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{{Short description|College football game regarded as the most lopsided game in American Football}}
{{
{{
{{Use American English|date = November 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date = November 2019}}
| name = Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech, 1916
▲{{Infobox NCAA football single game
| subheader =
| image = GT Cumberland 222 scoreboard.jpg
| football_season
| visitor_name_short = Cumberland
| visitor_nickname = Bulldogs
|
| home_name_short = Georgia Tech▼
| home_nickname = Engineers
| visitor_record
| home_record
| visitor_coach = [[George
| home_coach
| visitor_1q
| visitor_2q = 0
▲| home_school = Georgia Institute of Technology
| visitor_3q = 0
▲| home_name_short = Georgia Tech
| visitor_4q = 0
| home_1q
| home_2q
| home_3q
| home_4q
| date
| stadium
| city
| MVP
}}
The '''1916 Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game''' was played on October 7, 1916, between the [[Cumberland Phoenix football|Cumberland College Bulldogs]] and the [[Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football|Georgia Tech Engineers]] on the Engineers' home field of Grant Field in [[Atlanta]]. Georgia Tech defeated the Bulldogs 222–0 for the most lopsided score in the history of
Cumberland had disbanded its football program the previous year but was still obligated to play this game against Georgia Tech. The Engineers' [[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|fraternity brothers]] and students from Cumberland's [[law school]] to play in Atlanta.
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Despite receiving the opening kickoff, Cumberland never achieved a [[first down]] in the entire match and opted to [[punt (gridiron football)|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 (gridiron football)|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. After World War II,{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} it became regarded as [[Unsportsmanlike conduct|unsportsmanlike]] to deliberately [[Running up the score|run up the score]] to such high numbers, meaning that [[List of 100-point games in college football|college football games of more than
==Background==
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{{blockquote|I hereby <!-- misspelled "hearby" in the original --> 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 ...<ref name="philly">{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/1990-08-26/sports/25932112_1_cumberland-university-nick-coutras-georgia-tech |title=A Loss That Lives In Legend Cumberland Crashed In Football, 222-0 |date=1990-08-26 |access-date=18 May 2015}}</ref>|sign=|source=}}
[[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,{{
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.<ref>{{cite book| title=Football Hall of Shame| last=Nash| first=Bruce |publisher=Schuster Merchandise| year=1990| isbn=978-0-671-72922-6}}</ref>
==The game==
Cumberland received the opening [[kickoff (gridiron football)|kickoff]] and failed to make a [[down (gridiron football)|first down]]. After a [[punt (gridiron football)|punt]], the Engineers scored on their first play.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="pbp">{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/75201053/the-atlanta-constitution/| title=Yellow Jackets-Cumberland Score Was Record One; Tops the List According to Statistics Compiled Showing All Scores Past the Century Mark| last=Davis| first=Parke H. |author-link=Parke H. Davis| newspaper=The Atlanta Constitution| date=1916-10-15| pages=A3|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Cumberland then [[fumble]]d on their next play from the [[line of scrimmage]], and a Georgia Tech player returned the fumble for a [[touchdown]].<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="pbp"/> The Bulldogs fumbled again on their next play, and it took Georgia Tech two [[Rush (gridiron football)|rush]]es to score its third touchdown.<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="pbp"/> Cumberland lost nine yards on its next possession, and Georgia Tech scored a fourth touchdown on another two-play drive.<ref name="dropped"/><ref name="pbp"/>
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.<ref name="dropped"/><ref name="pbp"/> 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 [[point after touchdown|extra points]].<ref name= wp1916>
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<ref name="nyt"/><ref name="dropped"/> or 3rd-and-18<ref name="pbp"/>). 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 purportedly committed 15 [[Turnover (football)|turnovers]]—nine fumbles and six [[interception]]s—during the game.
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{{Americanfootballbox
|titlestyle= {{CollegePrimaryStyle|
|state=autocollapse
|title=1916 Week Two: Cumberland Bulldogs at Georgia Tech Engineers
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;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
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;Top receivers
*CU – George Murphy{{efn|"George Murphy" may have actually been a ringer named John "Johnny Dog" Nelson, a sportswriter who had previous football experience.}} – 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 [[1913 Florida Gators football team|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.<ref name="
Since World War II, only a [[List of 100-point games in college football|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 University|Fort Valley State]] of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] against [[Knoxville College]] in 1969. In the previous year [[Houston Cougars|Houston]] defeated [[Tulsa Golden Hurricane|Tulsa]] 100–6 to set the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|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.<ref name="northcentralcollege.edu">North Central College Football Record Book ({{cite web |url=http://northcentralcollege.edu/Documents/athletics/fb_record_book.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-10-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307203748/http://northcentralcollege.edu/Documents/athletics/fb_record_book.pdf |archive-date=7 March 2012 |df=dmy-all }}).</ref>
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While Cumberland's football team would eventually be restarted full-time (and change its nickname to the [[Cumberland Phoenix football|Phoenix]] in 2016), the two schools have not met in any sports since: Cumberland would eventually de-emphasize athletics, and currently competes in the [[National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics|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 [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] rules only allow [[NCAA Division III|Division III]] schools to compete against NAIA schools
==See also==
* [[List of historically significant college football games]]▼
* [[1992 Troy State vs. DeVry men's basketball game]] – the highest scoring college basketball game in history
▲* [[List of historically significant college football games]]
==Notes==
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== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080609100108/http://www2.cumberland.edu/about/gotc/index.html The Game of the Century] at Cumberland University (via archive.org).
* [https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2016/10/7/13199052/georgia-tech-cumberland-college-222-0-game-history-records GEORGIA TECH 222, CUMBERLAND 0.] – 100th anniversary tribute by SB Nation
{{Cumberland Bulldogs football navbox}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumberland vs. Georgia Tech football game 1916}}
[[Category:1916 college football season]]
[[Category:1916 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)]]▼
[[Category:Cumberland Phoenix football games|vs. Georgia Tech 1916]]
[[Category:Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football games|vs. Cumberland 1916]]
▲[[Category:1916 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:October 1916 sports events]]
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