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The Farmers opened their season with an away game for the first year since 1905 at Wake Forest just over a month after new coach Mickey Whitehurst came in from Baltimore. The game was highly anticipated, as it was Wake Forest's first intercollegiate football game since the sport was disbanded just one game into the 1895 season, and their first home game since the Baptists beat Tennessee 64-0 in 1893. The faculty of Wake Forest were convinced to bring back the sport only on the condition that hazing at the school would be outlawed, though recent rule changes related to player safety opened the door for the opportunity.

Though the Baptists were an unusually tall team (nicknamed the Giants by some papers), most neutral sources agreed the game would be a blowout. Despite the hopes of some sanguine sportswriters, the "infant prodigy... full-fledged giant" of a team did not come out the gates swinging (The Raleigh Evening Times, September 24th, 1908, p. 2). Instead, the Black and Gold lost their first game at Chapel Hill by a 0-17 score on September 26th. Despite their failture to score, it was generally consented that the game proved that either Wake Forest was stronger than expected or that Chapel Hill was unusually weak (The Raleigh Evening Times, September 29th, 1908, p. 7); both were, to a degree, true, as UNC finished the season with a 3-3-3 record, while Wake Forest registered only a single first down in the game, which was noted as "devoid of special features" (The Tar Heel, October 1st, 1908, p. 1).

That the Baptists did poorly is not surprising; only one man on the team had ever played before, and that was their captain, L. B. Simmons. Simmons had played at the Robert Bingham School of Asheville, which was regionally renowned for its skill at football; he had also spent time as a professional baseball player in South Carolina, a fact which should have disqualified the Baptists from most competitions due to professionalism rules (namely UNC) but was generally ignored (News and Observer, October 1st, 1908, p. 6). To make matters worse, the team had not done any scrimmages as of September 24th due to difficulties in acquiring their protective gear; as such, the men had mostly practiced "falling on the ball, light signal practice and squads running out under punts" (The Raleigh Evening Times, September 25th, 1908, p. 7).

The Farmers, on the other hand, had not yet played a game, but had been in hard practice (nearly two hours daily) since early September. Watching the practice of the Farmers in the week before the game, a football expert was quoted as saying that A&M's practice "looks more like football than anything I have ever seen at the A. and M.," which is quite a comment considering the Farmers were South Atlantic Champions and co-Champions of the South the previous year (News and Observer, September 27th, 1908, p. 1). The Farmers were also the heavier team, outweighing Wake Forest's average weight 190 pounds to 160 pounds (Greensboro) Daily Industrial News, October 4th, 1908, pp. 1, 6).

Though being hosted in Wake Forest, Raleigh papers expected three-quarters of A&M's students to attend the game aboard a special train which was commissioned to take A&M fans from Raleigh to Wake Forest (News and Observer, October 1st, 1908, p. 8). A round-trip ticket was only 50 cents, or roughly 15 dollars in 2019 (The Raleigh Evening Times, September 29th, 1908, p. 7). Additionally, "nearly every automobile in the city" was expected to make the drive from Raleigh to the Twin City under the auspices of the Raleigh Automobile Club, which was expected to take the day. Five cars carried a total of fifteen observers to the game, leaving Raleigh at 11 AM for the 4 PM game and returning at 7:30 PM (News and Observer, October 2nd, 1908, p. 5; News and Observer, October 4th, 1908, p. 12).

The game was played in two halves; the first half lasted 25 minutes, while the second half lasted 20. A&M kicked off to start the game, with Simmons catching the kickoff and returning the ball several yards. After failing to gain through line plunges twice, Wake Forest punted the ball away; A&M caught the kick and advanced the ball 10 yards on their first play, but shortly thereafter were penalized 15 yards for a failed forward pass. Despite the penalty, the Aggies opted not to kick the ball away; this gave Wake Forest the ball on a turnover on downs. The poor fortune of the Old Gold and Black continued, however, as the Winston-Salemites instantly fumbled the ball. After securing the ball "near the [goal] line," the Farmers secured their touchdown in four rushes. Johnson carried the ball across the goal line; Thompson's kick, however, failed, putting the Red and White up 5-0.

The Farmers kicked off after scoring, sending the ball over the goal line, resulting in a touchback, which was brought to the 25-yard line. The Baptists elected to kick the ball away themselves. However, "in a few moments" the Farmers carried the ball across Wake Forest's goal line, this time by Thompson. The goal kick failed, making the score 10-0.

This time, Wake Forest elected to kick off, sending the ball to A&M. The "Giants" finally managed to hold the Farmers, with both teams failing to advance consistently for several minutes. Eventually, the Aggies carried the ball to Wake Forest's 20-yard line, where they subsequently lost it on a fake forward pass on the Gold and Black's 5-yard line. There, Duffy attempted to punt the ball away for Wake Forest, however the ball was thrown too low for him to catch and rolled across Wake Forest's goal line, where Saddler landed on it. The goal kick failed for the third consecutive time that day, putting the Farmers up 15-0.

The fourth touchdown of the first half got even less description than the second touchdown, meriting just a single sentence of description in the only complete description of the game: "After several minutes of play Stroud carried the ball over for the fourth touch down, making the score 20-0." The goal kick was missed again.

Wake Forest kicked off the ball, however, the first half ended without any additional scoring. The 25-minutes of play clock took 57 minutes of day time, making the time nearly 5 PM when the two teams broke for the half.

Not long after the start of the second half, one of the Leggett brothers made "a beautiful play" by breaking through the Red and White line and getting a sack on A&M's quarterback as the Farmers were attempting a forward pass. However, after several more minutes of play, Spencer carried the ball across the goal line. With the kick failing for the fifth consecutive time that day, the Farmers earned the final points of the game, earning a 25-0 win over the nascent Baptists (News and Observer, October 4th, 1908, p. 14).

Though the second half was not described in much detail, it is clear that nearly the entirity of the A&M team was replaced with substitutes either before or during the intermission. It appears as if the only Farmers not replaced during the course of the game were Dunn, Bray, and Von Glahn. The majority of the second half was otherwise not described in great detail. Stars of the game were reportedly some combination of Stroud, Von Glahn, Thompson, Spencer, Saddler, and Morton, while for Wake Forest the best work was done by Simmons, Duffy, and the Leggett brothers (News and Observer, October 4th, 1908, p. 14; Charlotte Daily Observer, October 4th, 1908, p. 3).

Reportedly, the game lacked many remarkable plays, with most of A&M's ground gaining coming on steady 3-15 yard gains with 15-20 yard rushes being the longest of the day ((Greensboro) Daily Industrial News, October 4th, 1908, pp. 1, 6). Elsewhere it was noted that the game was "replete with fumbles" and "marked by rough playing, frequent penalties for holding and off-side playing by A. & M." Additionally, only one successful forward pass was made during the game by A&M, while the one try by Wake Forest failed (Charlotte Daily Observer, October 4th, 1908, p. 3). Von Glahn was also evidently injured during this game, which kept him out of the William & Mary game.

Despite the dearth of exciting plays, the game ended with a bang: an all-out brawl between many spectators and the players erupted. No one could agree which team started the fight, but evidently one of the players punched a player on the other team, and players began hitting each other with "nose guards, head gear, fists, and any sort of weapon that happened to be at hand." The crowd descended on the field, and in the bedlam a Wake Forest policeman named Bobbitt had his pistol stolen (News and Observer, October 4th, 1908, p. 14).

The fight, which lasted about five minutes, resulted in the removal of three A&M players and one Wake Forest player for unnecessary roughness. Bobbitt's gun was never recovered ((Greensboro) Daily Industrial News, October 4th, 1908, pp. 1, 6; Charlotte Daily Observer, October 4th, 1908, p. 3). "Deep regret" was felt by Winston-Salem's local papers about the "general mixup," and it was advised that "the management of both teams will do well to see to it [that fighting] does not occur again this season" (Twin-City (Winston-Salem) Daily Sentinel, October 6th, 1908, p. 1). It was certainly not the way football fans in Winston-Salem had wanted their first home game in 15 years to end.