A Victory for the Ages

Legendary Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne thought so little of his team’s 1926 football game against Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh that he opted to watch the Army-Navy game in Chicago instead of making the trip with the team. On paper, the Tartans didn’t have much of a chance that cold and snowy November afternoon before a standing-room-only crowd at Forbes Field.

That decision turned out to be a rare miscalculation by Rockne, as Tech upset the previously undefeated Fighting Irish, 19-0. The Tartans built a 13-0 lead by halftime, and two future College Football Hall of Famers made huge contributions in the second half: Quarterback Howard Harpster scored two drop-kick field goals and tackle Lloyd “The Plaid Bull” Yoder led a fourth quarter goal-line stand that preserved the shutout.

The upset was so shocking that ESPN included the game in its television special called “Greatest College Football Upsets” and Bleacher Report ranked the game third among the 50 Greatest Upsets in College Football History. (The other two are Centre College over Harvard in 1921 and Appalachian State over Michigan in 2007.)