One hundred and twenty-five years ago on November 6, 1869, Rutgers and Princeton played the first intercollegiate football game in New Brunswick on College Field, which is now the site of the College , Avenue Gymnasium and its parking lot. And, while Rutgers won that initial contest, 6-4, Princeton would dominate the early days of this intrastate rivalry.
The Tigers won the second game at home a week later and went on to win the next 24 games through 1897, holding the Scarlet Knights scoreless in 22 of the 25 victories. Getting together again in 1911, Princeton added five more wins before the series lapsed in 1915. A leap of 18 years, a tumultuous time in this country's history, elapsed before the next meeting, but the pattern did not change as Princeton took the 1933, 1935, 1936 and 1937 games, all on its home grounds, as were all but six of the 34 games.
Those six games had been played at the site of the original game, College Field, where contests were staged through 1891, after which Neilson Field became the home of the Scarlet until 1938.
