1884's Big Game
Though the Harvard - Yale rivalry has become more famous over time, the true old Ivy League rivalry was actually Yale - Princeton.
Yale and Princeton were consistently the two top teams in the country in the real old days of college football. And the two teams traditionally met on the last day of the season.
November 27, 1884 was Thanksgiving, thanks to a proclamation by President Arthur. And Thanksgiving meant 50 cents for football at the Polo Grounds:
Adding to the drama was the fact that both Yale and Princeton were undefeated in 1884 — setting up one of the first super hyped matchups for what would later be considered the “national championship.”
The New-York Tribune featured a lengthy section on the new “tradition” of Thanksgiving football:
And, as is so often the case with these overhyped matchups, the game itself was kind of a dud:
There was quite a bit of controversy, actually:
This Philadelphia Inquirer description might be a bit easier to follow:
To my knowledge, this is the first time a 6-4 game ended in a draw.