If you are a college football fan, you are well aware of the games that take on special prominence every year – Alabama-LSU; Michigan-Ohio State; Notre Dame-USC; Oklahoma-Texas, etc. But these “rivalry” games are just infants compared to the one between the two colleges in our own backyard.
It is simply known as “The Rivalry”. Lafayette and Lehigh first met on the football field in Easton on October 25, 1884. Lafayette won that game 56-0. There have been 148 other games between the two, making this game college football’s most-played rivalry. The teams met twice annually except in 1891 when they played three games. The two per year ended after the 1901 matchups. They played 35 times in that 17-year span. The two teams did not meet at all in 1896 due to a player eligibility dispute between the two.
This Saturday they will meet once again at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx for the 150th time and the 122nd consecutive time (also a record)! They have only met on a neutral field one other time – in Wilkes-Barre on November 25, 1891 in front of, at that time, a massive crowd of 3,000. Lehigh won three times that year (22-4; 6-2; 16-2).
The rivalry game has been around for so long that it predated the invention of the forward pass and has been a part of the evolution of the various shapes of the football. Dislike for one another was created immediately when Asa Packer of Lehigh and Ario Pardee of Lafayette could not see eye to eye on the religious choices of the two men.
Lehigh’s first win occurred in 1887 after Lafayette had won five and tied one. The exuberance of the Lehigh team, coupled with their dissatisfaction with the administration for what the team considered a lack of support, led to the team burning down the rickety stands that were erected for the game.
There have been two postponements in the series. In 1904 Lehigh President Dr. Henry Down, who had also been a former Lafayette faculty member, died, causing a postponement. The second postponement occurred when the game was moved back a week following the death of President John Kennedy in 1963.
And now it is time for the 150th game between the two. Lafayette leads the series 77-67-5. Lafayette won last year 50-28, ending Lehigh’s five-game winning streak. Prior to that streak, Lafayette had won four in a row. There have been over 49,000 tickets sold for this Saturday, by far the largest crowd to ever see the game in person. The CBS Sports Network (channel 421 and 1421-HD on RCN) will televise the game, and thousands will gather for various viewing parties across the country.
This one should not be missed. Watch the first 150th game in college football history. Watch “The Rivalry”.
ABOVE THE EARS (SOME MUSINGS)
- By the way, the 100th Lafayette-Lehigh game was played on November 21, 1964 and ended in a 6-6 tie.
- I will be part of “The Rivalry” pregame show on the field at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. The two-hour pre-game will be shown on the internet only at goleopards.com. My streak of calling the play-by-play of the game ends after 14 years. Hopefully, a new streak starts again next year. I don’t think I’ll be here for the 200th.
- Do you chalk up the Eagles’ performance against the Packers this past week to having a short week to prepare due to the Monday night game or do you just resign yourself to the fact that they are just not among the elite in the NFL? There was no aspect of the game that one could grade above a D for the Eagles. Mark Sanchez resembled the Sanchez of the Jets, but, then again, the offensive line looked Jet-like, also. Up next is 2-7 Tennessee.
- I dare you to put any credence in your ability to pick a Super Bowl winner right now. How do you explain Seattle’s 6-4 record; Atlanta leading the NFC South with a losing record; Denver getting manhandled by St. Louis; Arizona possessing the best record in the NFL, etc.? No wonder New Jersey wants to legalize sports betting.
- If you love the possibility of a huge upset in sports, you might want to spend the money ($59.99) for the Manny Pacquiao-Chris Algieri Pay-Per-View fight this Saturday on RCN. Pacquiao is 47-0 and the WBO welterweight champion while Algieri is 20-0 with 8 KO’s. Algieri is four inches taller and his reach five inches longer. He has plenty of experience fighting southpaws. Is that enough? I doubt it, but maybe…
(Last Week – 9-5; Seasonal Record – 101-58-1: 64%)
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