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Most Lopsided Game in College Football History
File:GT Cumberland 222 scoreboard.jpg
1 2 3 4 Total
Cumberland University 0 0 0 0 0
Georgia Institute of Technology 63 63 54 42 222
Date October 7, 1916
Stadium Grant Field
Location Atlanta, Georgia

The 1916 Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game was an American football game played on October 7, 1916, between the Georgia Tech Engineers and Cumberland College Bulldogs at Grant Field (now a part of Bobby Dodd Stadium) in Atlanta, Georgia. The game became the most lopsided in the history of college football, as Georgia Tech was victorious 222–0.[1][2][3]

Background[]

Cumberland College, a school in Lebanon, Tennessee, had discontinued its football program before the season but was not allowed to cancel its game against the Engineers.[1][2] The fact that Cumberland's baseball team had crushed Georgia Tech earlier that year 22–0 (amidst allegations that Cumberland used professionals as ringers) probably accounted for Georgia Tech coach John Heisman's running up the score on the Bulldogs.[1][2] He insisted on the schools' scheduling agreement, which required Cumberland to pay $3,000 ($60,349 in inflation-adjusted terms) to Tech if its football team failed to show.[1][2] So, George E. Allen (who was elected to serve as Cumberland's football team student manager after first serving as the baseball team student manager) put together a team of 14 men to travel to Atlanta as Cumberland's football team.[2]

Another reason for Heisman's plan to run up the score was that collegiate rules at the time ranked teams based on how many points they scored. Heisman did not consider that statistic a true mark of a team's success, and may have unleashed his players on Cumberland to make his point.[4]

Records[]

Since World War II, only a handful of schools have topped 100 points in a college football game. The modern-era record for most points scored against a college opponent is 106 by Fort Valley State of Georgia against Knoxville College in 1969. In the previous year Houston defeated Tulsa 100–6 to set the NCAA record in major college football. In 1949 the University of Wyoming defeated University of Northern Colorado 103–0. The Division II football record was set in 1968 by North Park University in defeating North Central College 104–32, using ten passing touchdowns along the way.

See also[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Litsky, Frank (2006-10-07). "In 1916, a Blowout for the Ages". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/07/sports/ncaafootball/07tech.html. Retrieved 2008-02-09.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Paul, Jim (1983). You Dropped It, You Pick It Up. Baton Rouge, LA: Ed's Publishing Company. ISBN 99934-0-444-6.
  3. Davis, Parke H. (1916-10-15). "Yellow Jackets-Cumberland Score Was Record One; Tops the List According to Statistics Compiled Showing All Scores Past the Century Mark". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. pp. A3.
  4. Nash, Bruce (1990). Football Hall of Shame. Schuster Merchandise. ISBN 978-0-671-72922-6.

External links[]

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