October 23, 1926: Tulane Stadium Opens

October 23, 1926: Tulane Stadium opens in New Orleans. Hosts Tulane University lose to Auburn, 2-0. Auburn scored a safety, one of the rare instances of the expression "Defense wins games" actually being true.

The Tulane Green Wave would continue to play in the 80,000-seat rounded horseshoe until the 1974 season. They had already won the Southern Conference title in 1925, and would win it again in 1929, 1930 and 1931. They would win the Southeastern Conference title in 1934, 1939 and 1949, before downgrading their program after the 1965 season.

From 1935 to 1975, usually on New Year's Day, the stadium would also host the Sugar Bowl, which became the stadium's nickname as well, usually with the Southeastern Conference Champions, often going for the National Championship. They were won in the Sugar Bowls of 1939, by Texas Christian University (TCU); 1940, by Texas A&M; 1952, by Maryland; 1953, by Georgia Tech; 1958, by Louisiana State (LSU), Tulane's arch-rivals; 1960, 1961 and 1963, by Mississippi (Ole Miss); 1961, by Alabama; and 1973, by Notre Dame.

The NFL's New Orleans Saints played there from their 1967 inception through 1974. Tom Dempsey set an NFL record there by kicking a last-play 63-yard field goal to give the Saints a win over the Detroit Lions in 1970.

It also hosted Super Bowl IV in 1970: Kansas City Chiefs 32, Minnesota Vikings 14; Super Bowl VI in 1972: Dallas Cowboys 24, Miami Dolphins 3; and Super Bowl IX in 1975: Pittsburgh Steelers 16, Vikings 6. In each case, it was the 1st World Championship won by each team.

Tulane Stadium was replaced by the Louisiana Superdome in 1975, and demolished in 1979. Yulman Stadium, Tulane's 30,000-seat stadium starting in 2014, was built on the site.

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October 23, 1926 was a Saturday. These other notable college football games were played:

* Alabama beat Sewanee, 2-0 at Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

* Stanford beat Oregon, 29-12 at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. Alabama and Stanford would play each other to a 7-7 tie in the Rose Bowl on January 1, 1927, and share the National Championship.

* Army beat Boston University, 41-0 at Michie Stadium in West Point, New York; and Navy beat Colgate, 13-7 at Thompson Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.

* Among New York City teams, Columbia beat Duke, 24-0 at Baker Field; and Fordham lost to Washington & Jefferson, 28-13 at the Polo Grounds. Both stadiums were in Upper Manhattan. And New York University (NYU) beat Rutgers, 30-0 at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. The other major New Jersey team, Princeton, beat Lehigh, 7-6 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton.

* Notre Dame beat Northwestern 6-0 at Dyche Stadium outside Chicago in Evanston, Illinois. Dyche Stadium had just opened 3 weeks earlier. In 1997, it was renamed Ryan Field.

* In rivalry games, Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon) beat their neighbors, the University of Pittsburgh, 14-0 at Pitt Stadium; Virginia Tech beat Virginia, 6-0 at Miles Stadium in Blacksburg, Virginia; and Washington State beat Washington, 9-6 at Husky Stadium in Seattle.