October 29, 1921: The Impossible Formula

October 29, 1921: The Harvard University football team loses to Centre College of Danville, Kentucky, 6-0 at Harvard Stadium in Boston, ending a 25-game winning streak. This is considered one of the biggest upsets in the history of college football, as the "Praying Colonels" (no, I'm not making that mascot name up), from a school of just 300 students at the time, were the 1st team from outside the old Northeast (Jim Thorpe's Pennsylvania-based Carlisle counts) to beat one of the old "Big Three" of Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

All over Danville, graffiti appeared with the score: "C6H0." This could be read as a scientific formula: Six parts carbon, zero parts hydrogen. Since that can't be done, it become known as "The Impossible Formula."

Today, Harvard, like all the Ivy League teams, is in the FCS, the Football Championship Subdivision, what used to be known as Division I-AA. Since the official founding of the Ivy League as a sports conference in 1955, Harvard has won its football championship 15 times, most recently in 2015.

Centre would prove that their 1921 win over Harvard was no fluke. They finished their regular season undefeated, 10-0, having also beaten Clemson, Virginia Tech, Kentucky, Auburn, Tulane and Arizona. They were invited to play Texas A&M in the Dixie Classic, a precursor game to the Cotton Bowl. A&M won, 22-14, in a game that became known for the origin story of their "12th Man" tradition. Their biggest star of 1921, Bo McMillin, was a rough Texan who was one of the 1st good NFL quarterbacks, and would coach Indiana to its 1st football title in the Big Ten in 1945.

In 1922, Centre beat Clemson away, Mississippi, Virginia Tech away, Louisville, Kentucky away and South Carolina. However, they lost a rematch away to Harvard on October 21, 24-10. They also lost to Auburn at Rickwood Field, the Birmingham ballpark.

In 1923, they went 7-1-1, their conquests including Clemson, Kentucky, and Auburn at Rickwood again. They tied Georgia, and their only loss was the Penn at the original Franklin Field in Philadelphia. On 4 consecutive Saturdays in 1924, the Colonels defeated Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. 

Today, however, Centre are in Division III, but have won their league 15 times, including 6 times from 1980 to 1990. Their last title was in 2014. Their current enrollment: 1,430, to Harvard's 27,000.

Nor would Harvard's loss be a fluke: A week later, they went down to Princeton, and lost again.

In 1950, the Associated Press named C6H0 the greatest upset of the 1st half of the 20th Century, in any sport. In 2005, The New York Times called it "arguably the upset of the century in college football." (They did not use capital letters.) In 2006, ESPN named it the 3rd-biggest upset in college football history.

In anticipation of the game's 75th Anniversary, in 1996, Centre challenged Harvard to a rematch. Harvard declined. Harvard went 4-6 that season. I can't find a record of how Centre did that year, but they won their league the year before. Who knows, maybe history could have repeated itself.

This year? Harvard won its 1st 5 games before losing to Princeton last week. They host Dartmouth tomorrow. Centre take a 5-2 record into tomorrow's game, home to Rhodes College of Memphis.

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October 29, 1921 was a Saturday. Football was the only sport in season. These other notable college games were played:

* Notre Dame beat Indiana, 28-7 at Washington Park, a baseball park in Indianapolis.

* Iowa beat Purdue, 13-6 at Stuart Field in West Lafayette, Indiana. Iowa went on to win the Big Ten and go undefeated.

* Nebraska beat Oklahoma, 44-0 at Nebraska Field in Lincoln. Nebraska went on to win the Missouri Valley Conference, the league that eventually evolved into the Big Twelve.

* California beat Washington State, 14-0 at Multnomah Stadium in Portland, Oregon. What is now named Providence Park was built on the site in 1926. Cal went undefeated until the Rose Bowl, which ended in a 0-0 between them and Washington & Jefferson.

* Penn State beat Georgia Tech, 28-7 in a game that, for some reason, was played in New York, at the Polo Grounds, and attracted 30,000 fans. Penn State finished undefeated, 8-0-2.

* New York University finished in a tie with Colgate, 7-7 at Johnson Field in Johnson City, New York.

* Fordham played Boston College to a tie, 0-0 at Fordham Field in The Bronx.

* Columbia lost to Williams, 20-0 at South Field in Manhattan.

* Princeton beat Virginia, 34-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.

* And Rutgers lost to Lafayette, 35-0 at March Field in Easton, Pennsylvania.