This podcast episode delves into the intriguing historical narrative surrounding C.W. Savage and the storied rivalry between Ohio State and Oberlin College. We explore Savage's multifaceted involvement in football history, particularly his connection to notable figures such as John Heisman, and the contentious outcomes of pivotal games. One such game, played in 1892, saw Oberlin claim a disputed victory over Michigan, which ignited a debate that persists to this day. Additionally, we recount the unfortunate circumstances leading to a staggering defeat of Oberlin by Ohio State, illustrating the unpredictable nature of college football. Through these anecdotes, we gain insight into the rich tapestry of American football history and the enduring legacies of its players and coaches.

This information comes from his original post titled: C. W. Savage, Michigan, and Ohio State -

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You're just in time for an interesting story about Ohio State and John Heisman.

It's all coming together with a connection that Timothy P.

Brown puts together in this story that's quite savage indeed.

Tim's up in just a moment to tell us all about it.

This is the Pigskin Daily History Dispatch, a podcast that covers the anniversaries of American football events throughout history.

Your host, Darrin Hayes is podcasting from America's North Shore to bring you the memories of the gridiron one day at a time.

Hello, my football friends.

This is Darren Hayes of Pigskind dispatch.com welcome once again to the Pig Pen, your portal positive football history.

And welcome to another evening.

And because it's Tuesday, we get to talk to Timothy b.

Brown of footballarchaeology.com Tim, welcome back to the Pig Pen.

Hey there.

Good to see you.

Looking forward to chatting.

Should be a Savage discussion.

It certainly will.

It certainly will be savage.

And it always is savage when you have a rivalry and one of the biggest rivalries in college football.

Or is in your title at least.

We'll see if it's in the story here in a moment, but your title of your recent tidbit is C.W.

savage, Michigan and Ohio State.

That's like Hatfield and McCoys with a guy named Savage in the middle here.

Yeah, it sounds like.

So what can you tell us about this story?

Well, yeah, I don't think the story really involves Michigan versus Ohio State, but it's more that this Mr.

Savage was involved with both of them, and depending on who you believe, he beat both of them or his teams beat both of them.

So C.W.

savage, you know, you may have somebody's into football history, may have run across him in the past.

He was a longtime member of the College Football Rules Committee.

So again, you could have run across him because of that.

And he spent most of his adult life as a professor and athletic director at Oberlin College.

So that's, you know, kind of the position that he held.

92 was the year that John Heisman coached Oberlin, and that was, you know, actually his first year coaching at all.

So in November of 92, Carlisle, or I'm sorry, Oberlin went up to Ann Arbor to play Michigan, and they had made a deal that they would end the game in time for Oberlin to catch the train going back home.

Right.

Because, I mean, that, that was just kind of the fact that, you know, the reality of it was, you know, transportation issues.

So they're playing the game, and at one point, you know, fairly late in the game, oberlin is winning 24 to 22.

And Savage, by the way, had 100 yard touchdown run in the game.

And so there was a point where Oberlin's like, okay, hey, time's up.

We got to catch the train.

So they walk off the field.

Michigan continues playing in scores.

And so they claimed a 26, 24 victory, whereas Oberlin says, no, we won 24, 22.

And so that battle has gone on ever since.

And I actually wrote about that like, two or three years ago because Michigan was coming up on, like, their 1,000th football victory.

And I was just pointing out, well, they're counting this game in that thousand, so.

And there's probably some others like that, you know, like, should you count this game or not?

But this.

That was one where it's clearly a disputed outcome on the game.

So.

So that.

That one just kind of has to sit out.

That's kind of the end of that part of the story.

But the.

The other cool thing then was that, you know, at when Savage is the athletic director, he.

He had.

He hired a guy.

I've never been sure how to pronounce his name, but Paul Desjardin I think is how it's pronounced.

He was a former Chicago All American, and so he's getting ready to play Ohio State.

And the week of the game, the faculty, there was some kind of fraternity hazing incident or some kind of fraternity incident, and like, almost the whole team got expelled from school.

So.

So he ends up.

He's got to put whatever he's got left.

I mean, they literally.

I think we're recruiting kids off campus to go play Ohio State.

So they lost 120 to 8 to nothing.

Oh, that's a close one.

Yeah, yeah, it's.

I mean, I just imagine, you know, I mean, because Oberlin wasn't expected to win the game to begin with, but so then.

So I guess anytime that your college ends with the word land and you're recruiting kids right before the game, it's going to be a whitewash.

And I'm thinking like, Cumberland against Georgia tech and the 222 to nothing game.

So these poor guys.

So then, yeah, CW does, you know, smart thing, and he.

He hired a guy named T.N.

metcalf who.

He'd hired him at one point, and then the guy did well, so then Columbia recruited him and he Became the coach there for a couple years.

Then he, he comes back and coaches Oberlin again and Oberlin.

And then they played in the.

I'm sorry.

Yeah, in ninth.

No, sorry, I am screwed up.

Big Ten champs in 20 and played in the 21 Rose Bowl.

So now in the 21 season, they're the returning champs and Oberlin goes to Columbus and beats them seven to six.

So it's just one of those things where second game of the season, Ohio State's highly touted and little schmo Oberlin comes in and beats them, you know, in a tough game and all that kind of stuff.

So that, that's kind of it.

I believe that is the last time that any team from Ohio has beaten Ohio State.

Interesting.

Yeah, I guess that was a little bit revenge for that.

122 to 8 or whatever score, 128 to nothing.

I'm looking for revenge, man.

Yeah, yeah, we're going to embarrass you as Rose bowl champions or whatever.

And they probably did.

That's probably more embarrassing for Ohio State to lose a one point game to Oberlin and Oberlin losing by 100 or whatever a few years earlier.

So, you know, it's actually, you know, that you say that, but as I recall, like the, you would think like the newspapers would just be aghast, but it's just kind of like, hey, they screwed.

It didn't play very well and they lost seven to six.

You know, it was, it was pretty matter of fact, you know, and it wasn't like massive headlines.

It was kind of like, can you.

Imagine if that happened right now in this day and age?

Ryan Day would be, you know, they'd want his head and Columbus would be, you know, searching for him with pitchforks and stuff to find a guy.

But yeah, it's amazing how much football has changed over the years.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

For.

Well, WC or cw, I should say, you know, had his hand in a couple of these.

So just kind of fun, fun little stories about football past and, and you know, gets us to question, as always, whether Michigan really did win that game.

Yeah.

And I mean, you do this in time and time again in your tidbits, you add a little bit of intrigue like that.

You know, the first part of the story, you put some connections through history with this.

In this case, you know, this guy, CW Savage and all his different connections and his Forrest Gump like appearances through football history at some of these big games.

And then you tell us a story about him and you.

It's a great piece of Americana, great piece of football history in your tidbits.

And maybe you can share with us where we can find your tidbits at.

Yep, footballarchaeology.com it's a substack site.

So just go there, subscribe and you'll, you know, get future stories just sent to you, you know, via your inbox.

Otherwise you can just follow me on, on the application or on Blue sky and you'll be able to read the articles that way.

Well, Tim, we really appreciate you sharing the story, writing the story and doing all the research on it and then sharing it with us here tonight.

And, and we'd love to talk to you again next Tuesday.

Very good.

Look forward.

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