page_title: Bo McMillin
section_title: 1919 and 1920 seasons
hierarchical_section_title: Bo McMillin / Centre College / 1919 and 1920 seasons
caption_attribution_description: Bo McMillin, Centre quarterback
context_page_description: Alvin Nugent "Bo" McMillin was an American football player and coach at the collegiate and professional level. He played college football at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he was a three-time All-American at quarterback, and led the Centre Praying Colonels to an upset victory over Harvard in 1921. McMillin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a player as part of its inaugural 1951 class.
  McMillin was the head football coach at Centenary College of Louisiana, Geneva College, Kansas State University and Indiana University, compiling a career college football coaching record of 140–77–13. In 1945, he led Indiana to its first Big Ten Conference title and was named AFCA Coach of the Year.
  After graduating from Centre, McMillin played professionally with the Milwaukee Badgers and Cleveland Indians—two early National Football League teams—in 1922 and 1923. He later returned to the NFL, coaching the Detroit Lions from 1948 to 1950 and the Philadelphia Eagles for the first two games of the 1951 season before his death. McMillin's career NFL coaching mark was 14–24.
context_section_description: In 1919, McMillin was selected to the Walter Camp All-America first team at quarterback after helping the Praying Colonels to a perfect 9–0 record (including upsets of Indiana and West Virginia). Centre had been down 3–0 to Indiana  for most of the game, scoring a touchdown to lead 6–3 with just over a minute left. Desperate to even the score, Indiana tossed a pass which was intercepted by McMillin, who returned it for a touchdown, dodging and straight arming the entire Indiana eleven.  McMillin had the team pray before the West Virginia game, giving the Centre College Colonels its nickname of the "Praying Colonels". The 1919 team was selected for a national championship by MIT statistician Jeff Sagarin.
  In 1920, McMillin received second-team All-America honors from Camp as Centre posted another successful season. However, the season did include a disappointing 31–14 loss to defending national champion Harvard. With the Harvard game tied 7–7, it was 4th down and 6 at the 30-yard line. Instead of punting, McMillin "defied every "don't" in the football book" and tossed a touchdown pass.
  McMillin also had his only loss to a team from the South, to Georgia Tech by a 20–0 score. Tech tackle Bill Fincher reportedly tried to knock McMillin out of the game with brass knuckles or "something equally diabolical."  Before the game, Fincher said "You're a great player Bo...I feel awful sorry about it because you are not going to be in there very long—about three minutes." The Atlanta Constitution reported, "McMillin's forward passes outdid anything of the kind seen here in many years, but Tech seemed to know where they were going". According to one writer, "Even the great "Bo" McMillin was powerless against the Tech players".
caption: In 1920
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