1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game

1921 Centre Praying Colonels vs. Harvard Crimson football game

Centre Praying Colonels	Harvard Crimson
(4–0)	(5–0–1)
6	0
Head coach: Charley Moran	Head coach: Robert T. Fisher

	1	2	3	4	Total
Centre	0	0	6	0	6
Harvard	0	0	0	0	0

Date

October 29, 1921

Season

1921

Stadium

Harvard Stadium

Location

Boston, Massachusetts

Referee

R. W. Maxwell

The 1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game, played October 29, 1921, was a college football game between Centre College and Harvard University. Centre beat Harvard 6–0, in what is widely considered one of the greatest upsets in college football history.^[1]^[2]

The prequel

The teams first met in 1920, at Harvard Stadium in the Boston neighborhood of Allston, with Harvard coming off a Rose Bowl victory and an undefeated national championship season in 1919 (the school's fourth national championship in the prior ten years). Coming into the Centre game, Harvard was also undefeated and unscored upon in the 1920 season. Meanwhile, Centre College, a tiny school of 300 students in Kentucky, had little history of success in football before their current coach, Charley Moran, and star quarterback, Bo McMillin, arrived on campus in 1917.

The Centre Praying Colonels shocked Harvard in the 1920 game simply by taking a 14–7 halftime lead. But, in the second half, Centre withered before the superior Harvard squad, and Harvard won the game 31–14. Following the game, Harvard's captain offered the game ball to Centre's quarterback Bo McMillin, but McMillin declined the ball and promised "We'll be back next year to take it home with us."^[3]

The game

After a scoreless half and early in the third quarter, Red Roberts told McMillin "it's time to score, ride my hump" and McMillin ran for a 32-yard touchdown. He dodged three of Harvard's secondary.^[4]

Aftermath

Bob Fisher said after the game "In Bo McMillin Centre has a man who is probably the hardest in the country to stop."^[5]

McMillin scores.

Immediate impact

All around Danville students painted the "impossible formula" of C6H0.^[6]

The Centre victory was a shock, but perhaps not a fluke; the team would finish the 1921 season 10–1, defeating several of the nation's powerhouses including VPI, Auburn, Arizona, and Clemson. Their only defeat was a 22–14 loss to powerful Texas A&M in The Dixie Classic (forerunner of the Cotton Bowl), Dallas, Texas, on January 2, 1922 (this is the game where A&M's famous 12th man was born). (Bo McMillin got married in Dallas the day before the game, and the Colonels were in the midst of a grueling long distance trip from home by train, having played Arizona in San Diego, California the week prior). Up until their final game of the season the Colonels outscored their opponents by a margin of 314 to 6.^[7]

"Greatest Upset"

In 1950, the Associated Press named C6H0 the greatest sports upset of the first half of the 20th century.^[8] In 2005, The New York Times called it "arguably the upset of the century in college football."^[2] In 2006, ESPN named it the third-biggest upset in the 138-year history of college football.^[1]

On the 75th anniversary of C6H0, Centre challenged Harvard to a rematch. Harvard declined.

References

1 2 "ESPN ranks 1921 Centre-Harvard game among college football's greatest upsets". Retrieved 7 August 2008.
1 2 "C6-H0 plays a prominent part in nation's sports lexicon". Archived from the original on 5 July 2008. Retrieved 7 August 2008.
↑ Bernstein, Mark (2001). Football: The Ivy League Origins of an American Obsession. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-8122-3627-0.
↑ "How Centre Colonels Defeated the Crimson In Cambridge Stadium". The Courier-Journal. October 30, 1921. p. 49. Retrieved February 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ "McMillin's Brillian Sprint Gives Centre Victory Over Harvard". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. October 30, 1921. p. 6. Retrieved February 13, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
↑ http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/10/28/centre-harvard-1921/?page=3
↑ "1921 Season". Retrieved 7 August 2008.
↑ "Centre College Remembers Day When It Was King of the Gridiron". Retrieved 7 August 2008.

External links

Football Program

Centre Colonels football

Venues	Cheek Field (1912–?) Farris Stadium (1923–present)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Kentucky

Culture & lore	1921 Harvard game

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

National championship seasons in bold

Harvard Crimson football

Venues	Jarvis Field (1874–?) Harvard Stadium (1903–present)

Bowls & rivalries	1920 Rose Bowl Columbia Dartmouth Penn Princeton Yale (list)

Culture & lore	"Ten Thousand Men of Harvard" 1874 McGill game 1921 Centre game 1968 Yale game (Harvard Beats Yale 29-29) 2004 Harvard–Yale prank

People	Head coaches

Seasons	1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

National championship seasons in bold

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