1.
LSU Tigers football
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The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in the sport of American football. The Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, LSU ended the 2015 season with 770 victories, the 12th most in NCAA Division I FBS history, and the 4th most of any SEC team, behind Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia. The Tigers also have the 11th highest winning percentage among teams with at least 1,000 games played, LSU has won three National Championships in 1958,2003 and 2007. LSU has been featured in a game with ESPN College GameDay on location a total of 25 times, the Tigers have now made at least one appearance on the show every season since 2003. In recent years, LSU has had a number of players drafted into the National Football League. As of the beginning of the 2016 NFL season, there were 42 former LSU players on active rosters in the NFL, Louisiana State University played its first football game in school history on November 25,1893, losing to rival Tulane in the first intercollegiate contest in Louisiana. The game sparked a rivalry between the Tigers and the Green Wave that has lasted generations, the Tigers were coached by university professor Dr. Charles E. Coates, known for his work in the chemistry of sugar. Future Louisiana governor Ruffin G. Pleasant was the quarterback and captain of the LSU team, in the first game against Tulane, LSU football players wore purple and gold ribbons on their uniforms. According to legend, purple and gold were chosen because they were Mardi Gras colors, the rules of play in 1893 were more like rugby than what might be considered modern football. LSU achieved its first victory by beating Natchez Athletic Club 26–0 in 1894, samuel Marmaduke Dinwidie Clark has the honor of scoring the very first touchdown in LSU history. The first football game played on the LSU campus was at State Field on December 3,1894, LSUs only touchdown in that game was scored by the head coach, Albert Simmons. This was the first year of play for William S. Slaughter who lettered as an end for 5 years, Slaughter was LSUs first five time football letterman. By 1895, LSU had its first win in Baton Rouge, Coach Allen Jeardeau returned for his second but final year at LSU in 1897 for two games in Baton Rouge. A yellow fever outbreak throughout the South caused the postponement of LSUs classes starting, another outbreak of yellow fever similar to the one in 1897 caused LSU to play only one game in 1898. By the time LSU was able to play its game of the season, Allen Jeardeau had departed from the school as head football coach. The job of coach then fell to the captain, Edmond Chavanne. New coach John P. Gregg led the Tigers to a 1–4 season in 1899, the only wins were in an exhibition game against a high school team—which LSU does not officially record as a win—and against rival, Tulane. Chavanne was rehired in 1900, posting a 2–2 record and he was replaced by W. S. Borland as head coach in 1901, who led the team to a successful 5–1 season
2.
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association
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The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was one of the first collegiate athletic conferences in the United States. Twenty-seven of the current Division I FBS football programs were members of this conference at some point, the SIAA was founded on December 21,1894, by Dr. William Dudley, a chemistry professor at Vanderbilt, at the Kimball House in Atlanta. Dudley was a member of the Vanderbilt Athletic Association, formed in 1886 with Dr. W. M. Baskerville as president, most students at Vanderbilt were members. The early sports played on the Vanderbilt campus were baseball, bicycling, Dudley was primarily responsible for the formation of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association. Sewanees opposition stopped it from occurring, the original members were Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Johns Hopkins, North Carolina, Sewanee, Vanderbilt, and Virginia. Virginia and North Carolina soon dropped before the inaugural 1895 season, the conference was originally formed for the development and purification of college athletics throughout the South. In 1903, a single-game football playoff occurred, but it seems to have been coordinated more so by the two competing schools than the conference itself, several other efforts over the years by individual schools to hold a conference title game fell through. Most SIAA titles claimed by schools in sports were actually more mythical in nature than officially sanctioned by the league. In 1915, a disagreement arose within the conference regarding the eligibility of freshman athletes, generally, the larger universities opposed the eligibility of freshman players, while the smaller schools favored it. As a result, some of the universities formed the Southern Intercollegiate Conference. At the conferences annual meeting on December 10,1920, the SIAA rejected proposals to ban freshman athletes, in protest, some schools that had voted in favor of the propositions immediately announced they would seek to form a new conference. In 1922, the Southern Conference underwent an expansion and added six more members, all at the expense of the SIAA, Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tulane, and Vanderbilt. With the departure of most of the colleges, the SIAA became a de facto small college conference in 1923. In the 1920s and 1930s, the SIAA increased its membership with the addition of additional small universities. The conference eventually disbanded in 1942 with the onset of American involvement in World War II, original charter members are denoted in boldface. Invited charter members are denoted with an asterisk, in the era in which the SIAA operated, teams tended to join in December, therefore, the first year of conference play in a given sport was often the following calendar year. Conference affiliations reflect those for the 2016–17 school year
3.
State Field
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State Field was the home stadium of the Louisiana State University Tigers football team from 1893 to 1924. The field was built on the old campus of LSU. It was located south of the Pentagon Barracks and slightly southwest of the site of the current Louisiana State Capitol Building adjacent to the Hill Memorial Library and George Peabody Hall. The field was known on the campus simply as the field was later moved to a site with bleachers that was north of the campuses experimental garden. The field was used for LSUs baseball and basketball teams. LSUs first home game was played at State Field on December 3,1894 against the University of Mississippi, the contest resulted in a 26-6 loss to Ole Miss. LSUs last home game at State Field was on November 15,1924 against Northwestern State, LSU won this game by a score of 40-0. LSU moved to the newly opened Tiger Stadium the next week in a game against Tulane on November 27,1924, during the 31 years that State Field was used as LSUs home field,100 home games were played there. LSUs record at State Field was 81-18-1, on May 13,1893, LSU played its first baseball game versus Tulane University. The game resulted in a victory for LSU, from 1893–1924 LSU baseball played 388 games at State Field with LSU having a 192-184-12 record. The LSU basketball team played at State Field
4.
1915 Vanderbilt Commodores football team
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The 1915 Vanderbilt Commodores football team represented Vanderbilt University during the 1915 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association football season. Dan McGugin served his 12th season as the Commodores head coach, Vanderbilt was a member of the SIAA. Several notable players featured on the team, McGugin built his 1915 squad around a 130-pound junior quarterback Irby Rabbit Curry. In the line was sophomore tackle Josh Cody, a tackler and dominating blocker. Cody was selected third-team All-America by Walter Camp, the teams captain was end Russ Cohen. The outlook for the upcoming 1915 Vanderbilt football season was not promising, the Commodores were coming off a losing record of 2–8, the first under head coach Dan McGugin, and the second in the schools 25 years of playing football. Additionally, only 10 experienced players from the year were returning to the team. Despite the one-platoon system with players featuring on offense, defense, and special teams used in 1915, coach McGugin was assisted by doctor and former Vanderbilt athlete Owsley Manier. Using conventional football, Vanderbilt opened the season with a win over Middle Tennessee Normal 51–0. Coach McGugin sent in his substitutes at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the starting lineup was Richardson, Cody, Reyer, Williams, Putnam, Lipscomb, Cohen, Curry, Zerfoss, Wiggs, and King. In the second week of play, Vanderbilt defeated Southwestern 47–0 on a slippery field, all points were scored in the first half. Vanderbilt beat the Georgetown Tigers 75–0, the Commodores racked up 11 touchdowns and 8 field goals, its largest score in three years. Dough Ray scored four times and Hubert Wiggs three times, the starting lineup was Williams, Cody, Hamilton, Reyer, Lipscomb, Putnam, Hayes, Curry, Friel, Zerfoss, and Wiggs. With four players out due to injury, the Commodores still managed to defeat the Cumberland Bulldogs 60–0 in a drizzling rain, Alf Adams stood out on defense. The starting lineup was Chester, Cody, Williams, Reyer, Hamilton, Lipscomb, Richardson, Roach, Floyd, Ray, the Rabbit Curry ran for a 40-yard touchdown with the game barely a minute old, and later had a 40-yard punt return for a touchdown. Sarah Turner had an 80-yard run, and a 60-yard end run for a score in the third quarter, tommy Ridley ran 60 yards on a fake punt. Catching Henderson-Brown exhausted, John Jarrett returned a kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, Chester, Cody, Hamilton, Reyer, Williams, Lipscomb, Cohen, Curry, Floyd, Ray, and Wiggs. Against Mississippi, the team traveled by train from Nashville to Memphis, Tennessee, the train was halted near Dickson by a wreck ahead of it, and the players complained about the lack of food on the train
