FB: Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference

[Shoreman]

Sewanee an original member of the SEC! From 1933-41. (I too don't remember those days).

[awadelewis]

Or Sewanee's Iron Men of 1899 with their 7 day train tour of the South with wins over Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, LSU, and Ole Miss. The only team that was able to score points against that squad was an Auburn team coached by John Heisman.   Wikipedia link: http://goo.gl/07pgu

Lots of the history amongst the other SCAC teams as well... Centre, Rhodes, Millsaps, Trinity all have long standing football traditions.  Same goes for Southwestern, Oglethorpe, and the others not currently playing football.

[Warren Thompson]

Sewanee an original member of the SEC! From 1933-41. (I too don't remember those days).

Washington & Lee was a member of the Southern Conference into the 1950s or so. One of their arch-rivals was West Virginia. [Unfortunately, I do remember those days.  ]

[Shoreman]

Any chance Oglethorpe might resurrect football?

[Warren Thompson]

Lots of the history amongst the other SCAC teams as well... Centre, Rhodes, Millsaps, Trinity all have long standing football traditions.  Same goes for Southwestern, Oglethorpe, and the others not currently playing football.

Whan I was a student at Trinity back in the Stone Age, they were attempting to go big-time in football. My senior year, 1956-57, the Tigers played Texas A&I, Texas Western (now UTEP), Mississippi Southern (now Southern Mississippi), North Texas, Abilene Christian, SE Louisiana, and Mississippi State. They also played TCU and McNeese State in the 1950s.

[frank_ezelle]

Millsaps opened up football practice yesterday with 99 players which included 51 freshmen.  Unlike the teams under the DuBose era, I think the coaches are glad to be working with 100 or less instead of the 130 player rosters they once had.  It seems like the right mix would be to have about 40-45 upperclassmen each year and then a large group of freshmen that will eventually be whittled down to 15-20 by their senior year.

By the way, on the subject of SCAC teams once playing schools that are now powerhouses, the first Millsaps football team (sometime around 1900) went to New Orleans and lost to Tulane 30-0.  Then then travelled to Baton Rouge and lost to LSU 70-0.

However, in what was described in an 1905 article as the greatest game in Millsaps football history, Millsaps avenged that 70-0 drubbing by beating LSU 6-5 in a Thanksgiving day rematch in Jackson.  Apparently a TD was worth 5 points in the early days and Millsaps got the victory thanks to a converted extra point.

There is a "rest of the story".  This 1905 article goes on to say, "But athletics at Millsaps were overstepping the proper bounds in the estimation of the two Conferences, and at their next session resolutions were passed forbidding the College to indulge in inter collegiate games of any kind."  Such was the view of athletics back a little over 100 years ago.

[Ralph Turner]

Thanks, Frank.

Please remember that the NCAA was created in 1910, in part, to provide the proper framework for intercollegiate athletics.

The decision by Millsaps was just one part of that discussion.

[hasanova]

Thanks, Frank.

Please remember that the NCAA was created in 1910, in part, to provide the proper framework for intercollegiate athletics.

The decision by Millsaps was just one part of that discussion.

I'm a Guilford grad and the records show the Quakers were the first head coaching win for one Paul "Bear" Bryant when he started his career at Maryland in the late 1940's - I don't have the record book in front of me, but 60-0 sounds about right.  Ouch!  lol

[Shoreman]

Any chance the SCAC cold merge w/ the Wash/Lee, Emory & Henry's of the world to form a multi division southern conference?

[etg]

(El Tea Gray--re: Merge the ODAC and SCAC, why not?)

Shoreman,
7 ODACs + 5 SCACs=12 OSACs (really 9 for football, so no football divisions needed).
Will however need divisions for sports with 10+ schools.
Also, Trinity and Catholic in the same conference; I have absolutely no problem with it, what about Pat (just an "inside San Antonio referee" joke)?


                                                             

[Shoreman]

Looking at the D3 map a merger of those leagues makes sense for Sewanee & Centre, Birmingham southern. Not so good for Millsaps and Hendrix (if they ever get off the ground). In Sewanee's case its probably travel neutral. Could set up all other sports in East/West division format.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/NCAA_Division_3_football_map.gif

[awadelewis]

Looking at the D3 map a merger of those leagues makes sense for Sewanee & Centre, Birmingham southern.

While I'd like to see it given Sewanee's long standing rivalry with W&L, I haven't heard anybody saying that the ODAC schools would be interested.   And if Hendrix follows through on their commitment to start football, then it just becomes a matter of convincing Berry to start playing FB in order for the new conference to eventually get AQ status. 

[Shoreman]

Sewanee Football 2011 Quick Facts

http://sewaneetigers.com/documents/2011/8/11/2011_FTB_QF.pdf

[Ron Boerger]

SCAC pre-season coaches' poll is out; Millsaps is the favorite.

[Pat Coleman]

I just did a Q&A with W&L's coach for Kickoff and we talked about the longtime rivalry with Sewanee and Centre out of the old CAC and whether W&L was approached about joining the NEWSCAC. (Which is what I'm calling it until there's a name. And hopefully that name isn't CAC because there already is one in D-III.)