In 1908, a Syracuse student began using the word "Hoodoo" (a corruption of "voodoo") in an attempted explanation of the continued plight of the Orange squad at the hands of its rival. A '35 Maroon elaborated:
"It was in 1908 that the wraith-like specter of the Hoodoo first slipped out of its resting place in the cement structure of Archbold Stadium and joined 11 Colgate men on the football field to help in bringing the first of a string of victories over the Orange to the Maroon fighters. Rumor has it that the Hoodoo was born of a Maroon varsity 'C' sweater which lies embedded in the cement of the stadium, placed there by a Colgate student one night while the stadium was under construction.
"And the Hoodoo wielded his power in that 1908 game, the first Colgate-Syracuse battle in the new stadium, with results that are now historic. He aided the Maroon team in making the only score of the game. For the rest of the game he stood in front of Colgate's goal line and repeatedly halted Syracuse advances. The Orange eleven was in possession of the ball eight times on Colgate's 10-yard line, five times on its five-yard line, and once on the three-yard stripe. The climax came when Syracuse had the ball one foot from a touchdown. But the invisible twelfth member of the Colgate team did his job well and pushed the opposing team back to end the game with a final score of 6-0.
"The jinx of the abstruse Hoodoo was among the first of psychological tactics to be used in collegiate football. The entire purpose behind the fabled Hoodoo chant, begun in the 1920's, was to 'psyche out' the Orange eleven along with every Syracuse fan in Archbold Stadium... As the crowd's chants of 'Hoo-Doo - Hoo-Doo...' began, every person in the stadium knew the Colgate Hoodoo was alive, invisible, hovering over the stadium ready to discombobulate the enemy."
(Pearson, A Roar From the Valley, p. 22)