The CantmIre Post

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, led by legendary coach John Heisman, routed Cumberland College 222-0 in the most lopsided game in college football history Oct. 7, 1916. It was a record that would stand for nearly a century, until Nov. 18, 2007, when Michigan set the new mark for margin of victory in a college football game by trouncing hapless Appalachian State 84-0. But the Georgia Tech-Cumberland game remains the stuff of legend, a record that may never be broken. Heisman, who would go on to win the Heisman Trophy bearing his name, was in his fifth season at Georgia Tech when his team took on Cumberland, a tiny school in Tennessee with an enrollment of just over 500 students. Cumberland had dropped football after the 1915 season and was only playing this game as a way to get out of a financial obligation it owed to Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had been scheduled to play Vanderbilt, but Vanderbilt had backed out of the game, leaving Georgia Tech without an opponent. So Cumberland agreed to take its place, even though it knew it didn't stand a chance against the mighty Yellow Jackets. And boy, were they right. Georgia Tech scored early and often, racking up 222 points while holding Cumberland scoreless. It was the most points ever scored in a college football game - a record that would stand for 91 years until Michigan topped it against Appalachian State. The Yellow Jackets' margin of victory was also a record that would stand for 91 years - until Florida Atlantic beat Savannah State 70-14 on Sept. 2, 2007. But even that margin pales in comparison to Georgia Tech's 222-point rout of Cumberland all those years ago.