Today's Tidbit... College Football's Only Triangular Game

Andy Kerr was a football outsider whose innovations led to strong teams at several schools, though he is best known for his success at Colgate. Kerr did not play college football but was Pitt's track coach when Pop Warner arrived, with Kerr assisting Warner. Warner signed a contract to coach Stanford in 1922, but Pitt would not release him from his existing contract, so he sent Kerr to Palo Alto to be the head coach for two years until Warner's contract ran out.

Kerr coached Washington & Jefferson from 1926 to 1928 before taking over Colgate in 1929. Kerr's innovative lateral offense produced the undefeated 1932 team that did not give up a point all year. He also trialed the 12th man field general on offense in the 1934 spring game. Intended to take play calling out of the quarterback's hands while keeping it out of the coaches, he had a backup player call the plays before stepping out of the way and not participating in the play.

As noted in stories I wrote last week and in 2020, numerous major college teams played doubleheaders in the late 1920s and 1930s. Typically, their second and third teams played a lesser opponent in the opener, while their first team played a mid-level team in the nightcap.

Not satisfied with a doubleheader, Kerr set up a triangular game, sometimes called a tripleheader, with Amherst, and St. Lawrence, who had Colgate alums as head coaches. The triangular game format had the three teams play half-games against one another, with the game order determined by coin flip.

The first game saw Colgate whip St. Lawrence 31-0, which appeared to be quite a feat since St. Lawrence had beaten Cornell 13-6 the week before. Colgate played Amherst in the second game, taking them down 12-0. Although the score was closer than the St. Lawrence game, the press reports suggest Colgate easily moved up and down the field but could not convert the ball movement into points. St. Lawrence's superiority was made clear by beating Amherst 12-0 in the day's third game.