Disneyland Pigskin Classic

This is my favorite time of the year. Leaves starting to change colors. Cool weather. Kids going back to school. Ok, who am I kidding? It is time for college football!!! This year is the latest I can ever recall college football starting. But, back in the mid-1980s up through 2002, the NCAA only allowed schools to play in 12 regular season games if the first game were a licensed or official classic game. Thus, the preseason classics were born.


From 1990 through 1994, Disneyland sponsored one of these games called the Disneyland Pigskin Classic played at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California. This game was the second preseason classic and was basically an answer to the already established Kickoff Classic. As opposed to the Kickoff Classic, the Disneyland Kickoff Classic pitted a teams from the west and the east. Sounds like a Disneyland versus Walt Disney World rivalry to me. Unfortunately for the classics, but fortunate for college football fans everywhere, the NCAA changed its rules and allowed every team to play 12 regular games without the "classic" stipulation. This signalled the death knell for the recent traditions known as the pigskin classics.


In 1992, my alma mater, Texas A&M, was fortunate enough to play in the Disneyland Pigskin Classic III against the Standford Cardinal. My Aggies prevailed in a low scoring 10-7 defensive battle. This August 1992, Volume 73, No. 5 edition of the alumni magazine The Texas Aggie has a small preview of the game. Now, I've got to go watch ESPN GameDay.