The First Trip East

Michigan at Harvard, October 31, 1881

The First Trip East

The first game between a team from the west and a team from the east came on October 31, 1881. Michigan made the long journey to play Harvard at old South End Grounds in Boston.

From The Boston Globe, October 31, 1881, page 3

The Boston Globe had a pretty long writeup of the contest:

From The Boston Globe, November 1, 1881, page 1

One thing to note is that there seemed to be no attempts to kick a goal without scoring a touchdown first. That seems a bit odd to me, since the rules of rugby at the time clearly indicated numerous ways in which a goal could be kicked, including drop kicks, punts, and place kicks.

Anyway, Harvard scored 4 of those touchdowns, winning the first east-west matchup in the history of college football.

And, sadly, this small blurb about the game is all we have from the Michigan side:

From The Saginaw News, November 1, 1881, page 3