In his book “Football Texas Style”, legendary SWC broadcaster Kern Tips described the birth of college football at the end of the 19th century in the Lone Star state. Among the rise of programs in Austin & College Station were “denominational little giants as Austin College” and others.
Tips continues: “This latter group of schools was comparatively small in student numbers, but their pioneer football teams mustered the skills of some of the all-time great individual stars…players who labored brilliantly in the comparative privacy of the Southwest’s football frontier. These were the early-day ‘spoilers’ who gloried in cutting the prideful larger schools down to size.”
Austin College was the first little giant to join the fray, when the Kangaroos took on Texas A&M in Sherman on Thanksgiving Day, 1896. In doing so, AC became the third school to play football in the state of Texas, behind the Longhorns and Aggies. Texas A&M secured its first ever victory over a college opponent by a score of 26-6.
On that same day in 1896, they were playing football in Nashville. Vanderbilt 10, Sewanee 4. Back in 1891, the little giants of Sewanee had become the third school to play football in the state of Tennessee (after the Commodores and Volunteers). Those freshman in 1896 that day were just getting started.
By 1899, they were seniors leading the Tigers to a 12-0 record and pulling off the most famous road trip in college football history. Over the course of 6 days, the Tigers defeated the following 5 schools:
Day #1: University of Texas in Austin (12-0)
Day #2: Texas A&M in Houston (10-0)
Day #3: Tulane in New Orleans (23-0)
Day #5: LSU in Baton Rouge (34-0)
Day #6: Ole Miss in Memphis (12-0)
The trip is appropriately referred to as the “Texas Trip”. In addition to playing two Texas schools, four starters on the Sewanee team were native Texans (Dallas, Marshall, Victoria, & Bryan). Texas was seeking revenge after an 1898 loss to Sewanee, but came up short at Clark Field in Austin on Day #1. Texas A&M had a home victory over Austin College in 1898, but was unable to replicate with a Sewanee win in 1899 on Day #2. According to rumor, a few Sewanee players “drank heavily” in New Orleans on Day #4 on their day off.
And……..”on the seventh day, they rested.”
In 2012, the College Football Hall of Fame held a tournament to determine the greatest college football team of all time. The 1899 Sewanee team won easily, ahead of some of the best teams from Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, and Alabama.
Austin College and Sewanee were both battling again in 1905 against the best the state of Texas had to offer. On October 21, A&M traveled to Sherman and just got by the Roos, 18-11. A few weeks later, Sewanee made their way to Austin and fell to the Horns 17-10. These Roo/Tiger close calls became increasingly common for larger schools from Texas to Virginia in the early 20th century. As AC became an “SWC giant killer”, Sewanee transformed itself into an “SEC giant killer” on steroids. See photo in the comments of every southern school that has fallen short against the Roos (red) or Tigers (yellow).
Like the Roos, the Tigers slowly settled into their current D3 level home as college athletics grew dramatically after WW2. Austin College and Sewanee enjoyed a competitive rivalry at this level in the 1960s and 1970s. It was renewed a second time in the first decade of the 21st century. The third installment of the rivalry begins on Saturday. Austin College is now a member of the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) and takes on Sewanee Saturday in its first ever conference game in Sherman.
The two schools have combined for 249 years of college football. That’s just a bit more than the age of the United States. The postponed Miami-Florida State game combines for only 161 years. You’d probably have to head to New England to find a larger number this weekend.
Collegiate athletics has been dominated by larger D1 programs for nearly all of our lifetimes. But there was a time, many decades ago, when those same programs approached a game against current D3 schools with angst and trepidation. Those D3 schools continue to play, and they have stories to tell.
AC suited up in both 1898 and 1900, but did not field a team in the year 1899. As a result, the Roos missed an opportunity to take on the greatest team ever. If you ask me, that was awfully fortunate for the Tigers. 😉 This weekend, a 2017 version of the “Texas Trip” takes place as the Tigers travel to Sherman. Go get ’em Roos. And a hip of the hat to the Tigers of Sewanee.
