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The Amazing 1983 American Football Season · Sports History Network

• 0:47
  Gridiron timeline Year 1983 might be one of the most amazing years of football history ever as we had some great things.
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  A quarterback standing up to the NFL and winning in the NFL draft.
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  We had a national championship that ended with the Underdogs winning their first championship and an NFL Draft in 1983 that was truly amazing, filled with stars.
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  Hello everybody, this is Darren Hayes of pigskindispatch.com been doing history here for quite a while on Pigskin Dispatch and sharing our timeline with you.
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  If you haven't checked that out, pigskindispatch.com timeline up at the top we have every year, every day of the year being covered here as we go on through football history and this week we are celebrating the year of
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  1983 and what an amazing year it was.
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  I mean it all started off with, you know, some great games that were played, including some bowl games that finish up the 1982 season.
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  The Rose Bowls 69th game the UCLA Bruins outlasted the Michigan Wolverines 2414 and and Tom Ramsey and Don Rogers of UCLA were the CO MVPs of that.
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  The Sugar bowl featured number two Penn State against the undefeated top ranked Georgia Bulldogs led by Heisman Trophy winner and college legend Herschel Walker.
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  And what a game that was too.
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  Kenny Anderson in January 2nd led the Bengals with 20 consecutive passes for a 3527 win over the Houston Oilers and a game capped the season which he won his second consecutive passing title with an NFL record 70.55% completion
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  percentage.
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  Yes, Ken Anderson, the Bengals quarterback, many people have forgotten about him.
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  Definitely a great legend there and we had, you know, an offense that had 10 players on the field on January 3, 1983, their own one yard line.
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  Usually you'd call that disaster when you don't have enough players on the field, but that wasn't the case when the Cowboys played the Vikings on a cold January day.
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  According to ESPN.com when Dallas had a Heisman winning running back named Tony Dorsett, they had no worries.
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  The pit product uses talents to set an NFL record with a 99 yard touchdown scamper and a Cowboys 31 to 27 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
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  With only 10 guys on the field, coach Tom Landry had to be chewing his fedora off his head when he saw that play develop, but was probably quite happy when Dorsett ran it the whole way.
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  Coach great thing.
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  January 1983 the Olympic Committee restored Jim Thorpe's Olympic medals for winning both a pentathlon and decathlon 70 years after they were Taking for him from allegedly being a professional athlete before the games where he played, made like five
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  bucks or something playing a baseball game that had nothing to do with his Olympic things.
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  But the Orange bowl was the site of 1983.
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  New York Jets 1980s were a team built on speed.
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  And the worst thing that could have.
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  Happened to the team of that nature is to have it rain for days.
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  On end on a natural playing surface in southern Florida.
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  Unfortunately for the jets, it did.
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  And the game had gone down in.
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  NFL history as the mud bowl.
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  A wet muddy field negated the jets significant speed and skill advantage.
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  And the Miami Dolphins benefited, blanking the Jets 14 nothing in the AFC championship game.
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  So that the Dolphins would advance to the Super Bowl.
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  And their opponents some seven days later on January 30th and Super Bowl 17 was the Washington Redskins who sport a record of 7 and 2 in this strike shortened NFL season.
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  The game ended up going to the Redskins with a 2717 victory.
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  With John Riggins the diesel powering his running game.
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  And that running game of the Redskins winning the MVP of the game, it was just a thriller there all the way through.
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  The Dolphins fall to the Redskins in that, you know, we had some really great things.
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  Now the draft became the drama, the centerpiece.
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  And that's what a lot of we've talked about all week on long on this.
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  You know, the John Elway story of him telling the Baltimore Colts not to draft him.
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  You know, Jack Elway telling the Colts not to draft a son.
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  John, he did not want to go to that, you know, that franchise because.
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  Right.
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  It was kind of a laughingstock at that point.
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  Felt it was being run very poorly, did the Elway family.
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  And they ended up not getting their wish because the Colts did draft them.
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  But everybody knew that John Elway could go play baseball.
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  And he threatened that the Yankees wanted him, Steinbrenner wanted them.
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  Probably would have been a great ball player in baseball because what an athlete, you know, Elway was.
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  So he had all the cards and he stood up against the NFL and he won.
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  And the Colts ended up trading to him to the Broncos for really, you know, they had some draft picks and everything, but when you have a future hall of Famer and a quarterback that takes your franchise to a
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  bunch of Super Bowls, it's worth every penny of it.
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  And you know, they end up winning a couple Super Bowls near the end there too.
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  And it made just change the whole reflect complexion of the Broncos organization as they really became winners for a long time.
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  With John Elway at the Helm and.
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  But that draft was amazing.
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  On April 26, 1983, a draft took place.
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  So of course Elway went first to Baltimore.
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  Eric Dickerson came off the board, next went to the Rams.
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  Kurt Warner, the running back went to Seattle.
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  He had a great career at Penn State and you know, fairly decent too.
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  Chris Hinton, tackle went to Denver and.
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  Of course Hinton was a part of that trade for Elway.
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  Another hall of Famer went number six, Jimbo Covert to Chicago and really helped build that, that little powerhouse team they.
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  Had there in the mid-80s in Chicago.
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  And then the quarter, another quarterback goes off, Todd Blackledge to Kansas City at 7 with Dan Marino and Jim Kelly sitting back, you know, number nine, Houston drafted Bruce Matthews, a Hall of Fame guard.
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  Jim Kelly finally went off the board at number 14 to Buffalo, even though he sat out and played for the USL for a couple seasons.
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  But Buffalo held out hope and eventually got their man.
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  He guided him the four Super Bowls.
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  Willie Galt went number 18 to Chicago.
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  So they really double dipped in that first round and got some really good ballplayers there.
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  Ken O', Brien, another quarterback, comes off the board at number 24.
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  Still Dan Marino sitting there finally at number 27.
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  Dan Marino taken off the board by Miami and right after him with a guy that opposed quarterbacks and made their lives nightmares.
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  Darrell Green went to the Washington Redskins, the great db, fastest man in the NFL for many, many seasons.
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  So just a tremendous draft.
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  Roger Craig also went in at draft number 49 to the 49ers ironically.
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  And you know, just some great players all around.
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  And I think there might have been another hall of Famer and I'm probably missing them, but you can put it in the comments as we give credit to that.
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  I apologize for that if I missed you.
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  So the big Trade happens on May 2nd where always traded from the Colts to the Denver Broncos.
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  We have a great story on that.
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  A the the Tampa Bay was awarded Super Bowl 17 in June.
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  And you know the USFL then they take stage AB ABC broadcast the first USFL championship July 17th.
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  Bobby Abare wins the MVP honors.
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  The Michigan Panthers defeated the Philadelphia Stars 24 to 22 in that inaugural title game of that short lived spring thing.
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  Anthony Carter sealed the Panthers win with the big catch.
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  You know, 20 of 39 passes, 314 yards was Zabier Carter catching that 48 yarder with 301 remaining.
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  And you know their defensive talent of the Michigan panthers, John Corker, 28 and a half sacks for that unit that had 74 sacks on the season.
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  So that's a lot of sacks in a season for you know, Mr.
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  Corker would have been a great deal.
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  It would have definitely been a record had it been an NFL.
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  Calvin Bryant was a Philadelphia stars feature back.
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  He had 1442 rushing yards that year.
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  Franco Harris became the third player in NFL history in September on the 11th to rush for over 11,000 yards.
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  118 yards for Harris in the Steelers 2521 win over the Green Bay packers put him in that distinctive category.
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  The Saints had their first overtime win.
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  In history on September 18th at 83 by overcoming the Chicago Bears by a field goal in the extra period 34 to 31.
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  Thrilling game there.
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  Franklin College's quarterback Pat Brennan on September 24th in 1983 was intercepted a record nine times by a stingy Saginaw Valley defense.
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  That is an NCAA record for that.
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  The In October 2nd of 1983 the Green Bay packers put up the NFL record 49 first half points against the Buccaneers in Tampa.
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  55:14 was the final score of that as the Bucks were really drugged through the mud by the packers on that game.
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  And ART Monk on October 2nd set a receiver.
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  He starts the first game of his 183 consecutive streaks.
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  Games with a reception started there in 1983.
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  And the jets announced the media that they would be leaving the confines confines of Shea Stadium in October 6 to play all their future games at the Metalians sharing the stadium with their NFL counterparts, the New York Football
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  Giants.
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  You know the legendary quarterback shootout happened October 17th.
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  Lynn Dickey led the Green Bay packers against the Redskins Joe Theisman and it set a record for the highest scoring game of Monday Night Football history.
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  A record still held for 35 years until 2018.
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  The Green Bay packers defeated the Redskins 48 to 47 in a thriller.
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  If you can go back and remember that game, probably you can watch on YouTube or NFL.com if you have the pass to get in there to watch that.
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  You know the Grey cup was won by the Argonauts who defeated the BC Lions 18 to 17 in a thriller.
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  You know, first Argos first Grey cup victory in 31 seasons.
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  Mike Rozier won the 49th Heisman Trophy for Nebraska.
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  And speaking of Nebraska, they ended up playing, you know, they were the top team that year.
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  They ended up playing in the Orange bowl on January 2nd against the number five ranked Miami Hurricanes.
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  You know Nebraska was a big favorite but Miami came out and had a two touchdown lead in the second half.
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  Nebraska fought their way back with just a few Minutes, moments left, it was third and eight and Irving Fryer, the Nebraska wide receivers wide open about the three yard line, drops a pass which would have been a sure
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  touchdown, which could have really tied the game as Miami was winning 31 to 24.
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  So that left Nebraska with a fourth and eight.
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  And what happens next?
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  Osborne takes Rozier out, who was the Heisman Trophy winner, puts in Jeff Smith, his replacement.
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  And.
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  And they run the option play to the right.
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  The quarterback hangs onto it, pitches at the last second to Smith who runs the sideline, dives, hits the pylon.
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  It's 31 to 30.
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  Everybody's expecting a kicker.
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  Come on, kick the the extra point, tie the game up.
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  Nebraska is probably crowned the national championship.
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  But Osborne wants to leave no doubt.
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  He keeps the offense on the field, goes for two and the pass play is deflected at the goal line by Miami.
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  They hang on and win at 31:30 and are the national champions themselves for the first for the Hurricanes and their little dynasty run that they had there in the 80s and the 90s with the powerhouse teams.
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  The Auburn Tigers secured a narrow 2320 victory over Alabama in a 48th Iron bowl at Legion Field on December 3rd.
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  And the Rams defeated the Cowboys 24 17.
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  The NFC wild card game with the help of Leroy Irvin's record setting 94 yard touchdown return.
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  You know, just a tremendous thing there.
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  The Liberty bowl was played on December 29th and it was the second college football holy war game that was ever played.
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  Notre Dame defeated Boston College 19 to 18 in a thriller there.
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  Right at the end of the year, MVP was BC quarterback Doug Flutie, who in a loss, the MVP was a losing quarterback.
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  So pretty amazing stuff there.
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  We have all this on our timeline.
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  Pigskind dispatch.com Check it out.
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  Check out any year you want, any day of the year you want.
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  We keep building more and more everything in here and by the start of football season, we will have every year, every day, free football history from 1869 all the way up to the 2026 season.
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  Until next time, everybody have a great gridiron day.