Gloth was not the only star returning just in time for the Sewanee game; the Virginians also brought in Bradley Walker, who played for Virginia from 1900-1901, to assist Coach Cooke in training the team (College Topics, Vol. XX No. 6 (October 14th, 1908), p. 5), as well as then-Randolph-Macon head coach and former UVA end (1904-1905) Warren Rice. Warren left his Yellow Jackets at least three times in October to help assist Virginia's team, taking two seperate trips for about two days each on October 7th and October 11th (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 8th, 1908, p. 7; The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 12th, 1908, p. 5). His longest leave of absence started around October 20th, at which point he took advantage of Randolph-Macon's "easy schedule for the next three weeks," staying in Charlottesville through October 23rd (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 23rd, 1908, p. 7; College Topics, Vol. XX No. 6 (October 14th, 1908), p. 1).

Evidently, Warren was too enamoured by his time in Virginia to recall the schedule his own team had, as the penultimate Saturday of October was not at all an easy date for the Lemon and Black; in fact, instead, the Ashlanders were supposed to be taking on what was widely considered the best team in the South Atlantic, as well as one of the best three teams in the South, the others being Sewanee and Virginia.

The Farmers were not notified of the decision to have the game canceled until some time after October 21st, less than three days before the scheduled date of October 24th. Pre-game reports remarked that the Methodists were a light but speedy team and that a good game was expected (The Raleigh Evening Times, October 21st, 1908, p. 8). By the Friday preceeding the game, however, it was announced as canceled. The reason depended heavily upon the paper you read: the most tenuous reason came in the October 24th edition of The News and Observer, which claimed the match was called off due to weather issues (News and Observer, October 24th, 1908, p. 8). Though there had been about an inch of rain on Friday, there had been less than half that on Saturday.. The more reasonable explanations reported that Randolph-Macon canceled due to fears of injuring themselves playing against A&M's significantly-bulkier line, that losing the game would hurt their chances to win the Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association title, and, most significantly, because their coach had been away helping prepare Virginia for her upcoming games with Sewanee (The Raleigh Evening Times, October 23rd, 1908, p. 6). Including Rice and Cooke, the Orange and Blue reportedly had eight coaches helping get their team in training (News and Observer, October 25th, 1908, p. 1).

Preparing Virginia's team for their Sewanee game, which was the game the Orange and Blue played immediately prior to the A&M game, was an important task. First and foremost, it was their first game on their 1907 bounce-back tour; having lost three games the previous season (one each to NC A&M, Sewanee, and Washington & Lee), the Virginians were determined to show their dominance in Southern football by defeating both Sewanee and NC A&M this season. The opening headline of the school's paper on the day before the game read "On To Norfolk: Defeat of Last Year Must Be Avenged" College Topics, Vol. XX No. 6 (October 14th, 1908), p. 1).

The result of the Virginia-Sewanee game was important primarily because it could determine a champion of the South for 1908 after 1907's laurels were split between North Carolina A&M and Vanderbilt, as the teams had no direct head-to-head comparisons. Because of this, the A&M Athletic Association had endeavored to tentatively schedule a post-season game against Vanderbilt to determine "without question the holder of the championship of the entire south." Discussions for the game began as early as October 10th, however, after the UVA-Sewanee tie, they were contingent on one thing: beating Virginia (The Raleigh Evening Times, October 10th, 1908, p. 16; The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 29th, 1908, p. 7).

The Virginians were, however, facing a few obstacles obstacles. The first was weather. A steady rain had been falling on Charlottesville since the Wednesday preceeding the game. Instead of practicing football, the Orange and Blue prepared for the game in their gymnasium "by running through signals and playing basketball"--that was, afterall, what basketball was created for. Second was A&M's weight advantage: the Mechanics outweighed the Virginians 185 pounds to 165, with some estimates even placing the Aggies at 200 pounds (The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot, October 30th, 1908, p. 9). The final hinderance was that Whitehurst had watched Virginia's game against Sewanee, giving the Aggies a special window into the strategy of Virginia (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 29th, 1908, p. 7).

Coach Whitehurst expected his team to have a hard time against Virginia. In an interview, he said "We play Virginia In Norfolk Saturday, and it is going to be a big game--one of the most important games to be played in the South this season.... You can depend upon it that the game will be a fiercely contested battle. It wilt be a gridiron contest that people will go home and talk about for weeks" (College Topics, Vol. XX No. 11 (October 31st, 1908), p. 1).

Just the day before the game, the Farmers learned that Virginia planned to challenge the eligibility of several A&M players. Star lineman Von Glahn was requested to be removed by Virginia "on a technical point"--though not specified in any papers, it is likely because he was working as a professor of mathematics and civil engineering and was not technically a student. Though not announced in most papers, former captain Frank M. Thompson was also requested not to play; Thompson was requested to be removed because he had played baseball professionally over the summer, which made him a "professional" player in the eyes of Virginia's management, even though he had played a different sport (Red and White, Vol. X No. 4 (December 1908), p. 179; The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot, October 31st, 1908, p. 12).

The Farmers made counter-charges, with documented proof that Gloth had not been in college for the last 6 months and had been paid to coach a team called the Gary School while in Pennslvania, however Virginia claimed he had returned the money, thusly returning him somehow to the status of amateur. It was also noted that Stanton, the Californian track star, had played track his last Spring at California, outlawing him by Virginia's own ruleset which required that any player who transferred to Virginia sit out for at least five months if they had participated in athletics at their previous school. According to on report, the fighting was driven not by the UVA team or the officials, but instead by "two influential members of the athletic committee." Virginia offered few excuses for their blatant disregard of their own rules, and they didn't need to; the Farmers announced they were making "no strenuous fight on anyone" (The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot, October 31st, 1908, p. 12; Charlotte Daily Observer, November 2nd, 1908, p. 3).

Roster

A&M		Virginia
Saddler	RE	Bowen
Ross	RT	Welford
Floyd	RG	Calfee
Bray	C	Gloth (Capt.)
Gattis	LG	Murphy
Dunn	LT	Greyer
Hartzell	LE	Elliott
Stephens (Capt.)	QB	Honaker
Spencer	RHB	Stanton
Johnson	LHB	Dovell
Stroud	FB	Yancey
Seifert	SUB	Cecil
Davidson	SUB	Vetterlein
Marshall	SUB

The Virginian-Pilot, November 1st, 1908, p. 27

Period	Time	Description	NCSU	UVA
2nd	12-10	UVA - Stanton - 30-35 yd Run (Dovell kick) unk plays, unk yards, TOP unk	0	6

	NCSU	Opponent
Rushing TDs	none	Stanton (1)
Passing TDs	none	none
Receiving TDs	none	none
Defensive TDs	none	none
PATs	none	Dovell (1/1)
2PT:	N/A prior to 1958	N/A prior to 1958
FGs	none	none
Safety:	none	none
Game Notes: Kick Off Time: 3:45 PM - 10/31/1908 - vs Virginia Length: 45 (25 / 20) - Duration: unk Attendance: 3,000-8,000 Location: Lafayette Field - Norfolk, VA Temperature: ??? Weather: fair Wind: ???

Not content meddling just with the A&M players, Virginia also made it her duty to argue over which referees were acceptable or not. Though the teams were able to agree on the usage of former Yale players Weymouth as umpire and Armstrong as referee, a disagreement arose over the head linesman position--the only position not selected initially by Virginia (The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot, November 1st, 1908, p. 21). The Farmers had brought A. P. Hall, then-coach of Wake Forest and former Swarthmore and Penn player. The Virginians disputed him, claiming they had never heard of him, though Hall had worked as an umpire during A&M's recent Georgetown game.

The disagreement was rather lengthy, delaying the game from its anticipated 3 PM starting time by 40-45 minutes. The Orange and Blue had originally wanted former UNC coach Herman Olcott (The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, October 31st, 1908, p. 5), also from Yale, to work as head linesman, claiming they had filed a complaint against Hall two weeks prior and that to have allowed Hall to ref would have resulted in a forfeit (Charlotte Daily Observer, November 1st, 1908, p. 3). Eventually, Newman, from Cornell, was selected to serve as head linesman. This was a slight--but perhaps the only--concession by Virginia in all her documented disagreements before the game.

The delay of game had a potentially significant impacts on the game: as so many rooters were coming from Raleigh and Charlottesville, special trains had been arranged, or regular trains had been delayed, to help deal with the crowds and serve them better (The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot, October 30th, 1908, p. 5). Because of this long delay, the game's playing time had to be reduced. By how much, though, is unclear. The Virginian-Pilot, the only direct summary of the game, wrote that the halves were both 30 minutes, though this is unlikely if the game was indeed shortened, as stated in College Topics. Regrettably, the location where College Topics listed the times has become damaged, so we know that they claim to have played the first half for 25 minutes and a second half of a different (presumably shorter) length. Charlotte Daily Observer, on the other hand, wrote that the game was played in two 25-minute halves, while The Washington Post (Sporting Section) and The (Baltimore) Sun (p. 11) claimed that the first half was 25 minutes and the second just 20. The only paper that also reported two 30-minute halves was The Times-Dispatch. Because of this, I have chosen to list the game as being played in two halves, one of 25 minutes and one of 20 minutes.

In the following section, abbreviations will be used to refer to the three main summaries of the game: TVP for The Virginian-Pilot, CT for College Topics, and CDO for Charlotte Daily Observer.

The idea was perfect for football, with little wind and a cool, crisp temperature. Sources disagree over who won the toss; TVP claimed that the Farmers won the toss and selected to defend the western goal, while CT and CDO wrote that Captain Gloth won the toss and chose to kick off. The first kickoff went out of bounds over A&M's goal line (TVP & CDO), but the second, which was kicked by either Honaker (TVP) or Stanton (CT and CDO). Johnson (CDO) or Spencer (TVP) returned the kick to A&M's 25-yard line, where he was downed by Stanton. Johnson then punted to either Stanton (TVP), Honaker (CT), or Dovell (CDO), who returned it 5-10 yards (TVP and CDO, respectively) on a 5-yard return (CT) before being tackled by Johnson (TVP).

The next series of plays was not described in detail by any source except CT. Starting at roughly midfield (CDO), the Virginians began a long and steady drive which nearly resulted in a touchdown. Yancey started things off with a 5-yard run around left end, followed by another 5-yard gain by Dovell. Yancey then carried the ball four consecutive times, netting 17 yards; this was again followed up with a run by Dovell, this time for 7 yards. On a run starting at A&M's 10-yard line, Dovell ran the ball for a 5-yard gain, but fumbled the ball. The ball was recovered by Bray, giving the Farmer's the ball. The CDO's short summary of the drive agrees aligns exactly with this report, but TVP's summary adds a few wrinkles. According to TVP, Spencer tackled Honaker at A&M's 20-yard line; Stanton then got the ball on a Virginian kick to A&M's 10-yard line, alluding that the Farmers recovered the ball somehow and punted it away once before Dovell's fumble on the 5-yard line. All of this took place within about 5 minutes of the start of the game (TVP, Washington Post, and The Sun).

With the Mechanics in control of the ball at their own 5-yard line, Johnson elected to punt the ball away, sending it 30-40 yards (CT and TVP, respectively), where Stephens landed on the ball, retaining Red and White possession; their drive was only described in detail by TVP. Spencer started the Aggies' first drive off with a 5-yard run around left end. On the next play, however, the Farmers were called for being offsides (TVP), resulting in a 5-yard loss. On second down, Stroud gained a few yards, but not enough to encourage the Farmers to go for it on third; Johnson punted the ball about 40 yards, to the Orange and Blue 40, where UVA recovered the ball. Honaker immediately returned the punt; Stroud made "a pretty catch" and returned the kick 15 yards before being downed by Gloth.

After a 3-yard gain by Stroud, the Johnson punted the ball away again for the Red and White, sending the ball to Virginia's 15-yard line. Honaker again immediately punted the ball back again; this time, Stephens landed on it. A run by Johnson made no positive yardage, and a second run for just 2 by Stroud did little to help. Johnson kicked again; he gained only 15 yards, but this was ameliorated by the fact that the Farmers recovered the ball. Spencer immediately gained 8 yards on a run around right end, and on the next play Johnson "A. & M. shoved Johnson around right end" for 10 yards. After this short burst of success, A&M fumbled the ball; Gloth secured the ball for the Orange and Blue.

After a 1-yard run by Honaker, Welford punted the ball 20 yards to Stephens, who was downed by Yancey. Virginia then made their first recorded mistake of the game, giving the Farmers 5 free yards on an offsides penalty on a short run by A&M. The Aggies then gave the ball to Floyd, who was stopped by Yancey for very little gain. On the next play, Ross gained 10 yards for a first down, but was stopped by Yancey before he could advance any further. The Farmers then gained 5 yards on a line plunge, and another 5 yards and some change on a line plunge and an offsides call on Virginia; Johnson earned the first down for the Farmers on a 2-yard run, at which point he was tackled by Gloth.

Throughout their previous few drives, the Red and White reportedly employed several impressive wing shifts and tandem plays (CDO), but unfortunately it is not clear when. On first down, Johnson attmepted to carry the ball around left end but failed to gain any. Facing second down and ten to gain, the Farmers attempted to execute a forward pass, but unfortunately for the Farmers, the pass was batted down by Stanton. As the ball was still considered live back then, Stanton picked up the ball and started running "so fast that the rooters thought a touchdown would result" (CT), but Stephens made a "pretty tackle" to prevent the touchdown.

On their first play, Virginia yet again punted the ball, sending the kick 20 yards, probably at a fairly high angle. The Downhomers attempted to recover the kick before A&M could, but fortunately Stephens caught the punt before Virginia could. After a run by Stephens resulted in no gain (and a joint tackle by Stanton and Gloth), Johnson punted the ball 12 yards, where it was recovered by the Farmers. Johnson then kicked the ball again, sending the pigskin 20 yards, where it was recovered by Hartzell. On the next play, Stephens fumbled the snap but recovered the ball, after which Johnson carried the ball for some gains before being tackled by Murphy. Johnson then ran a play where he ran though the center of the line and then kicked the ball, sending it 10 yards. Yancey gathered the kick but was downed by Dunn.

Once again, Honaker instantly booted the ball away, sending the kick 20 yards. Stroud and Johnson both ran the ball, but not for enough to gain a first down. Virginia then got the ball, but whether on a kick or turnover is unclear. Once again, Honaker kicked, this time sending the ball 18 yards. The ball was caught by Stephens on A&M's 40-yard line just as time was called (TVP, CT, and CDO).

Though CT noted that "Not once was the Virginia goal in danger," and that Virginia had the superior kicking throughout the game (CT and The Washington Post), TVP noted that "A. & M. had the best of the argument during the first half," with the ball spending most of the play time in the Orange and Blue part of the field, and that Virginia "failed to make much headway by runs or kicks." It was additionally noted, however, that the Charlottesville boys "passed up opportunities to score" several times in the first half. As can be noticed by A&M's frequent kicking, they attempted several onside kicks at the end of the first half (CDO).

After a short break for halftime, the teams were right back into the fray. Much of the second half was only described in CT. Johnson delivered the opening kickoff of the half for A&M, sending the ball to Virginia's 30-yard line, where it was caught by either Dovell (CT) or Yancey (TVP) and run back 10 yards before the runner was taken down. Oddly, TVP reports that Stanton made the tackle--perhaps they meant Saddler or Stroud? Either way, Bowen immediately punted the ball away for Virginia, sending it back 40 yards to the Red and White. The Farmers attempted three consecutive wing shift plays for no gains, resulting in a turnover on downs around their own 35 yard line. Bowen punted the ball a second time; this time, the ball was caught by Stephens, who was downed with a "beautiful tackle" by Elliott.

Upon getting the ball, the Mechanics immediately gained 30 yards on an "onside punt" trick which was recovered by Saddler. Stroud, however, failed to gain, forcing Johnson to punt. Stanton recovered the kick and returned it 10 yards before being tackled by Hartzell on Virginia's 25-yard line. On a fake kick, Honaker gained 35-yards, and from then on "the tide seemed to change" in favor of Virginia. After a 2-yard gain by Yancey, Bowen punted the ball 40 yards to Johnson, who was tackled before he could advance the ball. Punting "from right under their goal," Johnson managed to safely boot the ball downfield to Honaker, who returned the kick 5 yards.

Immediately, Stanton made 15 yards on a straight line run, followed by a pair of 5-yard pickups by Honaker and Dovell. At this point, Honaker executed a quarterback kick for a gain of 15 yards; the ball was downed by Stanton at A&M's 30-yard line. Then, Stanton started a run around the left end of the line on a feint pass. "The Virginia sympathizers yelled themselves hoarse" as they saw him start a 30-to-50-yard run (30, CT, Washington Post, and The Sun; 50, TVP and Times-Dispatch) across A&M's goal line, with his run full of "twisting and dodging, aided by splendid interference." Dovell successfully made the goal kick, making the score 6-0 in favor of the Virginians after about eight-ten minutes of play.

After being scored upon, A&M kicked off to Virginia. Stanton caught the kick and returned it 10 yards, but on the next play Bowen instantly punted the ball 35 yards downfield. Cecil broke through A&M's line and beat the ends down field, recovering the ball on the Red and White 40-yard line. Honaker then gained 6 yards on a "cleverly executed fake kick," and on the next play Bowen punted to the A&M 15-yard line, where Gloth recovered the ball just before it rolled out of bounds.

Virginia made a short punt which was caught by Spencer, for A&M, who returned the ball 3 yards. The Farmers then punted the ball, but it was returned to A&M's 30-yard line by Stanton. Another onside kick attempted by Virginia gave the ball to the Aggies, but after two attempts to advance the ball using wing shifts, Johnson punted the ball. Honaker caught the kick around midfield, where he was tackled without gain. Dovell punted for the Orange and Blue; Spencer caught the ball but failed to gain. The ball went back over to Virginia, at which time Virginia ran some of their only actual plays since the start of the game that weren't punting, with Yancey gaining 11 yards on two plays and Stanton 3 yards (CT). A few more plays took place, and the ball ended with Virginia in possession of the ball on the Red and White 45 with Gloth about to be penalized (TVP).

At some point during the game, Virginia attempted a place kick for goal from the 35-yard line; though it likely took place in the second half, it is not clear when. The goal attempt missed wide. Finally, during the second half Hartzell was injured and replaced by Seifert; a few minutes later, Marshall replaced Seifert.

At the end of the game "Hundreds stood up in their seats and sent up a great shout for Virginia." The victory was unexpected to the bettors, with the odds reportedly favoring A&M on the night before the game. Estimates of the attendance greatly from source to source: The Virginian-Pilot estimated that 3,000 Virginia fans were at the game but gave no indication of total crowd size, while College Topics, The Washington Post, and The Sun estimated a crowd of 3,000 total spectators. The Times-Dispatch estimated that 5,000 spectators were in attendance, with rooters roughly evenly split between the two teams. The Sun gave the largest estimate, at 8,000 spectators, but gave no indication of division. Charlotte Daily Observer gave no estimation of crowd size (Charlotte Daily Observer, November 1st, 1908, p. 3; The (Richmond) Times-Dispatch, November 1st, 1908, p. E1; College Topics, Vol. XX No. 12 (November 4th, 1908), pp. 1, 8; The Washington Post, November 1st, 1908, Sporting Section; The (Baltimore) Sun, November 1st, 1908, p. 11). Based on a combination of the reporting from The Virginian-Pilot and The Times-Dispatch, I'm estimating the attendance to be 5,500 people: 3,000 from Virginia and 2,500 from A&M.

In terms of stars of the game, John, Stroud, and Stephens were said to be the stars for the Farmers, while for Virginia the best players were, fairly obviously, Gloth, Stanton, and Honaker. Several reports mentioned A&M's lack of teamwork and coordination, which is not surprising given UVA's evisceration of A&M's team just a day before the game. That, coupled with Virginia's kicking game plan, which was destined to hurt the Mechanics' heavy team. It should also be noted that College Topics claimed "Although the score was so small the victory was clearly deserved, as all the critics considered A. and M. outplayed in every department of the game, and it is generally believed that the final result whould have been more to Virginia's credit except for the shortened halves."

The Aggies also had their own opinions about the game, writing that "We are not sorry that we played the game, [even] if Virginia did select all the officials and make rules to suit her team and cripple ours." Red and White also added that the Farmers had received several letters from Virginians "commending us for playing the game against such odds," in addition to their respect and admiration (Red and White, Vol. X No. 3 (November 1908), p. 160).

Virginia's season continued on their high note: they finished off their season with a 6-0 win over Georgetown and a dominant 31-0 win over long-time rival UNC, earning the title of Co-Champion of the South.

Last updated: 6/7/2024