Sewanee Hosts Washington and Lee today at 2 p.m,

If you are looking to take in a college football game today, one might considering driving to the University of the South  - better known as Sewanee – up on the Cumberland Plateau (halfway between Chattanooga and Nashville) for an NCAA D-III game as the Tigers host longtime rival Washington and Lee at 2 p.m. EDT.

It’s the home opener for Sewanee and with it being Hall of Fame Day and the Generals of Washington and Lee as the opponents there should be a great crowd of probably 3-4,000.

But no worry, tickets on this sun-splashed afternoon are under $10 and you can get a hot dog and a drink for about the same and enjoy some good college football.

These student-athletes play hard with no athletic scholarships but with high GPAs - the two schools have produced a combined 41 Rhodes Scholars and 73 NCAA Post Graduate Scholars -  and 104 football All-Americans.

Dress casual if you so desire - yet understand many will wear the button down Oxfords and a blazer and possible tie (though it will be on the warm side today) and the ladies in close to their Sunday best.- and take time to tour one of the prettiest campuses this side of the Ivy leagues.
And maybe even take in a few holes, if schedule allows, on one of the finest 9-hole courses in the nation – The Golf Course at Sewanee – right on campus.

Sewanee Victory Bell: Tradition reigns supreme on the Sewanee campus as the football victory bell has been rung after each win – home or away – since that first triumph against Chattanooga, 26-0 in 1891. The bell has been rung over the decades, especially in the early days long before phones and now the internet, to let one and all know the Tigers have been triumphant.

The two programs have sent five talented alums to the college football hall of fame, and today’s players face each other on the oldest on-campus field (field, not stadium) in the South and fourth oldest in the nation.

W&L has its 1961 undefeated small college national championship, while Sewanee of old is known for the famous college football train ride of 1899 with five wins in six days, all by shutout against Texas, Texas A&M, Tulane, LSU and Ole Miss on the way to a 12-0 season.

So if you have never been to a small college game today might be the day to do so and watch student-athletics go at it hard for nearly three hours for the love of the game and shake hands afterwards.

Being college kids they will probably take in a party or two this weekend yet knowing their studies do call and come Monday with a small student-teacher ratio (many at Sewanee adorned in their academically-earned black gowns -i.e. Gownsmen), they best have assignment done as there is no back of the classroom at these institutions of higher learning.

Chattanooga Area Players: Sewanee has starting defensive back and Baylor School alum Glenn Ireland, while freshman and McCallie School grad Jay Roberts will see playing time at defensive tackle for the Generals.

And as the Sewanee students will let all in attendance know this afternoon

“Tigers, Tigers leave ‘em in the lurch

Down with the heathen, up with the church

Yea, Sewanee’s Right!”

Quick Facts

Sewanee – Washington & Lee

* Years of Football

Sewanee: 122

W&L 124

 

W&L – first full season was 1890, but did take on VMI in the first college football game in the South in 1873.

 

*All-Time Record

Sewanee: 481-507-38

W&L: 503-524-39

 

* Series Record: 

W&L leads 41-23 and has won 10 of last 11 games

 

* Small College National Champions

W&L: 1-  1961 awarded by Washington D.C. Downtown Touchdown Club

 

* Football All-Americans

Sewanee: 38

W&L: 66

 

* College Football Hall of Fame:

Sewanee: 3

W&L: 2 (Eddie Cameron, Harry “Cy” Young) - Not the Cy Young you are thinking

 

* Rhodes Scholars:

Sewanee: 26

W&L: 15

 

* Fulbright Scholars

Sewanee: school info states dozens

W&L: 120

* NCAA Post Grad Scholars

Sewanee 34, 13 in football

W&L: 39 overall, 9 in football

 

contact B.B. Branton at william.branton@comcast.net