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Football Archaeology's avatar

The Rutgers-Princeton games were a big deal. They were the first intercollegiate games between American colleges playing a football-like game. (Crew and baseball preceded "football.") Warding, interference, or blocking arrived in 1884. See this post for more: https://www.footballarchaeology.com/p/todays-tidbit-1876-ifa-rule-22-onside

The rule of possession arrived in 1880, but teams were not required to gain yardage in a set number of downs until 1884. You can read more about that here: https://www.footballarchaeology.com/p/todays-tidbit-1876-ifa-rule-11-scrimmage

Tidbits are intended to touch on a point without a deeper discussion of where things fit from a broader context. My book, How Football Became Football, pieces together many of those issues.

Let me know if you have other questions.

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Football Archaeology's avatar

Danke schoen, baby!

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Vasav Swaminathan's avatar

Love the blog! I feel like Rutgers and Princeton deciding to play the folk games is a big deal too. Also a big deal is when it diverged from rugby - when exactly did blocking and down and distance get instituted?

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Sports Dispatch's avatar

Congrats on the Milestone Anniversary Football Archaeology. And to Many More to Come!!

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