Friday, October 7, 2016

Friday Short: 222-0


Jon Bois is an SBNation writer and researcher that puts together some great stories. Today, Friday, October 7th,  2016, marks the 100th anniversary of the most points ever scored in a football game by a single team. 


 

The story of Georgia Tech’s humiliation of Cumberland College by a score of 222-0 is both worth the short watch and fascinating as to how it came about.

Long story short:  Cumberland had brought in Pro Baseball Players to play a game against Georgia Tech the year prior and beat Tech 22-0.  And embarrassing baseball score to say the least.  The coach of Tech’s Baseball Team:  John Heisman.

The next year, Cumberland didn’t have a team but Heisman threatened to fine Cumberland $3,000 ($66,000 in today’s dollars) if Cumberland didn’t field a team.  So they grabbed some law students and decided to play.

Heisman made Cumberland pay dearly for the embarrassment to his baseball team and the score reflects that.  Baseball loss:  22-0 Football win:  222-0.  John also made a point to sports writers everywhere that used to look at “final scores” to determine the best football teams in the country when TV wasn’t around.  Heisman argued the point that the number of points scored in a game meant nothing.  

In that regard, Heisman was clearly a man way before his time.  Apparently Cumberland begged for mercy, and Heisman agreed to shorten the game by 5 minutes.  But only after the score was 222-0.

32 TDs and 30 extra points = 222.  Heisman elected not to try for the point after on the last TD. And Cumberland blocked one extra point sometime in the 2nd half. 

Moral of the story:  Don’t piss off John Heismann.

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