Furman–Wofford football rivalry

The Furman–Wofford football rivalry, variously referred to as the Deep South's Oldest Football Rivalry[3] or the I-85 rivalry,[4] is an American college football rivalry game[5] played by the Furman Paladins football team of Furman University and the Wofford Terriers football team of Wofford College. The teams have met on the football field 94 times since their first game in 1889, with Furman currently leading the series, 54–33–7. They are scheduled to next meet on September 5, 2020.[6][7]

Furman–Wofford rivalry
Furman
Wofford
SportCollege football
First meetingDecember 14, 1889
Wofford, 5–1
Latest meetingNovember 16, 2019
Wofford, 24–7
Next meetingApril 17, 2021
Greenville, SC
Statistics
Meetings total94
All-time seriesFurman, 54–33–7[1][2]
Largest victoryFurman, 69–0 (1920)
Longest win streakFurman, 19 (1917–1947)
Longest unbeaten streakFurman, 21 (1917–1950)
Current win streakWofford, 1 (2019–present)
Locations of Furman and Wofford

History

The series between Furman and Wofford dates back to December 14, 1889, in what was the first organized intercollegiate football game in South Carolina.[8][9] In a game that contained no positions or uniforms, and was played according to rules that were developed before the start of the game,[10] Wofford won 5–1. The series gets the occasional title of the "Deep South's Oldest Football Rivalry",[3] as the 1889 meeting was also the first football game played in the Deep South,[11] or the "State's Oldest Rivalry",[12] due to its status as the oldest rivalry in South Carolina.

The teams have met in only two locations: Greenville and Spartanburg. The longest winning streak in the series's history lasted from 1917 to 1947, and consisted of nineteen consecutive Furman victories (during the first sixteen of which Wofford scored a total of fifteen points and was shut out twelve times).[1][2]

The series has been interrupted multiple times. Perhaps the most notable of these occurred from 1901–1914, when Wofford banned football for its violence.[13] Major interruptions have also taken place from 1922–28, 1941–46 (due to World War II, neither school fielded a team from 1943–45),[1][2] and 1980–93, with the exception of one game played in 1989. At present, the teams have met every year since 1995.

Geography

Furman and Wofford are located in Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina, respectively, located at a straight-line distance of 28.61 miles (46.04 km) apart, and a driving distance of 36.93 miles (59.43 km).[14] The rivalry's occasional title of the "I-85 Rivalry" is due to the proximity of both schools to Interstate 85, though this title is more often used for the schools' basketball rivalry,[15][4] and is most commonly used to refer to the NFL rivalry between the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons.[16][17]

Game results
Furman victoriesWofford victoriesTie games
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
1 December 14, 1889 Spartanburg Wofford 5–1
2 January 18, 1890 Greenville Wofford 2–1
3 January 24, 1890 Spartanburg Furman 12–0
4 March 21, 1890 Greenville Furman 28–2
5 November 30, 1893 Greenville Furman 18–4
6 November 23, 1895 Spartanburg Wofford 44–0
7 November 6, 1896 Spartanburg Wofford 6–0
8 October 26, 1900 Spartanburg Tie0–0
9 November 29, 1900 Greenville Wofford 6–5
10 November 28, 1901 Greenville Furman 17–0
11 October 10, 1914 Greenville Furman 19–12
12 November 25, 1915 Greenville Furman 25–0
13 November 30, 1916 Spartanburg Wofford 9–7
14 November 29, 1917 Greenville Furman 18–3
15 December 4, 1918 Spartanburg Furman 7–0
16 October 11, 1919 Greenville Furman 7–6
17 November 13, 1920 Spartanburg Furman 69–0
18 November 19, 1921 Greenville Furman 62–0
19 November 18, 1922 Spartanburg Furman 41–0
20 October 27, 1928 Greenville Furman 26–0
21 October 26, 1929 Spartanburg Furman 25–6
22 November 15, 1930 Spartanburg Furman 14–0
23 October 31, 1931 Greenville Furman 20–0
24 November 5, 1932 Spartanburg Furman 24–0
25 November 4, 1933 Greenville Furman 38–0
26 September 29, 1934 Spartanburg Furman 13–0
27 November 9, 1935 Greenville Furman 29–0
28 September 26, 1936 Spartanburg Furman 31–0
29 October 1, 1937 Greenville Furman 58–0
30 September 26, 1941 Greenville Furman 40–19
31 September 27, 1946 Greenville Furman 31–0
32 October 25, 1947 Spartanburg Furman 20–6
33 October 16, 1948 Greenville Tie7–7
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
34 November 3, 1950 Greenville Tie13–13
35 November 2, 1951 Spartanburg Wofford 14–12
36 November 1, 1952 Greenville Furman 29–21
37 October 31, 1953 Spartanburg Furman 7–6
38 November 20, 1954 Greenville Wofford 19–0
39 October 1, 1955 Spartanburg Wofford 27–6
40 October 13, 1956 Greenville Wofford 18–6
41 October 19, 1957 Spartanburg Wofford 13–12
42 October 18, 1958 Greenville Furman 40–39
43 November 7, 1959 Spartanburg Wofford 6–3
44 October 15, 1960 Greenville Furman 41–26
45 October 28, 1961 Spartanburg Furman 12–7
46 September 22, 1962 Greenville Furman 34–21
47 October 12, 1963 Spartanburg Furman 21–19
48 September 26, 1964 Greenville Wofford 21–14
49 October 9, 1965 Spartanburg Wofford 35–13
50 October 8, 1966 Greenville Tie15–15
51 October 7, 1967 Spartanburg Furman 21–20
52 September 28, 1968 Spartanburg Wofford 13–7
53 November 28, 1968 Greenville Wofford 21–7
54 October 11, 1969 Spartanburg Wofford 49–7
55 November 29, 1969 Greenville Wofford 31–21
56 September 26, 1970 Greenville Wofford 28–13
57 September 25, 1971 Spartanburg Wofford 27–0
58 September 23, 1972 Greenville Furman 24–7
59 September 22, 1973 Spartanburg Furman 21–19
60 October 26, 1974 Greenville Furman 21–10
61 November 22, 1975 Spartanburg Tie14–14
62 November 20, 1976 Greenville Furman 56–14
63 October 8, 1977 Spartanburg Wofford 13–7
64 October 9, 1978 Greenville Furman 36–12
65 October 6, 1979 Spartanburg Wofford 27–17
66 November 15, 1980 Greenville Tie14–14
No.DateLocationWinnerScore
67 October 21, 1989 Greenville Furman 42–7
68 September 18, 1993 Greenville Tie14–14
69 September 16, 1995 Greenville Furman 38–0
70 September 21, 1996 Greenville Furman 33–3
71 November 15, 1997 Greenville Furman 28–7
72 November 14, 1998 Spartanburg Wofford 40–20
73 November 13, 1999 Greenville Furman 30–3
74 November 11, 2000 Spartanburg Furman 27–18
75 November 10, 2001 Greenville Furman 45–14
76 November 16, 2002 Spartanburg Furman 23–21
77 November 15, 2003 Greenville Wofford 7–6
78 November 13, 2004 Spartanburg Furman 31–24
79 November 12, 2005 Greenville Furman 34–21
80 September 30, 2006 Spartanburg Furman 35–21
81 September 29, 2007 Greenville Wofford 45–20
82 November 22, 2008 Spartanburg Wofford 35–10
83 November 21, 2009 Greenville Furman 58–21
84 October 2, 2010 Spartanburg Wofford 38–17
85 October 22, 2011 Greenville Furman 26–21
86 October 6, 2012 Spartanburg Wofford 20–14
87 November 23, 2013 Greenville Furman 27–14
88 November 15, 2014 Greenville Furman 31–14
89 November 21, 2015 Spartanburg Wofford 38–28
90 November 5, 2016 Greenville Wofford 34–27
91 September 2, 2017 Spartanburg Wofford 24–23
92 December 2, 2017[lower-alpha 1] Spartanburg Wofford 28–10
93 October 13, 2018 Greenville Furman 34–14
94 November 16, 2019 Spartanburg Wofford 24–7
95 April 17, 2021 Greenville
Series: Furman leads 54–33–7
Sources: [1][2]
  1. Game played as part of the second round of the FCS Playoffs.[18]

Significant games

1889: The first game

Wofford and Furman first met at the Encampment Grounds,[19][20] located in Spartanburg, on December 14, 1889, in what was the first college football game played in the state of South Carolina.[9] The game was officiated by Professor J.H. Marshall,[19] under "the old rough-and-tumble" rules, despite Wofford's wish to play by "association rules". According to a Wofford student who published an account of the game in the Wofford Student Journal, the lineups were

Furman– Jones, Hammett, Young, Sneider, Padgett, Lott, Edwards, Little, Rodgers, and Tate. Substitutes: Wilkins, Scott, and Sirrine.
Wofford– Bruce, Bearden, Clyde S., Bearden, Clyde H., Covington, Ellerbe, Flemming, Hayes, McRoy, Rankin, and Rouquie. Substitutes: Dent and Calhoun.

The game was "won with ease" by Wofford, 5 to 1.[19]

1948: Breaking the streak
1948: Wofford 7, Furman 7
1 234Total
Wofford 0 070 7
Furman 0 007 7

Coming into the 1948 game, Furman had won seventeen consecutive meetings between the teams. Under the leadership of Phil Dickens, Wofford entered the contest 0–0–3, en route to a national record five consecutive ties to begin the season,[21] which they would go on to follow with four straight wins.[1] The team was noted in the Bohemian, the Wofford yearbook, as being "strong and worthy" despite having "little material".[22] Furman, under head coach Red Smith, entered 1–2, having just lost back-to-back games to South Carolina and Richmond.[2] Remaining in a scoreless tie through halftime, the deadlock was broken by Wofford's "Slippery Sammy" Sewell,[12] who scored on a long rush in the third quarter (Wofford claims it was 54 yards; Furman claims 47).[23][24] According to the Bohemian, the game was tied again by Furman in the fourth quarter, on a "disputed fourth down play". The Furman account makes no mention of this play, only that the team was "sparked" on a 70-yard drive to tie the game and cause the Terriers to disappointedly "[withdraw] to their kennels"[12] upon the conclusion of the game as a tie.

1951: Ending the drought
1951: Wofford 14, Furman 12
1 234Total
• Wofford 14 000 14
Furman 0 606 12

Entering their 1951 meeting, it had been thirty-five years since Wofford had last beat Furman, a streak composed of nineteen losses and two ties. The Bohemian noted that Wofford's best win of the season came in their "muddy win" against the Hurricanes;[lower-alpha 1] Wofford would go on to win the Little Four Conference championship.[25] Furman's yearbook, the Bonhomie, referred to the game as 'the "Tear-jerker of the Year"'.[26] Wofford struck first in the game, scoring twice in the first quarter and adding two conversions to take a 14–0 advantage into the second quarter;[27] this ensured that the 1951 contest would be only the third time (1895 and 1941) that Wofford had scored fourteen points in a game against Furman. The Hurricanes responded, as Sonny Horton scored in the second quarter and Jim Piner added another touchdown in the fourth; however, Joe Watt failed to convert the point after following both scores.[28] This resulted in the game finishing in favor of the Terriers, 14–12, for their first win against Furman since 1916.

Perhaps as a testament to the already-fierce rivalry between the teams, the two schools attribute the Wofford victory to different causes. The Bohemian mentions the "magnificent display of football" that was put on by the Terriers, and mentions that Wofford "doggedly [held] its advantage the rest of the way" after scoring all of their points in the first quarter of the contest.[25] The Bonhomie, on the other hand, opens its account by noting that the "Wofford passing machine" was limited to "a mere two yards" and adds later that Wofford "[was] outplayed during the whole game".[28]

2017: First postseason meeting
2017: Wofford 28, Furman 10
1 234Total
Furman 0 1000 10
• Wofford 7 777 28

After meeting to open the season on September 2, 2017, the Paladins and Terriers were treated to another matchup in the FCS playoffs. This was the first year since 1969 that the teams had played twice in the same season, and the first time ever they'd met in the postseason. Wofford entered the matchup 9–2, and as the No. 7 national seed, having received a first-round bye and home field advantage in the rivalry for the second time in a row. Furman entered the contest with a record of 8–4, after defeating Elon in the first round the week before.[30]

Wofford's Blake Morgan opened the scoring nearly halfway through the first quarter on a short rush, though Furman took a 10–7 lead in the second quarter following a 41 yard field goal by Grayson Atkins and a 20 yard pass from P.J. Blazejowski to Logan McCarter. From there, Wofford finished the first half with a 33 yard passing touchdown, this one from Brandon Goodson to Blake Morgan, to take a 14–10 lead into halftime. Wofford extended their lead with one touchdown each in the third and fourth quarters; Chase Nelson found the end zone from 2 yards out with three minutes to play, and Miller Mosely scored on a similar rush with just under six minutes to play in the contest. This 28–10 lead held,[31] and Wofford advanced to the FCS quarterfinals; there they faltered against fourth-ranked North Dakota State.[32]

See also

Notes
  1. Furman's football teams were referred to as the Hurricanes until 1963.

References
  1. "Wofford 2019 Media Guide" (PDF). pp. 68, 122. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  2. "2019 Furman Football Yearbook" (PDF). pp. 109–114, 152–160. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  3. "Furman-Wofford set to renew Deep South's oldest football rivalry on Saturday". The Times and Democrat. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  4. Hooper, John (16 January 2017). "Looking at the I-85 rivalry between Furman and Wofford". Mid-Major Madness. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  5. "Wofford runs past rival Furman in FCS second round". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  6. "2020 Wofford Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  7. "2020 Furman Football Schedule". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  8. "Origins and Development of College football in South Carolina, 1889–1930" (PDF). South Carolina State Library Digital Collections.
  9. "Wofford and Furman renew SC's oldest rivalry". Wofford College Athletics. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  10. "Furman University – 2014 FB Record Book".
  11. Shanesy, Todd. "Double take: Wofford, Furman meet again". GoUpstate. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  12. "The Bonhomie, 1949". scdl.contentdm.oclc.org. p. 191. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  13. "Wofford College | Records of the Athletics Office". www.wofford.edu. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  14. "Distance Between Wofford College and Furman University". www.mapdevelopers.com. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  15. Hooper, John (11 September 2019). "Dates to circle on the 2019-20 SoCon schedule". Mid-Major Madness. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  16. "Time Machine: The Beginning of the I-85 Rivalry". www.atlantafalcons.com. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  17. "Atlanta Falcons vs. Carolina Panthers - Betting News". www.bettingnews.com. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  18. "2017 FCS Football Official Bracket | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com.
  19. "The First Football Game – 118 years ago today". From the Archives. 14 December 2007. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  20. Shanesy, Todd. "Wofford 24, Furman 7: Five things to know". GoUpstate. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  21. "Wofford College | Wofford History". www.wofford.edu. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  22. "Bohemian [yearbook] 1948". The Bohemian. Wofford College. 1 January 1948. pp. 141–142. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  23. "Wofford College - Bohemian Yearbook (Spartanburg, SC), Class of 1949, Cover". e-yearbook.com. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  24. "Bohemian [yearbook] 1949". The Bohemian. 1 January 1949. pp. 148–149. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  25. "Wofford College - Bohemian Yearbook (Spartanburg, SC), Class of 1952, Cover". e-yearbook.com. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  26. "The Bonhomie, 1952". scdl.contentdm.oclc.org. p. 197. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  27. "Bohemian [yearbook] 1952". The Bohemian. 1 January 1952. p. 148. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  28. "The Bonhomie, 1952". scdl.contentdm.oclc.org. p. 202. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  29. "Furman vs. Wofford - Game Summary - December 2, 2017 - ESPN". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 20, 2020.
  30. "Furman vs Elon FCS Football Game Summary - November 25th, 2017 | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  31. "Furman vs Wofford FCS Football Game Summary - December 2nd, 2017 | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
  32. "Wofford vs North Dakota St. FCS Football Game Summary - December 9th, 2017 | NCAA.com". www.ncaa.com. Retrieved February 21, 2020.
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