HATE WEEK: Top 10 Greatest COFH Games #8

I have a confession to make. This top 10 list covers far more than just 10 games. I know this probably isn't very disappointing for most of you since its probably pretty safe to say that y'all enjoy basking in the misery of georgia fans.

Anyway, let's move on to today's games: 1943 and 1944.

Background

It was World War II and things were played a little differently. Some colleges had teams which consisted of military personnel, and other colleges had what the press deemed "civilian" teams.

Tech was one of those which consisted of military personnel; georgia was not.

What this meant for georgia was that since most of georgia's good players were gone off to join the military, Coach Wally Butts was left with an inexperienced group of "athletes" who had not met military physical standards.

This clearly gave Tech a huge advantage and is one of the reasons for controversy.

Both teams entered into the game with 6-3-0 records with Tech's schedule being far more difficult.

The Games

As expected, these games both quickly turned into blowouts. Tech won the first of these by a final score of 48-0 and the second by a final score of 44-0.

These games were clearly not competitive in the slightest. In the first quarter alone of the first game, Tech jumped out to a 20-0 lead, spouting off big play after big play. At the end of the first half, the score stood at 34-0.

Tech would soon make it 41-0 after a 66-yard drive which only took five plays.

Eddie Prokop was definitely the player of the game for Tech that year. In that game, he became only the first Tech player since Lt. Leonard Wood to score three touchdowns in one game. In total, he accounted for 24 points, a record that would not be broken until 1963.

The game the next year was over just about as quickly as this last one was. By the end of the first half, Tech held a 26-0 lead.

Tech added another touchdown in the third and two in the fourth to give the game its final 44-0 score.

The Aftermath

A lot of controversy surrounds these two games, and a lot of georgia fans believe that since their school was at such a disadvantage in these games, they should not count. And to respond to that, I have but one thing to say: If you knew how much of a physical mismatch these two games would be going in, why would you go into the games in the first place? So you can have your team get kicked in the teeth for fun? I don't think so.

A couple of other important things also happened during this time.

The 1944 game proved to be the last one for Coach William Alexander. He finished with a 7-10-3 record against the dwags. His successor was an assistant of his that y'all may have heard of. I think it was some guy named Bobby Dodd. I think he turned out to be a pretty good coach.

Another thing that happened the week before the 1944 game was that Clint Castleberry was officially declared dead while co-piloting a B-26 somewhere in the Mediterranean.

What do y'all think of the #8 games? Any predictions for #7? I promise it'll only be one game this time. ;-)