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The original was posted on /r/cfb by /u/GMFPs_sweat_towel on 2024-01-19 15:52:56.
I found this story in a history book, Great Moments in TCU football history 1896-1996.
In was November 1923. The Texas Christian University freshman team was playing Terrel Prep. TCU beat Terrell by a score of 63-0. However, they would have lost if they had not had the help of an unconscious player.
TCU only had 20 players. By the 4th quarter many of them had been injured. Finally, with only a couple minutes left in the game, the coach looked around for a substitute. But there was no one left to send it.
TCU only had 10 men on the field, but the rules say there must be 11. The referees told the TCU coach his team would forfeit the game unless they had the right number of players.
Just then, Ernest Lowrt, who had been hurt on the opening kickoff, struggled up of a blanket and said, “I’m all right, coach. I’ll go in.” But the effort to sit up was too much for the poy and he passed out.
Suddenly, the frantic coach had an idea. He placed Lowry’s blanket on the field just inbounds, and the unconscious boy was laid on it. He was far away from any action, but he was the legal eleventh man.
“We were on defense,” the coach explained, "so Lowry could be any place back of the line of scrimmage. And he lay there during the final plays of the game. He gave us our 11th man. It’s the only time an unconscious player ever won a football game.