1906 Florida football team

The university had not yet constructed on-campus sports facilities, so until 1911, its football and baseball teams played and practiced at a municipal park near downtown Gainesville known simply as The Ballpark.

The University of Florida did not adopt the "Gators" nickname for its sports teams until 1911, so early football squads were usually called simply "the Orange and Blue."

[3] Forsythe had played for two years at Clemson under coach John Heisman and then transferred to Florida State College in Tallahassee, where he was a player-coach for one season before the school became Florida Female College and ended its football program after the 1904 season[4][5] The 1906 Florida squad played an eight-game schedule - five contests against amateur athletic clubs and three against nearby private colleges, with three games played in Gainesville.

FAC had adopted the name "University of Florida" in 1903, and in 1904, the school had attempted to jumpstart its football program by scheduling an ambitious slate against southern powers such as Auburn and Georgia.

[9] Several games were cancelled due to a large number of players being declared ineligible by university president Andrew Sledd, who was determined to establish the school's academic credentials, and a potential state championship with Stetson never materialized due to disputes over location.

However, it was discovered during the intermission that Landon's squad included professional players, and Florida's team refused to resume the game.

Reoccurring violence during games and the deaths of several players led to a growing movement to ban the sport in the early 1900s, as dangerous tactics such as the flying wedge, punching, kicking, piling-on, and other dangerous actions were permissible under the rules.

[n 1] Under pressure from president Theodore Roosevelt, the precursor to the modern NCAA was formed to formulate a new set of rules for the 1906 season.

[12] These radical changes including the legalization of the forward pass, allowing the punting team to recover an on-side kick as a live ball, abolishing the dangerous flying wedge, creating a neutral zone between offense and defense, and doubling the first-down distance to 10 yards, to be gained in three downs.

[17] Sources:[18] "Pee Wee's Boys" beat the Rollins Tars 6–0 in their first intercollegiate game played in Gainesville, Florida on October 26, 1906.