Today's Tidbit... When Balls Fumbled Out Of Bounds Remained Live

When the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) adopted the game's first formal rules in 1876, they adopted rugby's rules with only a few minor changes. Among the rules that are now quite different from the original was that the ball remained live when it went out of bounds, or "in touch" under the terminology of the times. Just as touchdowns counted only when a player touched the ball down behind the opponent's goal, a ball that went out of bounds was dead only after a player from either side touched it down.

Since balls fumbled out of bounds were live, players sometimes scrambled over benches and water buckets or went into the stands or beyond the ropes to retrieve balls. Players generally did not face out-of-bounds obstacles in formal stadiums or where fans stood behind ropes a sufficient distance from the playing field.

The well-controlled crowd at Iowa State was unlikely to get in the way during out-of-bounds play. (1906 Iowa State yearbook)