On a cold, blustery day in November of 1893, LSU played its first football game. They lost to Tulane 34-0.
For fifty cents, spectators could witness something that was similar to but definitely unlike modern football in scoring (five points for a touchdown, four for a field goal), the field (110 yards long), the players (only one player weighed over 200 pounds), and strategy (the flying wedge).
Honestly, it wasn’t really Tulane. Charles Coates, the school’s chemistry professor, wanted to expand the athletic offerings on LSU’s campus, and brought down the idea of a football team from his time at Johns Hopkins.