November 4, 1922: The South's 1st Successful Invasion of Northern College Football

November 4, 1922: The football team at the University of Alabama goes to Philadelphia, and beats the University of Pennsylvania, 9-7 at Franklin Field.

This upset of an Ivy League school is considered a landmark day in the history of Southern football, and it helped launch 'Bama on a run of success that continued throughout the 1920s and '30s and established the school's legend, before Paul "Bear" Bryant was even a player at 'Bama (and while he was one), much less their head coach.

Three weeks earlier, on October 14, Alabama went to Atlanta to play Georgia Tech, and lost 33-7. Tech's head coach, Bill Alexander (for whom their basketball arena is named), told the Alabama fans, "Your football team isn't worth a nickel, but you have a million-dollar band." The 'Bama band has been "The Million Dollar Band" ever since. 'Bama finished the season 6-3-1, so Alexander was wrong about the quality of the team.

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November 4, 1922 was a Saturday. These other notable college football games were played:

* Army beat St. Bonaventure, 53-0 on The Plain at West Point, New York. The day before, Navy beat Penn State, 14-0 at American League Park in Washington. Three weeks later, Army beat Navy, 17-14 at Franklin Field.

* In another Ivy League vs. South game, Harvard beat Florida, 24-0 at Harvard Stadium in Boston.

* Alabama Tech, renamed Auburn in 1960, beat Georgia, 7-3 at Memorial Stadium in Columbus, Georgia, about halfway between the schools.

* Rivalry: Vanderbilt beat Tennessee, 14-6 at Shields-Watkins Field (now vastly expanded into Neyland Stadium) in Knoxville, Tennessee. From 1892 to 1926, Vanderbilt were 18-2-3 against Tennessee. Since then, Tennessee have led the rivalry, 77-14-2.

* Rivalry: Michigan beat Michigan Agricultural College, 63-0 at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor. MAC became Michigan State College in 1925, and Michigan State University in 1955.

* Notre Dame beat Indiana, 27-0 at Cartier Field in South Bend, Indiana.

* Not yet a big rivalry, but it would become one: Illinois beat Northwestern, 6-3 at Illinois Field in Champaign, Illinois.

* Rivalry: Wisconsin beat Minnesota, 14-0 at Northrop Field in Minneapolis.

* Rivalry: Colorado beat Colorado A&M, 7-0 at Gamble Field in Boulder, Colorado. A&M became Colorado State in 1957.

* The University of California beat Washington State, 61-0 at the new California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley.

* Among New York City teams, Columbia lost to Cornell (who went undefeated that season), 56-0 at Schoellkopf Field in Ithaca, New York; Fordham lost to Springfield College, 17-0 at Fordham Field in The Bronx; NYU beat Trinity College of Connecticut, 13-0 at Ohio Field in The Bronx; and CCNY beat New York Aggies (now SUNY-Farmingdale), 14-7 at Lewisohn Stadium in Upper Manhattan.

* In New Jersey, Princeton beat Swarthmore, 22-13 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton. Rutgers had the week off.

And in English soccer, Arsenal, the North London team I would one day support, went to Liverpool, and lost to Everton, 1-0 at Goodison Park.