100 years ago today

[SpacemanSpiff]

A century ago today was a collegiate record likely not to be broken (at least I hope not) in football.

Georgia Tech 222 - Cumberland 0.

No, that's not a typo. And that's the classic definition of running up the score. The winning coach - John Heisman (yep, that Heisman).

[silverscreenselect]

A century ago today was a collegiate record likely not to be broken (at least I hope not) in football.

Georgia Tech 222 - Cumberland 0.

No, that's not a typo. And that's the classic definition of running up the score. The winning coach - John Heisman (yep, that Heisman).

A great moment in Tech history.

One reason the score was that lopsided was that, under the rules at the time, a team that was scored upon had the option of either kicking off or receiving. After a couple of Cumberland players were injured on kickoff returns, they decided to kick off after that following each Tech score. Tech scored on every possession in the game.

Cumberland actually had de-emphasized sports and discontinued its football program before the game, but, for some reason, the school did not cancel the game. Tech Coach John Heisman insisted they play or face a forfeiture penalty. Some people at Cumberland believe that the school might have had to close down if they lost the lawsuit and Heisman pushed the issue. They actually got 14 volunteers from one fraternity to make the trip as the Cumberland "team." Heisman was somewhat upset at Cumberland earlier because the previous season their baseball team beat Tech 22-0 and Heisman felt they used some illegal ringers (he was also the baseball coach at Tech at the time). In addition, he was upset at the practice at that time of sportswriters ranking teams based on comparative scores (there was no official national championship at that time) and wanted to prove a point. Heisman did pay for Cumberland's travel expenses to the game. Tech finished 8-0-1 that year. The most points they scored in any other game was 61.

The next year, Tech had an even better team, finishing 9-0 and was generally considered the national champion and one of the best teams ever of that era. That team actually played two games in one day, beating both Furman and Wake Forest. They only gave up 17 points all season (while scoring 491). Tech, which was one of the few schools in that era to have a decent-sized on-campus stadium (Grant Field, which is still in use), hosted 8 out of the 9 games on its schedule, only traveling to Tulane. Immediately after the season, a number of Tech's best players enlisted in the Army, so they turned down an invitation to play in the Rose Bowl that year. Tech would play in the Rose Bowl 12 years later, when it won its second national championship, beating Cal in another famous game, featuring Roy Riegels' wrong way run.