Found this after posting the following comment about what the Smithsonian thinks. Think the whole thread reflects the presumption that someone was "first" to implement a passing game. As all this happened in the era of limited communication it is easy to picture that multiple coaches looked at the rules and tried to find a way to use them to gain an edge. Would guess that the Army game was the first time the passing game was ever the storyline of game that was publicized nationally thanks to "the Eastern Media."
The link which also covers some other thoughts in the thread: http://www.und.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/101713aab.html