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Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech, 1916
Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech, 1916
Cumberland Bulldogs	Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
(0–1)	(2–0)
0	222
Head coach: ; George E. Allen	Head coach: ; John Heisman
Date	October 7, 1916
Season	1916
Stadium	Grant Field
Location	Atlanta

The 1916 Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game was played on October 7, 1916, between the Cumberland College Bulldogs and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on the Yellow Jackets' home field of Grant Field in Atlanta. Georgia Tech defeated the Bulldogs 222–0 for the most lopsided score in the history of college football.^[1]^[2]

Cumberland had disbanded its football program the previous year but was still obligated to play this game against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets' head coach, John Heisman, had been the coach of Georgia Tech's baseball team when it was defeated 22–0 by the Bulldogs earlier in 1916, and was looking to avenge that game. Heisman insisted that the Bulldogs fulfill their obligations to play the game and threatened legal action if Cumberland backed out. Cumberland tasked George E. Allen, its baseball captain, to assemble a football team for the game; he recruited his fraternity brothers and students from Cumberland's law school to play in Atlanta.

Despite receiving the opening kickoff, Cumberland never achieved a first down in the entire match and opted to punt on multiple possessions; the game's infamous score can be partially attributed to 97 percent of the game's plays occurring in Cumberland territory, with 64 of those plays occurring in its red zone. Georgia Tech, instigated by Heisman, scored on every first down it gained. The imbalance of the teams was so severe that the final two quarters were shortened from their customary 15 minutes to 12 minutes.

This would be the last matchup of any sport between the two schools; Cumberland deemphasized athletics in favor of academic pursuits, while Georgia Tech has continued to compete at the highest level of college sports. Current National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) rules preclude a rematch of this game. In modern times, it is generally seen as risky to player health and unsportsmanlike to deliberately run up the score to such high numbers, meaning that college football games of more than 100 points have been infrequent since the 1940s.

Background

Cumberland College, a Presbyterian school in Lebanon, Tennessee, had discontinued its football program before the season but was not allowed to cancel its game against the Yellow Jackets.^[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, as Heisman was also Georgia Tech's baseball coach.^[1]^[2] It is speculated that Heisman may have deliberately aimed for a score of exactly 222 as a numerically significant retaliation to Cumberland's 22.^[3] He insisted on the schools' scheduling agreement, which required Cumberland to pay $3,000 (equivalent to $84,000 in 2023) to Tech if its football team failed to show.^[1]^[2] In fact, Heisman actually paid Cumberland $500 (equivalent to $14,000 in 2023) as an incentive to play the game; his letter to Cumberland's athletic department read in part:

I hereby offer you the sum of $500 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Atlanta for your football team on the condition that you honor your contract by participating in and completing the Cumberland-Georgia Tech football game ... However, if this offer is refused ... I shall be forced to demand that your school reimburse the Tech Athletic Dept. in the amount of $3,000 for losses from the projected net gate receipts ...^[4]

George E. Allen (who was elected to serve as Cumberland's football team student manager after first serving as the baseball team student manager) therefore put together a team of 12–16 players,^[a] most of whom were his fraternity brothers or law students, to travel to Atlanta as Cumberland's football team.^[2]

Another reason for Heisman's plan to run up the score was the practice among the sportswriters of the time to rank teams based upon how many points they scored. Since this statistic did not account for the strength or weakness of a team's opponent, Heisman disagreed with the amount of weight the writers tended to assign to it, and he may have unleashed his players on Cumberland to make his point.^[5]

The game

Cumberland received the opening kickoff and failed to make a first down. After a punt, the Yellow Jackets scored on their first play.^[1]^[6] Cumberland then fumbled on their next play from the line of scrimmage, and a Georgia Tech player returned the fumble for a touchdown.^[1]^[6] The Bulldogs fumbled again on their next play, and it took Georgia Tech two rushes to score its third touchdown.^[1]^[6] Cumberland lost nine yards on its next possession, and Georgia Tech scored a fourth touchdown on another two-play drive.^[2]^[6]

Georgia Tech led 63–0 after the first quarter and 126–0 at halftime. Georgia Tech added 54 more points in the third quarter and 42 in the final period.^[2]^[6] Several players on the heavily-outmatched Cumberland side suffered serious injuries during the game, including quarterback Charles Edwards, who was thrice carted off with concussions.

Georgia Tech scored a total of 32 touchdowns, and Georgia Tech's left end James Preas kicked 18 extra points.^[7] Cumberland's only effective defense was an extra point blocked with a sort of human pyramid known as the "climb-the-ladder" play, topped with Vichy Woods, who suffered a gruesome facial injury on the play.^[2] Despite scoring 32 touchdowns, the Yellow Jackets did not complete or attempt a forward pass; all their yardage came on rushes, returns or defensive plays.

Several myths have developed around the game. Some 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^[1]^[2] or 3rd-and-18^[6]). The Bulldogs gained positive yardage on at least six plays, though they fumbled on two of them. One page on Cumberland's website says Georgia Tech scored on every offensive play, but the play-by-play account of the game refutes this and suggests a more likely scenario: that Georgia Tech scored on every one of its sets of downs. Cumberland made no first downs in the entire game.^[6]

Cumberland purportedly committed 15 turnovers—nine fumbles and six interceptions—during the game.

As a general rule, the only thing necessary for a touchdown was to give a Tech back the ball and holler, ‘Here he comes’ and ‘There he goes.’
— The Atlanta Journal, 1916

Sportswriter Grantland Rice wrote, "Cumberland's greatest individual play of the game occurred when fullback Allen circled right end for a 6-yard loss."^[4]^[8] At halftime, Heisman reportedly told his players, "You're doing all right, team, we're ahead. But you just can't tell what those Cumberland players have up their sleeves. They may spring a surprise. Be alert, men! Hit 'em clean, but hit 'em hard!"^[8]^[9] However, even Heisman relented, and shortened the third and fourth quarters from 15 minutes to 12.^[9]

Statistics

These statistics are based on the play-by-play transcript and may be incomplete.

Team	Rushing				Passing				Kicking
Team	Att	Yards	TD	Fumb Lost	Comp–Att	Yards	TD	Int	FGM–FGA	XPM–XPA
Cumberland	27	−42	0	9	2–18	14	0	6	0–0	0–0
Georgia Tech	26	922	32	0	0–0	0	0	0	0–0	30–32

1916 Week Two: Cumberland Bulldogs at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Cumberland	0	0	0	0	0
Georgia Tech	63	63	54	42	222

at Grant Field, Atlanta

Date: October 7, 1916
Game time: Day game
Play-by-Play

Game information

First quarter

GT Strupper 80 yard run (Jim Preas kick)
GT Marshall Guill 10 yard fumble return (Preas kick)
GT Preas 5 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Strupper 10 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Canty Alexander recovered own fumble in end zone (Preas kick)
GT Strupper 60 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Tommy Spence 35 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Strupper 45 yard punt return (Preas kick)
GT Spence 90 yard kickoff return (Preas kick)

Second quarter

GT Jim Senter 20 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Preas 15 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Guill 20 yard interception return (Preas kick)
GT George Griffin 10 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Strupper 3 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Bob Glover 4 yard run (Preas kick)
GT Preas 10 yard fumble return (Preas kick)
GT Stan Fellers 17 yard interception return (Preas kick)
GT Fellers 33 yard punt return (Preas kick)

Third quarter

GT Strupper 3 yard run (Spence kick)
GT Buzz Shaver 25 yard punt return (Spence kick)
GT Spence 10 yard run (Spence kick)
GT Strupper 15 yard run (Spence kick)
GT Spence 35 yard run (Spence kick)
GT W.G. "Six" Carpenter 8 yard run (kick failed)
GT Strupper 35 yard punt return (kick failed)
GT Spence 20 yard interception return (Strupper kick)

Fourth quarter

GT Fellers 40 yard interception return (Bill Fincher kick)
GT Griffin 35 yard run (Fincher kick)
GT Senter 2 yard run (Fincher kick)
GT Fellers 40 yard punt return (Fincher kick)
GT Fellers 15 yard run (Fincher kick)
GT Senter 30 yard interception return (Fincher kick)

Top passers

CU – Leon McDonald – 2/18, 14 YDS, 6 INT
GT – none (no pass attempts)

Top rushers

CU – Morris Gouger – 4 CAR, -2 YDS
GT – G.E. "Strup" Strupper – 8 CAR, 195 YDS, 6 TD

Top receivers

CU – George Murphy^[b] – REC, 10 YDS
GT – none (no pass attempts)

Records

Prior to the match, the record for a highest score in a football match was a 159–0 score by Newberry against BMI made in 1913, while the highest score in a college game was 144–0 by the Florida Gators against Florida Southern also in 1913. In the preceding 45 years of college football, only 36 games had exceeded 100 points, and only seven those were against teams also from a college.^[6]

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 III football scoring record was set in 1968 when North Park University defeated North Central College 104–32, using ten passing touchdowns along the way.^[10]

Legacy

The game ball had the score written on it as a memento. It was donated to the Helms Athletic Foundation sports museum by Bill Schroeder, an avid sports collector. When the museum moved locations in the 1980s, the ball was boxed and remained in storage.

In 2014, Ryan Schneider, a Georgia Tech alumnus, purchased the ball in a charity auction for $40,388 ($33,657 without buyer's premium), with the intention of donating it back to Georgia Tech.^[11]

In October 1956, a 40th reunion was held for players from both teams, of whom 28 were able to attend.^[9] While reminiscing, one of the Cumberland players pointed out one play that saved Cumberland from an even worse defeat; had Cumberland punted as normal instead of running a sneak, the score would probably have been 229–0.^[9]

While Cumberland's football team would eventually be restarted full-time (and change its nickname to the Phoenix in 2016), the two schools have not met in any sports since: Cumberland would eventually de-emphasize athletics, and currently competes in the NAIA, while Georgia Tech would go on to be a founding member of the Southeastern Conference before departing the SEC in 1964, and is currently a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.

In any case, current NCAA rules only allow Division III schools to compete against NAIA schools.

Notes

^ Conflicting sources report anywhere from 12 to 19 players (and of those 19, three got lost in Nashville and missed their train, leaving at most only 16 players).^[4]
^ "George Murphy" may have actually been a ringer named John "Johnny Dog" Nelson, a sportswriter who had previous football experience.