1916 Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game

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Most Lopsided Game in College Football History
1 2 3 4 Total
Cumberland 0 0 0 0 0
Georgia Tech 63 63 54 42 222
Date October 7, 1916
Stadium Grant Field
Location Atlanta, Georgia

The October 7, 1916, American football game between the Georgia Tech Engineers and the Cumberland College Bulldogs (now Cumberland University) was the most-lopsided game in the history of college football. Georgia Tech won, 222–0.

Contents

Cumberland University, a school in Lebanon, Tennessee, had actually discontinued its football program before the season but was not allowed to cancel its game against the Engineers. Tech coach John Heisman was in no mood to accommodate the Bulldogs, perhaps because Tech's baseball team had lost 22–0 to Cumberland the previous year amidst allegations of Cumberland using professionals as ringers. The fact that Cumberland had crushed Georgia Tech earlier that year probably accounted for Heisman's running up the score on the Bulldogs. He insisted on the schools' scheduling agreement, which required Cumberland to pay $3,000 (a lot of money in 1916) to Tech if its football team failed to show. So, George 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 scrub team of 14 men (including some of his Kappa Sigma brothers) to travel to Atlanta as Cumberland's football team.

Cumberland received the opening kickoff and failed to make a first down. After a punt, the Engineers scored on their first play. Cumberland then fumbled on their next play from scrimmage, and a Tech player returned the fumble for a touchdown. The Bulldogs fumbled again on their next play, and it took Tech two runs to score its third touchdown. Cumberland lost nine yards on its next possession, then gave up a fourth touchdown on another two-play Tech drive.

The game in action
The game in action

The Engineers led 63–0 after the first quarter and 126–0 at halftime. Tech added 54 more points in the third quarter and 42 in the final period.

Several myths have developed around the game. Some people have written that Cumberland did not have a single play that gained yards; in fact, its longest play was a 10-yard pass (on 4th-and-22). One page on Cumberland's website says Georgia Tech scored on every offensive play, but the play-by-play account of the game posted online says otherwise. Another part of Cumberland's webpage states a more likely scenario: that Georgia Tech scored on every one of its drives.

These statistics are based on the sources listed below and may be incomplete.
  • Rushing: Cumberland, 27–(minus 42)–0TD; Georgia Tech 28–440–20TD
  • Passing: Cumberland, 2–18, 14 yards, 6 interceptions; Georgia Tech, 0–0
  • Kicking: Cumberland, 0–0 FG, 0–0 XP; Georgia Tech, 0–0 FG, 30–32 XP
  • Turnovers: Cumberland 15 (9 fumbles, 6 interceptions), Georgia Tech 0

Georgia Tech also ran up 220 yards on punt returns and 220 yards on kick returns. Georgia Tech scored 12 special teams and defensive touchdowns.

Since World War II, only a few 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.

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