One hundred years ago, as World War I was coming to a close during the fall of 1918, a flu pandemic hit the world seemingly overnight. In the span of a few months, the flu infected one-third of the world’s population and killed an estimated 50 million people.



In the United States, it seemed as though a new enemy had hit its own borders as public anxiety shifted from the fear of death through war to the fear of death through influenza.



Yet, against this bleak backdrop, a college football season not only persisted in the United States but also worked to spread the game in a way that changed it forever.



As top college athletes enlisted in the war efforts and universities struggled to find enough bodies to field teams, more players who otherwise wouldn’t have had the opportunity to play at the college level were given a chance to participate. The sport became less of an elitist pastime and more of an everyman’s game.



College...