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Cincinnati's Nippert Stadium: It's old. How old? The field was first carved out of nearby Burnet Woods in 1901, making it the fourth-oldest active playing site in college football. Or, old enough for its namesake to have allegedly died from contact with chicken droppings:

During the final game of the 1923 season with intrastate rival Miami University, UC player James Gamble Nippert sustained a spike wound injury. He died a month later of blood poisoning, reportedly due to having been infected by droppings left after a pre-game chicken race.
Ah, the chicken races: Home to Ohio's original "Dotting of the 'i.' " (Cincinnati's official site confirms at least half of that account, for the record.) At any rate, after his grandson's death, James N. Gamble of Procter & Gamble donated the required funds to complete the stadium.

Thus completes N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien's pre-game speech.

• What: Thursday night live blog, N.C. State at Cincinnati. All comments welcome.
• When: The game kicks at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN; the chat kicks roughly simultaneously, give or take some pre-game banter.
• Who: You and all your rowdy friends, especially the ones with degrees in agricultural history and/or regional folklore.
• How: Hit "Watch Now," enter comments into the available box and do your part to accelerate the slow, agonizing death of conventional journalism.

• Why: If you can't spend a Thursday night making snarky comments about Sean Glennon's little brother, really, what kind of American are you?


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Matt Hinton is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.