Friday Trivia Question

[All4SU]

Syracuse began playing football in 1889, and due to the early nature of the sport, as well as geography, the teams SU played tended to be local or regional club teams, or Colgate, Rochester, Cornell, etc.

Who is the first team from one of the current Big Five (BCS) conferences that SU played?

Beyond the team name, what year did they play? Who won?

PS - Don't cheat.

 

[sutomcat]

Syracuse began playing football in 1889, and due to the early nature of the sport, as well as geography, the teams SU played tended to be local or regional club teams, or Colgate, Rochester, Cornell, etc.

Who is the first team from one of the current Big Five (BCS) conferences that SU played?

Beyond the team name, what year did they play? Who won?

PS - Don't cheat.

Without cheating, my memory is that we stepped up our scheduling and tried to become more of a national power circa 1900. I think we played Yale for the first time around then. If it wasn't Yale, it was another school like them that was a major powerhouse at the time.

I am pretty sure we played Michigan for the first time circa 1907. That was the year Archbold opened. Not sure how well known this is, but at that time, I believe Archbold was the biggest football stadium in the country, and certainly the nicest. That made it a lot easier for SU to schedule big name teams, and schools like Carlisle (who was huge around 1910 with Jim Thorpe et al) and Army (another major national power) started popping up on the schedule.

Anyway, a lot of the schools in the P5 conferences were not particularly good back in those days, which complicates matters. I don't think we played Penn State until the 1920s. I think our first game against Pitt was in the late 1910s. Don't believe we played Rutgers or BC until the 1920s either.

My guess is Michigan sometime around 1907. I am sure we played them a couple of times in the 1907-1912 time frame.

 

[All4SU]

Wow. A winner right off the bat. How anticlimactic.
On November 21, 1908, Syracuse played Michigan in Archbold, defeating the Wolverines 28 - 0.

 

[HtownOrange]

Way to go, Tom! Please clarify whether you knew this because you were thre or otherwise. (Snide comments off).

 

[All4SU]

Way to go, Tom! Please clarify whether you knew this because you were thre or otherwise. (Snide comments off).

Yeah, Tom is that guy you won't play Trivial Pursuit with, especially on all things Orange. I should have specified "anyone but Tom."

 

[HtownOrange]

Yeah, Tom is that guy you won't play Trivial Pursuit with, especially on all things Orange. I should have specified "anyone but Tom."

I would have had to cheat to win this. I knew we playsd Michigan and a few others early on and of course the then powerhouse Ivies, but never would have gotten the exact first school or year. Kudos, Tom.

NOTE TO SELF: No Trivial Pursuit if Tom is playing.

 

[sutomcat]

Way to go, Tom! Please clarify whether you knew this because you were thre or otherwise. (Snide comments off).

Sorry for screwing up your trivia question All, that was a good one. I was fortunate to get it.

To make up for it, I suggest that we continue the question, only now looking for the 2nd current P5 conference member SU played. I will not participate.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

To make up for it, I suggest that we continue the question, only now looking for the 2nd current P5 conference member SU played. I will not participate.

Rutgers? It seems like they've been around forever. Like cockroaches.

 

[HtownOrange]

My guess would have been either Ohio State or USC (recalling our early invite to the Rose Bowl but could not recall what year). I will neither confirm nor deny either as I looked it up after my original post.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Without cheating, my memory is that we stepped up our scheduling and tried to become more of a national power circa 1900. I think we played Yale for the first time around then. If it wasn't Yale, it was another school like them that was a major powerhouse at the time.

I am pretty sure we played Michigan for the first time circa 1907. That was the year Archbold opened. Not sure how well known this is, but at that time, I believe Archbold was the biggest football stadium in the country, and certainly the nicest. That made it a lot easier for SU to schedule big name teams, and schools like Carlisle (who was huge around 1910 with Jim Thorpe et al) and Army (another major national power) started popping up on the schedule.

Anyway, a lot of the schools in the P5 conferences were not particularly good back in those days, which complicates matters. I don't think we played Penn State until the 1920s. I think our first game against Pitt was in the late 1910s. Don't believe we played Rutgers or BC until the 1920s either.

My guess is Michigan sometime around 1907. I am sure we played them a couple of times in the 1907-1912 time frame.

Eyeing my avatar Tom.

 

[KaiserUEO]

ok tom & all, ill play.

it not BC because i know our history with them as ive looked it up numerous times...its not as historic as i originally thought.

my theory revolves around them(location), the b1g and the train.

i think we wouldve been more apt to travel by train and to go to big citys.

boston is out.

that leaves the b1g and midwest citys.

the biggest? chicago.

so the guilty would be the uni of chicago, nd, northwestern or maybe illinois.

which puts nd and that 1 off way back yonder in the mix.

i would so love for it to be u of chicago, great trivia if it was.

its not northwestern as ive recently looked up our history with them.

nd was in the late teens i think, so thats too big a gap.

im going illinois.

but i will guarantee its gotta be a b1g.

it most likely cannot be an ACC and certainly not anyone else.

 

[HtownOrange]

Rutgers? It seems like they've been around forever. Like cockroaches.

And they are almost as useful as roaches.

 

[Alsacs]

I am guessing in the dark Ohio State. Does ND count as a BCS team? If so maybe them.

 

[All4SU]

Sorry for screwing up your trivia question All, that was a good one. I was fortunate to get it.

To make up for it, I suggest that we continue the question, only now looking for the 2nd current P5 conference member SU played. I will not participate.

No worries, Tom. It was quite funny, and impressive that you got it so quickly. I have to remove myself from the competition, as I know the answer to this one. Only because I saw it this morning when I was looking up the first one.

 

[upperdeck]

does it count if michigan wasnt in the b10 in 1907? Ill/Ind were more likely in that time frame as real conf members..

 

[All4SU]

ok tom & all, ill play.

it not BC because i know our history with them as ive looked it up numerous times...its not as historic as i originally thought.

my theory revolves around them(location), the b1g and the train.

i think we wouldve been more apt to travel by train and to go to big citys.

boston is out.

that leaves the b1g and midwest citys.

the biggest? chicago.

so the guilty would be the uni of chicago, nd, northwestern or maybe illinois.

which puts nd and that 1 off way back yonder in the mix.

i would so love for it to be u of chicago, great trivia if it was.

its not northwestern as ive recently looked up our history with them.

nd was in the late teens i think, so thats too big a gap.

im going illinois.

but i will guarantee its gotta be a b1g.

it most likely cannot be an ACC and certainly not anyone else.

It hadn't occurred to me to look for Chicago. Though you're right. That would have been an interesting twist on the question.

SU played Michigan again, this time at Michigan, in 1909, losing by the score of 43 - 0. Later that same season, SU lost to the Illini. SU played an eleven game series against Michigan beginning with that game in 1908. Played Ohio State in 1911, Notre Dame and Rutgers in 1914, Oregon State in 1915, Pittsburgh in 1916, and at Michigan State and at Nebraska in 1917.

 

[Crusty]

Geez Tom is like Monk.