College Football's Safest Record Will Never Be Broken

There have been many records in college football over the years that are deemed unbreakable by fans. From the record-setting Washington Huskies team that had a 63-game unbeaten streak from 1907-17 to Oklahoma's 47-game win streak from 1953-57, records have been set that will likely never be broken. How about Barry Sanders averaging over 238 rushing yards per game in a single season for Oklahoma State in 1988 in route to winning the Heisman Trophy? How about Ron Dayne's career rushing record? Nope. None of these previously mentioned records are remotely close to the one that is guaranteed to never be broken. Yes, I said guaranteed.

In 1916, a school that had discontinued its football program, was not allowed to cancel their game that was scheduled for October 7, 1916. Cumberland College(now Cumberland University) traveled to Atlanta to take on John Heisman's Georgia Tech football team.

A year earlier, Cumberland College pounded Georgia Tech in baseball, 22-0. So Cumberland had to pay $3,000 if they did not show up to play the Georgia Tech Engineers(now called the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets). So Cumberland's manager, George Allen, strung together a team of 14 players to go to Atlanta.

After the first quarter of play, Georgia Tech was winning 63-0. Heisman was likely angry at his baseball team losing badly the year before, so the football team was not about to have mercy on Cumberland County. Georgia Tech then took a 126-0 lead into halftime.

Georgia Tech did letup some in the second half by "only" scoring 54 points in the third quarter followed by 42 in the final quarter. The team forced 15 turnovers, and Georgia Tech scored everytime they had the ball on offense. They also scored 18 offensive touchdowns while Cumberland County had negative 28 yards of offense in the game, though they did have 14 yards passing while Georgia Tech had zero. Georgia Tech had 14 touchdowns off special teams and defense, too. Neither team officially made a first down in the game because Georgia Tech scored everytime they had the ball and Cumberland County never converted any.

The 222-0 pounding by Georgia Tech is the most lopsided victory in college football as well as the most points scored by a single team in one game.

To put in perspective on how much I think this record is guaranteed to never be broken, take a look at this:

1. No other team in NCAA history has scored 200 points in a game, and only a few times since World War II has a team scored 100 in a game. The most in the modern era happened in 1969 when Fort Valley State of Georgia accomplished the feat against Knoxville College when they won, 106-0.
2. No team in the history of college football has scored 100 points in one half.
3. No team has ever scored as many non-offensive touchdowns(14) in a single game, and you would be lucky to find one that had that many in a single season in the modern era.

The only thing Georgia Tech did wrong on that October day was failing to convert two extra points. In fairness to Cumberland County, they had discontinued the team that year, and only suited up 14 players. Plus, they were not a division-1A school to begin with. That said, no matter who the competition is, to score and win by 222 points is extremely impressive. Besides, no one has scored that much on any level.

The dominant and record-breaking performance by Georgia Tech on October 7, 1916 is easily the most unbreakable record in college football history. This could very easily be the most unbreakable in all sports. You might as well guarantee this record unbreakable unless they increase the game-time to 30-minute quarters in length. If this record falls, I will believe that any record in any sport is bound to be broken.

Sources: www2.cumberland.edu, wikipedia, ESPN Almanac