Hey yall! I’m just going to make a little thread here documenting what I find interesting about stuff. I could make a private notes page but I figure it might have some use to a community that focuses on the alternative history of sport.

1877: the Americans in intersquad scrimmages were extremely lopsided. The forwards on the varsity teams were big, while the “scrub” teams couldn’t maintain possession during a breakdown (scrum formed after the tackle). The scrubs began allowing balls to be kicked past them in the forward pile (I’m unsure of how this worked or what the rules were, it seems as though players weren’t allowed to take the ball out of the scrum and relied on kicking it to a player out of the scrum) and into the waiting hands of their halfbacks, who could gain yards by evading the mass. Eventually, they began kicking it back to themselves. This would evolve into the “snapback”, which would further evolve into the snap at the line of scrimmage.
1878-1879: centers and guards are established to protect the ball from becoming the opponent’s, with guards protecting the flanks and the center “middle rusher” snapping the ball.
1880: Americans evolve the game to contain an uncontested scrum, because they are bad the scrum. The quarterback is first defined as the player to take the ball from the snap.

1880-1881: the uncontested scrum presents an issue. Teams can just hold onto the ball forever. This becomes known as “the block game.” In addition, if a team goes too far backward, they can run the ball back into their own goal for a “safety touchdown”. This awards zero points.

Spring 1882: an emergency summit is called. Instead of allowing for a contested scrum and defining the rules of a breakdown (as what occurs in Rugby Union), they decide to adopt Walter Camp’s down and distance rule over Princeton’s four consecutive downs rule. It is decided: 3 plays for 5 yards. This is radical.

Late 1882: points are decided in relation to safety touchdowns.

Safety
1
Touchdown
2
Goal following touchdown
4
Goal from field
5