LEBANON, Tenn. (WKRN) — If you enjoy sports trivia, Oct. 7, 1916, will provide you with plenty.

On that day, Cumberland University infamously lost a college football game 222-0 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sixty-three points in the first quarter. No first downs the entire game. A make-shift Cumberland team full of fraternity brothers, law students, and random people pulled off the train. 

The game was over before it began. 

“You cannot believe how much has been written about this game in newspapers across the country,” said Sam Hatcher, who wrote a behind-the-scenes book about the historic 37-touchdown defeat.

Through his research, Hatcher unearthed several anecdotes about the game. One particularly funny one is when, near the end of the drubbing, Georgia Tech’s coach realized a Cumberland player was on their sideline, covering his face with a towel.

“He thinks, well maybe he’s had a concussion and has come to the wrong side of the field,” detailed Hatcher. “And he says to the player, ‘Son, you’re on the wrong side of the field. You need to be on the Cumberland bench.’ And (the player) says, ‘Yes sir, I know that. But if I go back over there, they’re going to put me back in the game.’” 

Hatcher named his book “Heisman’s First Trophy,” after Georgia Tech’s football coach and the namesake behind college football’s Heisman Trophy, John Heisman.

Often lost in history is the fact that John Heisman was also Georgia Tech’s baseball coach in 1916. 

“He had a nationally-ranked baseball team that he brought to Lebanon in the spring, before the football game was played,” Hatcher explained. “And Cumberland beat his nationally-ranked baseball team 22-0. And that’s what sort of set in motion the 222-0 game later in the fall.” 

A quest for revenge, ultimately ended in the history books. It’s a record that will never be broken and is forever enshrined in the minds of Cumberland Athletics. 

“You got to move forward. 222-0, we remember, but we have to move on from that. We embrace it but we got to get better from it,” said Ron Pavan, Athletic Director for Cumberland University. “And that’s what life’s about: how do you overcome your obstacles? And that’s what Cumberland’s about.” 

Nearly 110 years later, the current Cumberland Football program, which restarted in 1990, will never forget 222-0. Thankfully, it wasn’t the end of their program’s story.

“Tim Mathis, our football coach, was just named last year for Coach of the Year in the Mid-South. We were very good (7-3). We should have a great season,” said Pavan. 

“We are about to ball man. Just watch the season, watch how we make the playoffs, watch how we make history! Just watch,” one Cumberland football player enthusiastically told News 2. 

From the record-breaking loss, oddly enough, came a sudden interest in how the South played college football. 

No longer was the North (i.e. Penn, Harvard) the media darlings of the time. 

“Generally, most of the newspapers reported that they must really be playing some really good football in the South if one team can beat another 222-0,” said Hatcher. “And in 1917, Georgia Tech was the first consensus champion in the South. So it really helped football in the South, and changed football in the south.” 

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/on-tour-middle-tn/changed-football-in-the-south-how-cumberlands-historic-loss-lives-on-over-100-years-later/