SWC75
Bored Historian
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- Aug 26, 2011
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It was announced that SU had game records going back 50 years and was unable to find a 20+ point comeback by the Orange in a game they wound up winning prior to Saturday's game. (Ironically it was the second best comeback this year: we were down 13-35 to Northwestern and came back to take the lead 41-35 before losing 41-42). The biggest comebacks to win games in the alst 50 years had been vs. Virginia Tech in 1998 and Central Florida in 2002, both from 3-21 deficits, (to win 28-26 and 38-35, respectively).
I decided to check games prior to 1962 to see if there was a 20+ comeback then. That sounds like a daunting task but it was really much simpler than that, although it was harder than it should have been. Football was a low-scoring game back then. I checked the SU media guide and came up with only 8 games prior to 1962 in which SU's opponents scored 20+ points and we won anyway:
11/1/41 Syracuse 27 Wisconsin 20
10/21/50 Syracuse 34 Holy Cross 27
10/27/51 Syracuse 33 Fordham 20
9/26/52 Syracuse 34 Boston University 21
10/30/54 Syracuse 25 Holy Cross 20
10/13/56 Syracuse 27 West Virginia 20
11/10/56 Syracuse 41 Holy Cross 20
11/2/57 Syracuse 24 Pittsburgh 21
The next step was to go to the Post Standard archive for the next day after those dates and look at the line scores of the game. I was able to check out all the games from the 50's and SU was never behind by 20+ in any of those games.
The one game I couldn't get is the first one, which is the most famous of those games. It's the one in which SU coach Ossie Solem, (in conjunction with his assist coaches Biggie Munn and Bud Wilkinson) devised the "reverse center" offense in which ken Beehner lined up facing the backfield and used his long arms to reach back for the ball to hike it, (from his perspective) forward to anyone one of the four backs. Ken then used his speed to pull out and lead the interference. Wisconsin was nationally ranked and the (road) game was huge upset.
But the Post Standard archive has no copies of any paper in November 1941 prior to 11/20. I checked the internet and my football library looking for a line-score or a detailed description of the game and came up empty. But I found no reference to SU coming back from a 0-20 deficit so I assume that wasn't a 20+ game, either.
I decided to check games prior to 1962 to see if there was a 20+ comeback then. That sounds like a daunting task but it was really much simpler than that, although it was harder than it should have been. Football was a low-scoring game back then. I checked the SU media guide and came up with only 8 games prior to 1962 in which SU's opponents scored 20+ points and we won anyway:
11/1/41 Syracuse 27 Wisconsin 20
10/21/50 Syracuse 34 Holy Cross 27
10/27/51 Syracuse 33 Fordham 20
9/26/52 Syracuse 34 Boston University 21
10/30/54 Syracuse 25 Holy Cross 20
10/13/56 Syracuse 27 West Virginia 20
11/10/56 Syracuse 41 Holy Cross 20
11/2/57 Syracuse 24 Pittsburgh 21
The next step was to go to the Post Standard archive for the next day after those dates and look at the line scores of the game. I was able to check out all the games from the 50's and SU was never behind by 20+ in any of those games.
The one game I couldn't get is the first one, which is the most famous of those games. It's the one in which SU coach Ossie Solem, (in conjunction with his assist coaches Biggie Munn and Bud Wilkinson) devised the "reverse center" offense in which ken Beehner lined up facing the backfield and used his long arms to reach back for the ball to hike it, (from his perspective) forward to anyone one of the four backs. Ken then used his speed to pull out and lead the interference. Wisconsin was nationally ranked and the (road) game was huge upset.
But the Post Standard archive has no copies of any paper in November 1941 prior to 11/20. I checked the internet and my football library looking for a line-score or a detailed description of the game and came up empty. But I found no reference to SU coming back from a 0-20 deficit so I assume that wasn't a 20+ game, either.