The end of the college football regular season is upon us, and for those who are big supporters of the sport, that means one thing is around the corner: Christmas.
Oh, and the football postseason as well.
For schools in the Football Championship Subdivision (the old 1-AA), Division II, and Division III, this means playoffs. For Football Bowl Subdivision schools (the former 1-A), this means bowl games. These post seasons games have been a part of college football since the early 20th century and, at least theoretically, pit teams with good to outstanding seasons against each other.
While our own CUA Cardinals currently compete in Division III (making the playoffs in 1997-99 and the ECAC Southeast Bowl in 2008), the team played at the upper levels of college football from 1910-1950. In two of those years, the Cardinals played in bowl games that are still around to this day: the 1940 Sun Bowl against Arizona State and, in perhaps the biggest game in CUA history, the 1936 Orange Bowl against the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). Legendary CUA coach Dutch Bergman led both teams, with the team pulling off a stunning victory in the Orange Bowl against the Southeastern Conference powerhouse Rebels and fighting to a 0-0 tie with the Border Conference representative Sun Devils, who now play in the Pac-12. Continue reading “The Archivist’s Nook: CUA Goes A Bowling”