The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame's This Week in College Football History looks back at some of college football's landmark moments that took place on Thanksgiving Day. If you choose to use this content in whole or in part, as a courtesy, please credit The National Football Foundation and use the NFF logo, which can be downloaded by clicking here.
 
   
Princeton and Yale both entered and exited this Thanksgiving clash unbeaten. Both teams also entered and exited this game having not surrendered any points all season playing to a 0-0 tie. Yale was captained by future College Football Hall of Fame Coach and "Father of American Football" Walter Camp. It also marked the final game for Yale's Frederic Remington, who later became famous for his illustrations of cowboys and the American Old West. The rivalry would continue to be played on Thanksgiving Day each year until 1894. Princeton, captained by Bland Ballard, finished the season at 4-0-1, while Yale ended at 3-0-2. The two programs were named consensus co-national champions.
 
   
The first organized football game in the state of Florida was an intramural contest on Thanksgiving Day in 1894. "Forbes," named after university president John Forbes and coached by C.B. Rosa defeated the "Stetson" team coached by Harvey MacQuiston from the English department. The field was created by removing some pine trees in a spot where a campus gymnasium would later be built. According to the Stetson Collegiate, "the superior muscular development of the men and the careful coaching in detail work by Prof. Rosa…was reason Forbes prevailed."
 
   
On a snowy, below-freezing Thanksgiving Day in 1919, the visiting Fighting Irish of Notre Dame marched into Sioux City, Iowa, to play Morningside and strolled out with a 14-6 victory. A fumble in the game would give Morningside an early lead, but that's about all it would get. Led by College Football Hall of Fame coach Knute Rockne, the Fighting Irish would use a pair of touchdowns by Joe Brandy and George Gipp to build a one-score lead that wouldn't let up. In only his second season, Rockne's Fighting Irish finished 9-0 and were named co-national champions with Harvard. Morningside finished the year 5-2.
 
   
After Stanford won the first meeting against USC in 1905, the Trojans would have to wait 13 long seasons from 1906-18 before they were finally able to exact their revenge on their rival in a 13-0 shutout victory. Stanford elected to field a rugby squad in place of a football team from 1906-1917. The two teams have now squared off in every season since 1919, missing only 1921, 1924 and 1943-45 due to World War II. USC finished the 1919 season with only one blemish on their record at 4-1 while Stanford's first official season in 14 years cultivated in a 4-3 finish.
 
   
Two future College Football Hall of Fame coaches matched up on the sport's golden anniversary, and the result was the same as that first intercollegiate game in 1869 – a Rutgers win. Coach George "Sandy" Sanford's Rutgers Queensmen used the overall play of future College Football Hall of Famer Paul Robeson to dominate Charlie Bachman's Northwestern squad, 28-0. Rutgers ended its season on good terms at 5-3, Northwestern ended with a 2-5 record.

   
With coach Frank Potts taking over for Colorado coach Jim Yeager while Yeager served in the U.S. Navy, the Buffs won the last six games of their season, capped off with a thrilling 16-14 win over Denver to clinch their third straight Mountain States Conference championship. Colorado finished the season at 6-2 while Denver went 4-3-2. The Pioneers would exact revenge a year later with a 14-8 win, winning the conference title for themselves in the process.
 
   
With a 49-12 thrashing of Texas A&M, the top-ranked Texas Longhorns did their part to set up a No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup the following week against Arkansas. UT scored on six of its first eight possessions, building a 39-0 lead. The highlight of the game was wide receiver Cotton Speyrer's 37-yard touchdown pass to tight end Randy Peschel off an end-around run-fake. Texas A&M ended the year at 3-7 while the Longhorns finished 11-0 and were named consensus national champions after defeating Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl Classic.
 
   
Arkansas' College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank Broyles notched his 100th career win, crushing Texas Tech 33-0 on Thanksgiving. Arkansas' offense featured Hall of Fame receiver Chuck Dicus, but tailback Bill Burnett was the star, scoring three touchdowns. The Razorback defense was also stout, intercepting Texas Tech quarterbacks five times in the shutout effort. The drubbing set up Arkansas' matchup with Texas the following week in a contest dubbed the "Game of the Century." Arkansas lost that game and its following matchup against Mississippi in the Sugar Bowl to finish the year with the No. 7 AP ranking and a 9-2 record. Texas Tech finished the 1969 season at 5-5.
 
   
In an intense, physical game against arch-rival Mississippi State, Ole Miss pulled away late with a dominating, 27-point fourth quarter to win the Egg Bowl, 48-22. The Sugar Bowl-bound Rebels were tied with the Bulldogs at 14 until late in the third quarter when full back Bo Bowen exploded up the middle for a 17-yard touchdown giving the Rebels a lead that they would not relinquish. The fourth quarter witnessed College Football Hall of Famer and NFF Chairman Archie Manning pass for two touchdowns through the air and add another on the ground while the Rebel defense added a pick-six to extend the lead. The Bulldogs finished with a 3-7 record while Ole Miss would go onto upset No. 3 Arkansas, 27-22, in the Sugar Bowl and finish with a record of 8-3 and the No. 8 final ranking.
 
   
No. 22 Syracuse came into its Thanksgiving Day matchup with unranked West Virginia looking to take back the Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy that had escaped them the previous year, but the Mountaineers had other plans, winning 13-0. The Orangemen's duo of quarterback Kevin Mason and running back Kirby Dar Dar were unable to get anything going against a suffocating Mountaineer defense. West Virginia reserve running back Jimmy Gray rushed for a career-high 119 yards in the victory. Syracuse was not selected for a bowl after losing three of its last four games and finished the season at 7-4. West Virginia would go on to lose to South Carolina in the Carquest Bowl and finished 7-6.
 
 
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