Army scored 70 points against Houston in the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl
The heavily lopsided 2018 Music City and Armed Forces bowls sparked a lot of interest in the largest college football bowl game blowouts in history — both the most points scored by a single team and the largest margins of defeat.
So we decided to take a look at where each game stood in the record books.
Turns out, Army's 70-14 win over Houston in the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 22, 2018 sits at the top of both lists.
With the win, the Black Knights tied West Virginia's 2012 record for most points by a single team in a bowl game and tied Tulsa's 2008 record for the largest margin of victory.
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In the 2018 Music City Bowl, Auburn managed to score the most points in a half in bowl history with 56 in the first half against Purdue, but the final score of 63-14 fell short of both of Army's records.
Now let's take a look at the rest of the leaderboards for some context.
First, let's start with the highest scores by a single team in regulation (Marshall did beat East Carolina 64-61 in the 2001 GMAC bowl, which would put them as the fifth-highest scoring team, but that game went to double overtime).
Here are the Top 13 highest scores by a single team in college football bowl game history:
| Points | Team | Opp. | OpP. score | Bowl | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70 | Army | Houston | 14 | Armed Forces | 2018 |
| 70 | West Virginia | Clemson | 33 | Orange | 2012 |
| 67 | Baylor | Washington | 56 | Alamo | 2011 |
| 66 | Nebraska | Northwestern | 17 | Alamo | 2000 |
| 65 | Texas A&M | BYU | 14 | Holiday | 1990 |
| 63 | LSU | Oklahoma | 28 | Peach (CFP semifinal) | 2019 |
| 63 | Auburn | Purdue | 14 | Music City | 2018 |
| 63 | Tulsa | Bowling Green | 7 | GMAC | 2008 |
| 63 | Illinois | Virginia | 21 | Micronpc.com | 1999 |
| 63 | Toledo | Arkansas State | 44 | GoDaddy.com | 2015 |
| 62 | Arizona State | Navy | 28 | Kraft Fight Hunger | 2012 |
| 62 | Tulsa | Hawaii | 35 | Hawaii | 2010 |
| 62 | Colorado | Boston College | 28 | Insight.com | 1999 |
| 62 | Nebraska | Florida | 24 | Fiesta | 1996 |
| 62 | Oklahoma State | Wyoming | 14 | Holiday | 1988 |
There is one CFP game on the list: LSU crushing Oklahoma 63-28 in a 2019 semifinal. Tigers QB Joe Burrow threw seven touchdown passes in the first half, tying the FBS record for TD passes in a bowl game (Central Michigan's Cooper Rush in 2014).
Army's win was also impressive statistically, especially considering one ridiculous stat: The Black Knights attempted only four passes all game. Instead, they rushed 58 times for 507 yards and eight touchdowns while holding the Cougars to just 320 total yards.
That game also sits atop the full list of the top bowl game margins:
| Margin | Team | Score | Opponent | Score | Bowl | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 56 | Army | 70 | Houston | 14 | Armed Forces | 2018 |
| 56 | Tulsa | 63 | Bowling Green | 7 | GMAC | 2008 |
| 55 | Alabama | 61 | Syracuse | 6 | Orange | 1953 |
| 51 | Texas A&M | 65 | BYU | 14 | Holiday | 1990 |
| 49 | Auburn | 63 | Purdue | 14 | Music City | 2018 |
| 49 | Nebraska | 66 | Northwestern | 17 | Alamo | 2000 |
| 48 | Boise State | 55 | Northern Ill. | 7 | Poinsettia | 2015 |
| 47 | Fla. Atlantic | 50 | Akron | 3 | Boca Raton | 2017 |
| 45 | Tulsa | 55 | Central Mich. | 10 | Miami Beach | 2016 |
| 44 | Oklahoma St. | 58 | Purdue | 4 | Heart of Dallas | 2013 |
| 44 | Fresno St. | 51 | Bowling Green | 7 | California | 1985 |
Tulsa is the only team that appears on the good side of this list twice, having won by at least 45 points twice in a bowl game. But again, Army is right there at the top, and the fact that the Black Knights scored seven more points than Tulsa gives them the edge here as well.
