SDSU

[nccyote]

Its destiny the Yotes win this week...since we have never trailed in the series (depending on who you talk to)...the football gods will not let us lose this one. This will be a thowback, NCC slugfest with the Yotes prevailing. Yotes win 20-17 on Bergner's second game winning field goal of the year against a top 5 team! Van Ginkel has 3 sacks, defense forces 3 TOs and Saeger will do just enough for the Yotes to get it done. Write that down! I'm going to do my best yoteforever impression here ala NDSU.


Go Yotes

BEAT STATE

[yotesfan1985]

How awsome is it that this many people are spending their time researching records. This is a big game isn't it. Can't wait till Saturday

[Yotes]

Nov 12, 2015 7:55:16 GMT -6 Yotes said:

Here are links to the four fall 1900 issues of the Volante:

dlsd.sdln.net/cdm/compoundobject/collection/volante/id/2830/rec/161
dlsd.sdln.net/cdm/compoundobject/collection/volante/id/2869/rec/162
dlsd.sdln.net/cdm/compoundobject/collection/volante/id/2843/rec/163
dlsd.sdln.net/cdm/compoundobject/collection/volante/id/2817/rec/164

I thought maybe sifting through the student paper might give some more details at least on the disputed 1900 game (my quick google search only yielded the archived Volantes from 1887-1901). I'd go through all of this now but I've got to get to work. The first issue I looked at has an article on USD beating Medics (Sioux City Medics) 23-0.

Did the research on my lunch break, reading these ancient articles is a trip haha. Here is the article from the Volante detailing USD's 17-0 win over Brookings:

"--------------------- ANOTHER VICTORY. --------------------- The men who made the trip to Brookings certainly deserve much more credit than they received for defeating that team. Those who did not go on the trip, cannot begin to realize what the boys went through to bring home another scalp. Everything went smooth until we struck Egan, then our trouble began in earnest. Eighteen men and eighteen grips packed into two three- seated carryalls, and a drive of thirty miles over frozen ground and the temperature much below the freezing point is not the most pleasant thing one could wish for. And then to be farmed out all over town shortly after arriving is not very conducive to good foot ball playing. However, we had to take what they offered in the way of entertainment, but we got what we went for, and somewhat upset their calculations in the final round-up. The game commenced about 3 p. m., Brookings kicking off to U. S. D. Edwards received the ball and advanced it five yards. End plays were tried, but were unsuccessful because of the slippery ground. The best gains were made with the tackle back formation and line bucks by Porter, Bovaird and Newcomb. Bovaird made the sensational play of the game by rounding the end for about fifty yards. The touchdowns of the first half were made by Morrison and Porter. Bovaird made the third and last touchdowh: in the second half. C. Newcomb kicked two of the three tries at goal. Only once was our goal in danger and that was in the last ten minutes of the play, the ball was fumbled when it was passed back for a punt and Brookings secured it. However, they were unable to gain the necessary five yards, and lest it on downs, the ball coming to us on our ten-yard line. At this stage of the game the boys played on the defensive as they never have before, thereby preventing Brookings from scoring. From the ten-yard line the ball was soon carried out of the danger zone by Morrison and Porter. Porter did the best all round work for U. S. D., and Brooking's left end put up the best game for his side. The game was played in several inches of snow thus preventing the boys from putting up the game they were capable of playing. The final score: U. S. D. 17, Brookings 0."

The 1900 game clearly happened. No mention if this was considered an exhibition by Brookings, though things were obviously a lot less official back then since this predates the NCAA (and indoor plumbing?). I find it funny that no mention of the actual institution USD played is given, just the town it was in.

[nccyote]

The article says that USD scored 3 TDs but the score was 17-0? I feel like an idiot asking this question, but was there different scoring rules back then?

[nccyote]

BTW...thanks for looking into these...this is great stuff to read!

[Yotes]

Nov 12, 2015 12:19:04 GMT -6 nccyote said:

The article says that USD scored 3 TDs but the score was 17-0? I feel like an idiot asking this question, but was there different scoring rules back then?

Reading the other articles I got the impression that a TD and kick after the score came out to 6 points rather than the 7 it is today. If a TD was worth 5 and XPs 1 then perhaps we went 2/3 on XP kicks.

[Yote 53]

Back then TD's were worth 5 points and the PAT was worth 1. 3 TD's = 15 pts, 2 PATs = 2pts, Total of 17. Interesting other notes are that in 1900 field goals were worth 5 points. In an offensive series you only needed 5 yards for a first down and only had 3 plays to do it (hence the reference to Brookings not being able to gain the necessary 5 yards, and lest it on downs).

Lots of interesting rules back then, the forward pass wasn't even legal until 1906 and wasn't even widely used as an offensive tool until 1910-1912 when a series of rules changes made it more useful. Seeing a game played with equipment, rules, plays, and styles from back then would be very interesting. I suppose it resembled a mosh pit of humanity just pushing and advancing the ball forward up the middle with the occasional attempt at attacking the perimeters and a reverse being the biggest razzle-dazzle play of the game.

[coyotecrazie5]

Sounds like the trip there was equally as hard as the game itself. Crazy how so much has changed in 115 years.

[Yote 53]

Now if you want to lose a couple of hours of time and go down an internet wormhole go ahead and google "tackle back formation" and what "line bucks" were. I'll make it easy for you, USD played pwer football and rammed it down their throats with dive play after dive play. But seriously, you start looking up some of those old formations and terminology and football was a different, but interesting game. You really wonder if some of those old formations and plays could be dusted off and modernized for use today. Some of the new spread stuff is just a modern take on the old single wing offense.

If you are wondering about the "tackle back" the name is as it implies. Imagine the left tackle lined up in the back field, on the right side of the line, over the C gap. Obviously the line is unbalanced with the LE & LG lined up like normal next to the C. The right side of the line goes RG, RT, RE, and the RHB lines up in a wingback postion. The QB options out of the formation are to hand it to the RT, who would run a dive play, acting as a battering ram into the line, hand it off the the LHB (who is lined up like a TB, directly behind the QB) who could follow the lead of the RT (Iso play) or follow the lead block of the FB on a power off tackle or even a sweep play to the end of the line. Interesting stuff, for sure.

[Yote 53]

Nov 12, 2015 13:27:48 GMT -6 coyotecrazie5 said:

Sounds like the trip there was equally as hard as the game itself. Crazy how so much has changed in 115 years.

Brookings having a playing field that was a mess and almost unplayable. Funny how things haven't changed much in a 100 years though too.

[Cousin Eddie]

Another installment, this time from MG:

www.argusleader.com/story/sports/2015/11/12/not-just-rivalry-game-year/75580818/

[jackjd]

Nov 12, 2015 12:10:58 GMT -6 Yotes said:

The 1900 game clearly happened. No mention if this was considered an exhibition by Brookings, though things were obviously a lot less official back then since this predates the NCAA (and indoor plumbing?). I find it funny that no mention of the actual institution USD played is given, just the town it was in.

Good report. The problem in those early days is the college teams often played town teams and it appears high school teams. For example, I know in the very early days you'll see references to a college playing Watertown. If you read through a school's historical records in the 1940s you'll find references to playing a service team -- e.g. the Marines from Camp whatever.

Reading those old newspapers can be addictive. The style of writing is often colorful and certainly not what would be considered 'politically correct'* today.

*defined as one or more persons objecting to it

[coyotecrazie5]

Nov 12, 2015 18:14:17 GMT -6 jackjd said:

Nov 12, 2015 12:10:58 GMT -6 Yotes said:

The 1900 game clearly happened. No mention if this was considered an exhibition by Brookings, though things were obviously a lot less official back then since this predates the NCAA (and indoor plumbing?). I find it funny that no mention of the actual institution USD played is given, just the town it was in.

Good report. The problem in those early days is the college teams often played town teams and it appears high school teams. For example, I know in the very early days you'll see references to a college playing Watertown. If you read through a school's historical records in the 1940s you'll find references to playing a service team -- e.g. the Marines from Camp whatever.

Reading those old newspapers can be addictive. The style of writing is often colorful and certainly not what would be considered 'politically correct'* today.

*defined as one or more persons objecting to it

If that is the case, are there any other teams that played the Brookings "town team," or was this a once ever type of thing?

[jackjd]

you can see from the following information that playing a town team or a high school team was not necessarily a one-time thing in the early days.


SDSU records show one game played in 1889, and that was against "South Dakota". Presumably that means USD.
No games are recorded in SDSU records after 1889 until 1897 when one game was played against "Sioux Falls".

Here are the opponents for the next several seasons. The parenthetical comments are part of the actual record. The comments in brackets were added by me.

1898
Watertown {believe to be Watertown High School}
Yankton College
Sioux Falls (city) {that's an example of a city team}

1899
Madison Normal {of course, that is now DSU}
Huron College
Madison Normal
Mitchell University

1900
Flandreau {believed to be Flandreau High School}
Pipestone {believed to be Pipestone MN High School}
Sioux Falls High {at that time, there was only one high school in Sioux Falls}
Flandreau
Mitchell University

[jackjd]

The USD 2015 Football Media Supplement shows the following:

1889
Yankton
South Dakota State {This is the first meeting, 6-6 tie that both schools' media guides record. Note: the USD Media Guide has today's names for the schools...South Dakota State wasn't called South Dakota State back in 1889. In one of the following years, UNI is listed: it wasn't called the University of Northern Iowa years ago.}

No games until 1898

1898
Yankton {the college? seems likely but uncertain from the reference. Yankton College was started in 1881 and always claimed it was the first institution of higher learning in Dakota Territory because YC started offering classes BEFORE USD or SDSU or any other college or university in Dakota Territory.}
Morningside
Yankton

1899
LeMars Crescent {so what's that?}
Bueva Vista {Likely Buena Vista College in Storm Lake, IA}
Iowa St.
LeMars Crescent
Nebraska
UNI {Wasn't call UNI back then...just an example of modernizing the records which makes some sense if one is looking for information on when USD played UNI.}

1900
Sioux City Medics {what's that? Guess its some docs from Sioux City that put together a team}
Kansas
Morningside
South Dakota St. {Not sure that's accurate. The Volante reference coyotecrazie5 pointed out referred to "Brookings". Did the records get out of kilter because someone went back and changed "Brookings" to South Dakota St. --- just liked a prior name from the 1899 season was changed to UNI? It would be interesting to see if the SDSU paper refers to games played in 1900. Wonder what the Argus shows.|
Lincoln Medics {Another group of docs? This time from Lincoln, NE? Note Nebraska is listed in the 1899 season.