The 1920 Centre Praying Colonels football team represented

Centre College Centre College is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky. It is an undergraduate college with an enrollment of approximately 1,400 students. Centre was officially chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819. The college is ...

in the

1920 college football season The 1920 college football season had no clear-cut champion, with the ''Official NCAA Division I Football Records Book'' listing California, Georgia, Harvard, Notre Dame, and Princeton as national champions. Only California and Princeton claim na ...

. The Praying Colonels scored 546 points while allowing 62 points and capped off their season by defeating TCU, 63–7 in the

Fort Worth Classic The Fort Worth Classic was a postseason college football bowl game played only once, on January 1, 1921, at Panther Park in Fort Worth, Texas, between Centre Praying Colonels of Centre College and the TCU Horned Frogs of Texas Christian Universi ...

Schedule

Season

Centre opened the season with three straight wins by a combined score of 241–0, beating , 66–0; the Howard Bulldogs, 120–0; and , 55–0. A prequel to the

1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game The 1921 Centre vs. Harvard football game was a regular-season college football game played on October 29, 1921, at Harvard Stadium in Allston, Massachusetts. The contest featured the undefeated Centre Praying Colonels, representing Centre Colleg ...

followed;

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

had not lost a game since 1918 and defeated visiting Centre 31–14, finishing with a record of 8–0–1. With the Harvard game tied 7–7, it was 4th down and 6 at the 30-yard line. Instead of punting, McMillin "defied every "don't" in the football book" and tossed a

touchdown pass In gridiron football, a touchdown pass is a forward pass, pass thrown from the passer (usually the quarterback) to a Wide receiver, receiver that results in a touchdown being scored. The pass can either be caught in the end zone itself, resulting i ...

. A loss at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

followed, 24–0; Georgia Tech finished its season 8–1, having outscored its opponents 312–16. One writer recalled he heard a story that Tech tackle

Bill Fincher William Enoch Fincher (November 12, 1896 – July 17, 1978) was an American college football player and coach. He played the end and tackle positions for the Georgia Tech Golden Tornado football team of the Georgia Institute of Technology. ...

sought to knock

Bo McMillin Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin (January 12, 1895 – March 31, 1952) was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-tim ...

out of the game, taking with him

brass-knuckles Brass knuckles (variously referred to as knuckles, knucks, brass knucks, knucklebusters, knuckledusters, knuckle daggers, English punch, iron fist, paperweight, or a classic) are "fist-load weapons" used in hand-to-hand combat. Brass knuckles ...

or "something equally diabolical." Centre then defeated , 34–0, in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

;

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, 49–0, at Lexington; VPI, 28–0, in

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

; and the , 103–0.

Postseason

Centre then traveled to

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

for a

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, the

, against undefeated TCU. TCU entered the game with a record of 9–0, including wins at

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

(19–2) and at Baylor (21–9).1920 Texas Christian football scores
/ref> Texas Christian had attained its perfect record while outscoring its opponents 163-46. Centre won the game handily. Accounts of the final score vary; some sources say Centre won 63-7 and other sources give the final score as 77–7.John Y. Brown, The Legend of the Praying Colonels, J. Marvin Gray & Associates, Inc., Louisville, Kentucky Centre finished the season with a record of 8–2. McMillan was named to the

1920 College Football All-America Team The 1920 College Football All-America team is composed of college football players who were selected as All-Americans by various organizations and writers that chose College Football All-America Teams in 1920. The four selectors recognized by the N ...

References

Centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Centre Colonels football seasons Centre Praying Colonels football {{collegefootball-1920-season-stub