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  * Non-conference games

Coming on the heels of a highly-successful 1908 season, the Farmers expected to bring back former Western Maryland coach for his third season with the Red and White. Though Whitehurst was expected to return to Raleigh until late August, the Aggies did not discover that "Mickey" did not intend to return for another season until early in September, just days before practice was expected to start (The (Raleigh) Evening Times, August 31st, 1909, p. 7; The (Raleigh) Evening Times, September 11th, 1909, p. 3), though he had reportedly made his mind up not to return months beforehand. Surprisingly, Whitehurst was also expected to bring with him newly-purchased football equipment, including jerseys, shoes, sweaters, and balls (The (Raleigh) Evening Times, August 31st, 1909, p. 7). It is not currently clear if the Farmers got new equipment for the season or not.

Acting quickly, the Farmers appointed Frank M. Thompson as temporary head coach; he would continue assisting the team throughout the remainder of the season. Captain of the 1907 football team and player until 1908, Thompson had spent the previous spring as the NC A&M baseball coach--a position he would retain until the end of the 1911 season, at which time he left for Wake Forest. Returning star Von Glahn also assisted Thompson unil a coach was acquired (News and Observer, September 14th, 1909, p. 3).

Thompson and the Farmers got down to practice on Wednesday, September 15th; though still lacking a "real" coach, the team returned the bulk of its strong 1908 team, as well as much of the South Atlantic championship team from 1907 (News and Observer, September 16th, 1909, p. 3). Major players who were brought back into the fold included Long, Lassiter, Stafford, and Floyd, as well as All-Southern tackle Von Glahn, All-Southern quarterback Stevens, and All-Southern candidate center, Bray, who was elected captain of the 1909 team at the end of the previous season (Red and White, Vol. XI No. 1 (September 1909), pp. 41-43).

A professional coach was found in surprisingly short order in the form of Edward L. "Eddie" Greene. Greene, who spent his previous season at North Carolina (where he compiled a 3-3-3 record), had been replaced as coach of the Tar Heels since the, when it was announced that the White and Blue intended to hire former Yale tackle Arthur Brides (Charlotte Daily Observer, December 19th, 1908, p. 3). Following the news of his replacement, Greene returned to Philadelphia, where he was engaged as an assistant coach for the Pennsylvania Quakers, working primarily in the backfield (The Washington Times, July 18th, 1909, p. 12; The Philadelphia Enquirer, September 17th, 1909, p. 6). Greene's hiring was announced on September 24th after just over a week of coachless practice (News and Observer, September 24th, 1909, p. 3).

The first thing relating to the season was the schedule. Despite promises of "a heavier schedule" with "big games" against powerful teams like Carlisle Indian School and Vanderbilt or other noted teams from the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA), those promises all fell flat (Red and White, Vol. X No. 4 (December 1908), pp. 180, 183; Charlotte Daily Observer, December 17th, 1908, p. 10). In reality, the Farmers' schedule was actually, by-and-large, smaller than in previous years; though Kentucky State was one of the stronger so-called midwestern teams, and Washington & Lee was a respected local team, these weren't quite the echelon of game the Aggies had been hoping for.

The likely sticking point was that the SIAA had recently clamped down on what teams member colleges could and couldn't play, with special emphasis on non-member school. While no specific reference remains to the Farmers being "tabooed" (as the phrase went) by SIAA schools, A&M's first opponent, Maryville, was prevented from playing her annual Tennessee game, and notably none of the teams faced by the Aggies in 1909 were current members of the leading Southern athletics organization.

Notably, the Farmers would only be playing one of Virginia's major state schools in 1909; UVA refused to meet the Farmers indefinitely, owing to the fact that the Virginians "felt that they had been given a short deal in the negotiations just prior to the Norfolk game" played in 1908, and that no game would be played unless an arbitration committee was created to settle any issues, in particular those of eligibility, before the game was played (Charlotte Daily Observer, December 17th, 1908, p. 10). The Cavaliers and Farmers would not meet again until 1944.

There were also rumors that A&M would not play the Virginia Tech, their primary rival since North Carolina refused to play A&M in 1906. Though none of the rumors made it to press, the likely origin of them was a minor dispute which arose before the two teams met in 1908 regarding the eligibility of Thompson. One paper in Richmond claimed the two teams were severing athletic relations, however no other papers carried the news, suggesting that the dispute was never as serious as the Times-Dispatch made it out to be (The (Raleigh) Evening Times, August 31st, 1909, p. 7).

Though briefly lacking a coach, the Farmers were not lacking in suitable men: including the aforementioned returning players, over fifty men tried out for the team, including several players with high school experience. This base of players also helped form what was reported to be the strongest scrub team in school history (News and Observer, September 14th, 1909, p. 3).

The Farmers opened their season with an easy 39-0 win over Maryville--the first and only time A&M would every play the Tennessee team. The following week, the Farmers met their first real opponent in the form of the Maryland Athletic Club, one of the strongest teams in the bustling Maryland club football scene, boasting over 400 members. Despite this, the Farmers were reported to have defeated the Baltimore team with ease, with Manager Lennox P. McLendon claiming the Farmers "played with them in the first half" and wanted to work primarily on their defense on the way to a 12-0 victory.

Despite the win, the Farmers were beginning to suffer a rash of injuries. Halfback Robertson had his knee injured in the game against the MAC, and just two scrimmages prior to their major Kentucky State game, star tackle Von Glahn "severely" injured his knee. Additionally, new player Mott had also been injured. This rash of injuries came at an unfortunate time for the Farmers, as Kentucky State was their first truely challenging game; widely expected to contend for the title of champion of the middle west, a win over Kentucky State would symbolize to Red and White supporters that A&M could compete with teams as well-regarded as Michigan or Illinois, the perennial Western Conference champion.

Despite the mounting number of injuries, the Farmers took down the White and Blue handily, winning in front of a 2,700-person, max-capacity home crowd in a game that was one of the features of the North Carolina State Fair. The game also made clear to the Aggies that discipline was an issue: the Farmers racked up four times as many penalties as Kentucky over the course of the game. Nonetheless, the Farmers got a decisive victory over a team touted to be the strongest opponent they had ever faced.

The Farmers began returning to their usual fine fettle during their game against the Maryland Agricultural College. Though Von Glahn remained injured, the remainder of the team pulled the Farmers to a 33-0 victory over the College Park crew. The next weekend, the Mechanics headed north, to Lexington, where they met a surprisingly staunch Washington & Lee. Von Glahn remained out, but the otherwise-healthy Red and White boys struggled through a narrow 3-0 victory over a relatively-middling White and Blue team who finished the season with a 4-3 record.

The Farmers had two main takeaways from the harrowing win. The first was that they needed to improve their signal calling; the team spent much of the following week sharpening their signal calling. The second was that they needed the same kind of fastidious support that the Lexingtonians had for Washington & Lee. The crowd was so loud when the Farmers had the ball that the A&M players could never heard quarterback Stevens' signals, but were "as quiet as a mouse" when the home team was on the field.

In addition to the vociferous crowd support, Greene also explained that the low score was caused by an abundance of caution: it was known that VPI scouts would be at the game, and Greene did not want to give VPI any extra advantages in the game. Continuing A&M's unfortunate rash of injuries, Seifert and Hartsell were both seriously hurt during the game; Seifert remained in the hospital for nearly two weeks. Von Glahn also remained out.

The next week's game was a much-heralded game against the USS Franklin, a Civil War-era receiving and training ship stationed at the Norfolk Naval Yard. Though a leader among the Naval teams (the Franklin won the championship among ships in the Norfolk Naval Yard and had only lost once since 1908). Lively rooting continued to play an integral part in the game: the Franklin brought along an estimated 3-700 sailors from their adjoining ships to root and participate in a widely-covered pre-game parade and ceremony. The Farmers pulled off another narrow victory, defeating the Franklin men 5-0 without three starers.

Perhaps the most disappointing fact of the season was the loss of the Wake Forest game, which was canceled by Wake Forest for an amalgam of reasons, ranging to the breach of a pledge on banning hazing and the sorry state of the team. Had the game been played, A&M would almost have certainly defeated the Baptists (who finished the season with a 2-4 record), but more importantly, the game would have given A&M and Wake Forest sole ownership for the laurels of longest-running active rivalry game in all of the FBS. Instead, NC State and Wake Forest share the spot with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

At the time, though, it was hard not to see the cancelation of the Wake Forest game as anything other than a blessing: it gave the exhausted Red and White team the chance to recover and prepare for their most-anticipated game of the season, against rival VPI. Madam fortune did not smile on the Mechanics during the week preceding the game: Von Glahn, who had nearly fully healed from his knee injury, aggrevated the injury during practice, as did Seifert. Additionally, both Hartsell and Captain Bray were bedridden with a sickness for the week before the game.

The renewed confluence of injuries was worsened by the Farmers by the fact that the Tech's were a much lighter, more mobile team than many of the ones they had faced throughout the season; this was largely done to take advantage of the famous foot of tackle and punter Emory Hodgson, who could often punt the ball 60 or more yards with ease. In an era where any kick was a live ball until it crossed a boundary line, this was an incredible advantage to have.

Despite everything, the Aggies went to Norfolk and staunchly faced the Techs. Though the game was widely described as close throughout, the Gobblers piled up an 18-5 score on the Red and White, primarily earning their scores on trick plays or flukes: one touchdown came on the heels of an ill-advised onside kick by A&M, and one came on a 70-yard fake punt. Perhaps the most dastardly was yet another fake punt play where Hodgson dropped back to punt but then threw his headgear in the air to mimic a kick; the Farmers were fooled and a touchdown resulted.

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Despite the large score of their season-ending loss, the Farmers had reason to be proud of themselves: they lost just one game, and that to the undisputed Southern champion. They were scored on by just two teams all season, and outscored their opponents 112-24. For their work, A&M fans gave their team third in the South Atlantic, behind VPI and Sewanee and ahead of George Washington and Vanderbilt (Red and White, Vol. XI No. 4 (December 1909), p. 183).

Captain Bray felt that several of their players deserved All-Southern honors; in a long article detailing the season printed in Red and White, the center called "Shorty" Long "one of the best defensive players in the South," and wrote that "Governor" Glenn, Dunn, Floyd, Von Glahn (in spite of his injuries), and Stevens were all at least deserving of All Southern mentions, if not All Southern honors (Red and White, Vol. XI No. 4 (December 1909), pp. 183-186).

In reality, only a few of those players made the cut: in W. A. Lambeth's list (the one published in the official NCAA football guide), Dunn was selected to the All South Atlantic team as a tackle, while Stevens, who was one of just two quarterbacks in the running for the honors, lost his place on the team to Bosley, of St. John's (MD) (Walter Camp, pp. 57, 59). Another list published in Charlotte Daily Observer which focused on only Virginia and North Carolina wrote that A&M had the best linemen in the region, and gave first-team honors for the Virginia-Carolina eleven to Von Glahn (solely on the heels of his work in the VPI game) and Stevens (who was also chosen to be the captain). Second-team honors were also bestowed upon Dunn, Floyd, and Seifert (Charlotte Daily Observer, December 3rd, 1909, p. 3).

One interesting note of the 1909 season is that it was the first season in school history where the team had a live mascot: Togo. Owned by left guard and baseball player Harry Mott, Togo was a bulldog. Though it's not clear how Togo became the team's first live mascot, the dog was member-enough of the football team to be featured in the 1909 team photo (Walter Camp, p. 72). Togo was brought along to the Thanksgiving game, dressed in a dashing red and white outfit, and was even elected co-mascot for the following season, however he appears to have not joined the team following the 1910 baseball season (News and Observer, November 24th, 1909, p. 2; News and Observer, December 5th, 1909, p. 11).

Despite yearly updates to the rules of football with the goal of increasing safety, the sport continued to remain dangerous, with at least 26 deaths across the country recorded during the 1909 season (The Chicago Tribune, November 21st, 1909, Section III p. 4). One of the most notable deaths of the season was that of Virginia player Archer Christian, a freshman who was reported to have been trampled to death on a mass play duing a game against Georgetown. Both schools canceled the remainder of their season.

This presented an immediate problem for North Carolina, as they had played Virginia almost every year on Thanksgiving since 1892. Several teams attempted to fill the gap: notable contenders inclded the U.S.S. Franklin, Washinton & Lee (whose original Thanksgiving game was against Georgetown), and even the Navy, who was so desparate in attempting to find a replacement for the canceled Army-Navy game (canceled once Army ended her season early after a cadet passed in their game against Harvard) that they offered UNC what was reported to be the largest guarantee ever offered to come to Annapolis. The Tar Heels refused all the offers: Washington & Lee because they had already played (and narrowly defeated) the Lexingtonians; the Naval Academy because "no money would have been made by it," and the Franklin because the proposed playing site of the game--Richmond--was the home town of Archer (News and Observer, November 23rd, 1909, p. 3). Instead, North Carolina remained steadfast in support for her long-time rival; several school officians sent their condolences to the Christian family, and the school's flags were flown at half staff (News and Observer, November 16th, 1909, p. 3).

Christian's death was the final tipping point for a second major reform of football. The state of Virginia proposed a law to ban the sport unless the danger was limited; both Georgetown and the University of Virginia took similar steps on their own campus (The (Raleigh) Evening Times, November 16th, 1909, p. 1; The (Raleigh) Evening Times, November 18th, 1909, p. 1). Additionally, public opinion turned against the game. News and Observer ran near-daily articles titled "Mend It Or End It" which detailed the actions of schools who had banned football, as well as the suggestions of some officials to make the game safer (News and Observer, November 18th, 1909, p. 4; News and Observer, November 17th, 1909, p. 4).

The leading figures of football responded, and before the 1910 season began play, a sweeping array of new rules changes had been implemented. Several tackled the issue of exhaustion, with multiple prominent leaders noting that most deaths came towards the end of a half and were often the result of a tired player being repeatedly targeted. To solve this, the game was divided into quarters instead of halves, began allowing for substitutions, and banned several kinds of tackles which were deemed dangerous, as well as mass plays.