon become the "Yale of the South," the summary moved its focus to the gridiron:

"Just think, six years ago A. and M. was the laughing stock of all the colleges and universities in this neighborhood. To-day, we are looked upon as one of the leaders in Southern athletics.... We know no retrogression" (Red and White, Vol. VIII No. 4 (December 1906), p. 180).

The Polytechs were similarly excited about the win: after recapping A&M's record for the season as well as their own, The Virginia Tech wrote that "the Virginia Techs have indeed achieved a triumph which gives them as good a title to the Southern championship as any other eleven," making sure to point out that their team "defeated a heavier and unbeaten eleven, among whom were men who have played longer than the four year limit" (The Virginia Tech, Vol. 4 No. 10 (December 7th, 1906), p. 1). It was the last game of the season for both teams.