Today’s Tidbit… IFA Rule #15 Run-In

This is #15 in a series covering football’s original 61 rules adopted by the Intercollegiate Football Association in 1876. We review one rule each Friday.

Rule 9 tells us, “A touchdown is when a player, putting his hand upon the ball on the ground in touch or in goal stops it so it remains dead or fairly so,” which replaced rugby’s try with football’s touchdown. While Rule 15 overlaps Rule 9, though the former confirmed that running with the ball was legal, while the latter tells us th process of...