It was a cold and cloudy November afternoon when 15 players from Harvard and Yale met in New Haven to play a game that was a mixture of soccer and rugby. Harvard won that game in 1875, four goals to none, in the first game of what today stands as one of America's oldest and most intense football rivalries.
That first Game did a lot more than entertain the 3000 spectators who doled out 50 cents on November 13, 1875. That first Crimson-Eli clash had a significant effect on how football developed in America.
Playing on their home turf, the Bulldogs conceded to play the game as Harvard asked, with rules allowing a player to run the ball as well as kick it. Although it doesn't seem like much today--as the Elis trot into Soldiers Field for the 97th matchup of the series--Harvard set the trend in football back then. Even though Yale walked away with a defeat, the Elis adopted the rules and stuck to them in the following years.
After Yale's initial setback, the Elis picked up the new rules for the game and went on to beat the Crimson in 21 of the next 28 games. Yale still leads in the series with 52 wins to Harvard's 36 (they have tied eight times), but after 1900, things have been much more even.
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