Centre Colonels football

History

On April 9, 1880, a Centre College team traveled to Lexington to play against Transylvania University in the first football game south of the Ohio River. The Colonels lost that game, and a rematch at home later in the month, but it was the start of a long-running rivalry with their in-state opponent. The first officially recognized game of Centre and the University of Kentucky took place in 1891. In that series, the Colonels compiled a 20–13–2 record before the Kentucky athletic council decided to permanently drop Centre from their schedule after the 1929 season.

At the beginning of the Roaring '20s, Harvard University, the nation's dominant football power, was riding a two-year undefeated streak whose last loss had been to Brown in 1918. Then the Crimson invited Centre (enrollment at that time: 264) to Cambridge for what they thought would be a "warm-up" game, a light workout before facing Princeton the following week.

From 1917 to 1924, Centre compiled a 57–8 record while playing against some of the best teams in the nation. The team was retroactively selected by Jeff Sagarin as co-national champion for the 1919 season. After the 1920 season, Centre faced Texas Christian (TCU) in the Fort Worth Classic. The Colonels convincingly routed them, 63–7.

The 1921 Centre–Harvard game resulted in one of the most shocking upsets in college football, with the Colonels winning, 6–0. The Colonels (under coach Charley Moran) shocked Harvard and became the first school from outside the East to ever beat one of the Ivy League's "Big Three" of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Star player Bo McMillin rushed for the lone touchdown of the game early in the third quarter, and the Praying Colonels' defense held off the Crimson's powerful offense from there for a 6–0 victory, a feat that The New York Times later dubbed "Football's Upset of the Century". The Centre College official website claims the 1921 national championship, apparently on this basis. 29 years later, in 1950, the Associated Press chose the Centre win as the greatest sports upset of the first half of the 20th century. ESPN described Centre's victory as one of the biggest upsets in all sports during the twentieth century.

The star of that game, back Alvin "Bo" McMillin, was twice named a consensus All-American, in 1919 and 1921. Center Red Weaver was named a consensus All-American alongside him in 1919. The Colonels finished the 1921 season undefeated, outscoring their opponents, 314–6. In the Dixie Classic, precursor to the modern Cotton Bowl Classic, Centre faced Texas A&M. Miscues contributed to the Colonels' defeat, 22–14. This is also the game in which Texas A&M's 12th man tradition originated.

On four consecutive Saturdays in 1924, the Colonels defeated Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. That same season, Centre defeated Georgia and Alabama and claims a southern title. As early as 1927, a writer noted that its glory days were short-lived as losses mounted and it fell out of the limelight.

Centre again found success during the 1950s. In 1951, the Colonels finished the season with a 5–1 record and were invited to play Northern Illinois State in the Corn Bowl. The invitation, however, was rejected by the school administration who wished to de-emphasize football. From 1954 to 1956, Centre compiled a sixteen-game winning streak. In 1955, the undefeated Colonels were again invited to a postseason game, the Tangerine Bowl, but once more declined.

In recent years, Centre has secured eight SCAC championships between 1980 and 2003. Jack "Teel" Bruner, a safety from 1982 to 1985, became the second Centre Colonel inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1984, he recorded five interceptions against Rose-Hulman, tying the all-time record.

In 2011, the Colonels' final SCAC season, they finished second in the conference, but received an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament. The Colonels defeated Hampden–Sydney in the first round to earn their first Division III tournament win, and lost in the next round to traditional D-III powerhouse Mount Union.

The Colonels' 2014 season was arguably their most successful in decades. They won their first SAA championship and finished the regular season 10–0, marking the team's first unbeaten regular season since 1955 and only the third in school history. The season ended in the first round of the Division III playoffs against John Carroll.

Conference affiliations

• Independent (1880, 1894–1923)
• Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (1924–1941)
• Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (1962–2011)
• Southern Athletic Association (2012–present)

Postseason appearances

NCAA Division III playoffs

The Colonels have made four appearances in the NCAA Division III playoffs, with a combined record of 2–4.

Championships

National championships

Centre won its lone national championship in 1919. Centre claims this championship.

Independent Southern championships

Conference championships

Individual achievements

Consensus All-Americans

Centre has three consensus All-America selections.

• Bo McMillin, B (1919, 1921)
• Red Weaver, C (1919)

College Football Hall of Fame

Two former Centre players have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, located in Atlanta, Georgia.

References

Notes

References

1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20091116160604/http://www.centre.edu/web/athletics/football/history_football.html History and Records], Centre College, retrieved October 14, 2016.
2. "Centre College Football Record".
3. "CentreCyclopedia - Football".
4. [http://www.centre.edu/web/library/ency/f/football_uk.html Centre vs. University of Kentucky] {{webarchive. link. (May 31, 2010 , CentreCyclopedia, retrieved March 14, 2009.)
5. "25 Oct 1929, Page 1 - The Advocate-Messenger at Newspapers.com".
6. National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). (2015). "National Poll Rankings". NCAA.
7. Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washington Times''. December 21, 1997. Page A1.
8. link. (2004-12-17 , ''The Advocate-Messenger'' (Danville, Kentucky), June 26, 2006.)
9. "Centre College Remembers Day When It Was King of the Gridiron".
10. Litsky, Frank. (October 28, 2006). "Football: Campus Playbook". [[The New York Times]].
11. "Centre Colonels".
12. link. (September 30, 2007)
13. "ESPN names Centre's 1921 win over Harvard as a "Biggest College Football Upset"".
14. ''Official 2007 NCAA Division I Football Records Book'', [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]], p. 218, 2007.
15. "1921 Season".
16. Gene Schoor. (1994). "The Fightin' Texas Aggies: 100 Years of A&M Football". Taylor Publishing Company.
17. Howell, James. "Historical Scores for Centre".
18. (December 11, 1927). "Centre College Loses Sportlight After Flash of Football Fame". The Billings Gazette.
19. [http://www.centre.edu/web/library/ency/f/football_bowls.html Football Bowls] {{webarchive. link. (May 31, 2010 , CentreCyclopedia, retrieved March 13, 2009.)
20. [https://archive.today/20120723201805/http://www.collegefootball.org/famersearch.php?id=80021 Teel Bruner], College Football Hall of Fame, retrieved March 13, 2009.
21. (December 30, 2011). "Colonels finish 16th in final D3football.com Poll, 18th in AFCA". Centre College.
22. "Centre Football History". Centre College Athletics.
23. (August 2018). "2018 NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records". National Collegiate Athletic Association.
24. (January 1, 2014). "Centre College to be inducted into Kentucky Pro Football Hall of Fame".
25. link. (September 30, 2007 , College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved March 13, 2009.)
26. link. (February 13, 2010 , College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved March 13, 2009.)
27. [http://d3football.com/school/CNTR/2003 2003 Centre Colonels]{{dead link. (November 2016)
28. "2014 Centre Colonels". d3football.com.
29. (November 17, 2024). "Berry, Centre, Trinity Share SAA Football Title; Vikings earn AQ to NCAA's". Southern Athletic Association.
30. "Consensus All-Americans by School". NCAA.
31. "College Football Hall of Fame Inductees". Atlanta Hall Management, Inc..
32. "Inductee | Alvin Nugent McMillin 1951 | College Football Hall of Fame".
33. "Inductee | Jack Casteel Bruner II 1999 | College Football Hall of Fame".