Numerous teams have won five straight football games, but it usually takes five weeks to accomplish that feat. The University of the South–once known as Sewanee–did it in six days!
For a reason never fully explained, coach Luke Lea scheduled the games against some of the best teams in the region. All games were on the road.
On November 8, 1899, Sewanee met unbeaten Texas and defeated them, 12-0. The next day they beat Texas A&M, 32-0. After that they took on Tulane and won again, 23-0.
Now it was Sunday, a day of rest. The boys from Sewanee took a well-deserved break.
Back to the football wars went coach Lea’s squad. Louisiana State fell, 34-0. Finally, to end matters, Mississippi State was conquered, 12-0.
Sewanee had faced some formidable opposition. A couple of their victims had been undefeated before knocking heads with the visitors. Yet nobody had scored on Sewanee!
The “march through the South” was all the more remarkable because Sewanee had taken only 12 players on the trip. But there weren’t many more they could have recruited. The entire college had a total enrollment of only 97 male students.
From The Giant Book of More Strange But True Sports Stories by Howard Liss. Illustrations by Joe Mathieu.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1899_Sewanee_Tigers_football_team#The_Road_trip:_5_shutouts_in_6_days
I recommend reading the Wikipedia article–it’s quite interesting. Turns out the road games were scheduled because Vanderbilt fucked Sewanee over on an agreement over gate receipts, so the coach needed to make up the money. There are some pretty good anecdotes in there for a couple of the games, too.
I’ve been on the campus of The University of the South a number of times and it is quite beautiful in the mountains. There is an Episcopal seminary on campus, and Mrs. Butcher and I used to make the 2 hour drive there each December during Advent for the Lessons and Carols service because the choir and the music was out of this world.