Question: What was the most surprising score ever in college football?
Answer: 1942 -- Holy Cross vs. Boston College.
A little background: Until Holy Cross dropped down from 1-A to 1-AA in the 1980s, Boston College vs. Holy Cross was a rivalry season-ending game between two schools in Massachusetts 43 miles apart. It was billed as the New England Championship.
Under Frank Leahy, BC became a national power. In 1940, the Eagles went 11-0 including a Sugar Bowl victory over previously unbeaten Tennessee. Leahy left after the 1940 season, returning to his alma mater Notre Dame where he won four national championships, but the winning continued under his successor Denny Myers.
BC entered the 1942 Holy Cross game the Saturday 8-0, top ranked having outscored the opponents 249-19. The Eagles needed a win to wrap up the National Championship and a spot in the Sugar Bowl. That seemed a sure thing against unranked Holy Cross with a 4-4-1 record. There were no point spreads in those days, but BC was a heavy favorite.
Final score – Holy Cross 55, Boston College 12!
Upsets by big underdogs aren't that rare, but upsets by more than six touchdowns are.
When Western Union reported Holy Cross up 20-6 at the half, some radio stations felt it must have been an error.
Now the rest of the story.
Boston College had made reservations at the Coconut Grove, a popular Boston nightclub, for the evening of the game to celebrate the expected victory. With the loss the reservations were canceled.
The nightclub burned, resulting in 492 deaths, the worst fire tragedy in U.S. History. The loss probably saved the lives of the players and staff.
The loss dropped BC to eighth in the final AP poll while Holy Cross entered the poll for the first at 19.
The beneficiary of the upset was Ohio State, which won its first National Championship. The Buckeyes (9-1) edged Georgia (10-1), with Wisconsin (8-1-1) third. Ohio State's loss was a midseason game at Wisconsin 17-7. Half of the OSU players contracted an intestinal disorder after drinking from an unsanitary fountain on the train to Madison. A.P. voters probably took that into consideration in voting Ohio State Number One.
The OSU coach was Paul Brown, the only coach to win national championships at the high school and college level and an NFL title. In nine years as Washington High School coach in Massillon, Ohio, his teams went 80-8-2 and were named high school national champions four times.
After World War II he was founder and coach of the team that bears his name, the Cleveland Browns, when the All-American Football Conference was established. The Browns dominated, winning all four championships, with a 47-4-3 record. When the league folded, the Browns joined the NFL and won six consecutive Eastern Conference titles (1950-55), with NFL championships in 1950, ’54 and ’55.
Under Brown, the team was ahead of its time, the first to employ a possession passing offense utilizing the skills of Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham.
When the best coaches are discussed, you hear the names Belicheck, Lombardi and Shula, sometimes Gibbs and Landry. Despite his unparalleled success at every level, Brown seldom receives the credit he deserves.
