The 1899 Colorado Agricultural Aggies football team represented

Colorado Agricultural College Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado S ...

(now known as Colorado State University) in the Colorado Football Association (CFA) during the

1899 college football season The 1899 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing Harvard and Princeton as having been selected national champions. Chicago, Kansas, and Sewanee went undefeated. With ...

. In their first and only season under head coach

W. J. Forbes William James Forbes (August 24, 1874 – June 18, 1900) was an American football and baseball coach. He served as the first ever head football coach at Colorado Agricultural College — now known as Colorado State University — in 1899, compili ...

, the Aggies compiled a 0–2–1 record and were outscored by a total of 117 to 10.

was the program's first football coach. He was paid $25 for his services during the 1899 season. Forbes died in a

freak accident An accident is an unintended, normally unwanted event that was not directly caused by humans. The term ''accident'' implies that nobody should be blamed, but the event may have been caused by unrecognized or unaddressed risks. Most researche ...

following the season, on June 18, 1900, at 25 years old. In the first game that Colorado Agricultural ever played outside of the state of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

(and their first ever game against

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

), a disagreement between officials from the two schools resulted in a controversial ending to the game, sparking a rivalry that has lasted to this day. At the time, officials were provided by the schools competing in the game. The game concluded with a

forfeit being called after Colorado Agricultural official Edward House ruled that Wyoming official E.D. McArthur and the Wyoming team were refusing to abide by the rulebook. After the forfeit was called and the Colorado Agricultural players began leaving the field, official McArthur reportedly exclaimed that he "did not give a damn for the rules" and instructed the Wyoming team to run in a touchdown. This action reportedly set off a brawl between the teams. Following the game, Colorado Agricultural President Barton Aylesworth declared that his school would not play

in any athletic event until he received a written apology from the school. The two schools played again the following year, and there has remained bad blood between the two programs since. Per an

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

rule that does not recognize forfeits in games that were incomplete,

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

does not count the game as a victory in their record books.

Schedule

References

Colorado Agricultural Colorado State Rams football seasons Colorado Agricultural Aggies football {{collegefootball-1890s-season-stub