When Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 into law, he unknowingly created all that is great about college football. While the first college football game wouldn’t be played until four years after his assassination, Lincoln set forth the blueprint for college football rivalries.
Given life by Lincoln’s signature, colleges of agriculture and technology began to spring forth from the earth. The newly founded universities unsurprisingly became rivals with elder universities in all facets of life, and thanks to Mr. Morrill and President Lincoln we now have the essence of college football.
The two men gave us rivalries such as MSU-Michigan, Ohio State-Michigan, Auburn-Alabama, Purdue-Indiana, California-Stanford, Iowa State-Iowa etc.