# College team wins with 0 yards passing - happened before? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 1, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935 "2009-11-01T13:02:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/1 "2009-11-01T13:02:47Z")
Navy beat Wake Forest last week 13-10 with no yards passing. Has that happened before? (win with 0 passing yards) Navy is an option team and the game was played in rain with some of the rain heavy. They did get sacked 2 times so I guess they were going to pass at least twice. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/2 "2009-11-01T13:23:09Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Navy beat Wake Forest last week 13-10 with no yards passing. Has that happened before? (win with 0 passing yards) > > Navy is an option team and the game was played in rain with some of the rain heavy. They did get sacked 2 times so I guess they were going to pass at least twice. As a matter of fact, it has, most famously in the biggest blowout in football history. [Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland 0](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916_Cumberland_vs._Georgia_Tech_football_game) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/3 "2009-11-01T14:43:55Z")
Passing was a lot less common then. A few years after that game Knute Rockne made passing more popular. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/4 "2009-11-01T15:52:57Z")
From wiki October 25 2008 vs. SMU (1-11) W 34 7 Navy’s 1,200th game, making them the 2nd team in the FBS to reach that mark and the 8th team overall (FBS and FCS). This was also the first time since 1997 that a team won without attempting a pass. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/5 "2009-11-01T17:10:37Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > They did get sacked 2 times so I guess they were going to pass at least twice. IIRC not necessarily. Any time a QB is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, it counts as a sack. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/6 "2009-11-01T17:22:52Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > As a matter of fact, it has, most famously in the biggest blowout in football history. > > [Georgia Tech 222, Cumberland 0](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1916_Cumberland_vs._Georgia_Tech_football_game) And neither team made a first down. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/7 "2009-11-01T17:29:02Z")
In college FB passing was not used that much even into the 60s. Roman Gabriel was all American in the early 60s and only threw for about 1100 yards in season. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/8 "2009-11-02T16:34:37Z")
> [@RetroVertigo](#): > > IIRC not necessarily. Any time a QB is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, it counts as a sack. No. Pro or college, sacks should be credited only after an apparent attempt to pass. > [@Muffin](#): > > And neither team made a first down. Why do you say that? Under modern scoring rules, Tech would have made many first downs–any time they scored on a scrimmage play from beyond the 10-yard-line. Even if one were to credit first downs only for non-TD plays, the play-by-play linked in Wiki shows Tech making several first downs. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/9 "2009-11-02T17:01:18Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > No. Pro or college, sacks should be credited only after an apparent attempt to pass. You are right. However, in the event where the play is ambiguous (which in a triple option, can happen frequently) officials can use different criteria for determining if the play results in a sack. ---
**Author:** ![SCSimmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@SCSimmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCSimmons)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/10 "2009-11-02T17:12:07Z")
OK, I just found the funniest thing ever in that play-by-play. I looked it up because I was curious about the odd 3rd-quarter score of 54 points for Tech. As I suspected, it was missed PATs … Spence, who was evidently handling the kicking game for Tech that quarter (he had only a couple of kickoffs in the first half, when PAT duties were handled by Preas\*), was 5-5 on extra points until he missed two in a row. After which, he was pulled from the kicking game, which was mostly handled by Fincher after that. Which I can understand. I mean, if Cumberland had mounted a comeback and ended up winning by one point, you’d really regret those missed conversions. :dubious: \*All of these players did apparently play on both offense and defense as well. On three consecutive plays in that third quarter, Spence apparently recovered a Cumberland fumble, scored a Tech touchdown, and kicked the extra point. My, how the game has changed! Unless it was all about the opponent. “Hey, coach–we’re up 174-0. Can I try kicking off?” “Sure, what the hell.” It’s too bad that players weren’t as specialized back than, actually. I have wonderful visions of the Tech punter getting steadily more and more drunk while sitting uselessly on the sidelines. But naturally, neither team would have had a punter. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/11 "2009-11-02T17:18:26Z")
There was a season maybe six, eight years ago where Notre Dame was undefeated for the first six games or so with no offensive touchdowns. The defense outscored the offense in every game. That was an ugly season after the other offenses in the league got into their grooves, though, and started scoring. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/12 "2009-11-02T17:29:20Z")
> [@SCSimmons](#): > > \*All of these players did apparently play on both offense and defense as well. I’m pretty certain that, in those days, there were rules limiting substitution; playing on both offense and defense would have been the norm. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/college-team-wins-with-0-yards-passing-happened-before/515935/13 "2009-11-02T19:48:25Z")
> [@RetroVertigo](#): > > IIRC not necessarily. Any time a QB is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, it counts as a sack. I read an interview with a Navy player(QB,IIRC),he said they had called a couple pass plays but didnt work out.Sorry,I don’t have a cite.