Did You Know? Football goes undefeated, unscored upon in 1934 after winless 1933 campaign
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The Ohio Northern football team posted one of the most impressive season-to-season turnarounds in NCAA history from 1933-34.
The 1934 squad, coached by Harris Lamb, went undefeated and unscored upon after his 1933 team was winless and was outscored 116-7 in seven games.
Lamb's 1934 squad opened the season with a 13-0 win at Heidelberg and followed that with a 33-0 win over Hiram and a 20-0 win over Capital at home at Alumni Field, which is located on campus where the English Chapel is currently located.
Northern improved to 4-0 with a 23-0 win at Otterbein and made it five in a row with a 7-0 win at Wittenberg.
The only hiccup of the season came with a 0-0 tie at Bowling Green.
In the season finale, Northern returned home for a Friday game with Bluffton and won 6-0 to complete the 6-0-1 campaign.
The Ohio Athletic Conference consisted of 22 teams in 1934 and ONU finished as one of three undefeated squads. Wooster won the league title with an 8-0-0 record, followed by Baldwin Wallace at 5-0-0 and ONU at 5-0-1 in league games.
What made this season even more remarkable is that it followed a 0-5-2 season in 1933 in which the Polar Bears only scored once in seven games.
The ONU defense was outstanding, allowing only 44 points outside of a 72-0 loss at Colgate.
Northern had scoreless ties with Bluffton and Capital to open and close the season. and fell by 6-0 scores to Bowling Green and Otterbein.
1934 (6-0-1)
Oct. 6 | at Heidelberg | W, 13-0 |
Oct. 13 | Hiram | W, 33-0 |
Oct. 20 | Capital | W, 20-0 |
Oct. 27 | at Otterbein | W, 23-0 |
Nov. 3 | at Wittenberg | W, 7-0 |
Nov. 10 | at Bowling Green | T, 0-0 |
Nov. 17 | Bluffton | W, 6-0 |
Total Points | 102-0 |
1933 (0-5-2)
Sept. 30 | at Bluffton | T, 0-0 |
Oct. 7 | Heidelberg | L, 0-19 |
Oct. 14 | at Hiram | L, 7-13 |
Oct. 21 | Bowling Green | L, 0-6 |
Oct. 28 | Otterbein | L, 0-6 |
Nov. 11 | at Colgate | L, 0-72 |
Nov. 18 | at Capital | T, 0-0 |
Total Points | 7-116 |