[5] The backfield of Albert Hill, Everett Strupper, Joe Guyon, and Judy Harlan led the Golden Tornado, and all four rushed for more than 100 yards in a 48–0 victory over Tulane.

During the regular season Georgia Tech defeated strong opponents by large margins, and its 41–0 victory over eastern power Penn shocked many.

[6] Losses from the previous season's team included guard Bob Lang and fullback Tommy Spence.

[12][note 3] Coach John Heisman's swift backfield used the pre-snap movement of his "jump shift" offense,[14] and Al Hill led the team in carries.

[21] Guyon had played for Pop Warner at Carlisle, and had to sit out the 1916 season in accordance with conference transfer rules.

[22] Judy Harlan said about Guyon, "Once in a while the Indian would come out in Joe, such as the nights Heisman gave us a white football and had us working out under the lights.

Bernie McCarty called it "Strupper's finest hour, coming through against powerful Penn in the contest that shocked the East.

[34] On its second play from scrimmage less than two minutes into the game Strupper ran around his end, "winding and twisting out of a mass of Red and Blue players" for a 68-yard touchdown.

[34] Walker Carpenter brushed two tacklers out of the way,[34] and Strupped side-stepped Penn safety Joe Berry before running the last 30 yards.

[33] After another Al Hill touchdown and the kickoff return, Penn worked five complete forward passes in quick succession (one 23 yards) to reach Tech's 6-yard line.

[39] The game's first score came in the second quarter when Davidson's Buck Flowers converted a 28-yard drop kick[43] field goal for a 3–0 lead.

[43] Strupper then recovered a punt fumbled by Flowers on Davidson's 30-yard line, leading to a score by Hill from 18 yards out on a criss-cross run.

From midfield, quarterback Henry Spann hit end Georgie King on a 50-yard touchdown pass that went 30 yards in the air, catching Tech by surprise.

[47] According to Judy Harlan, Joe Guyon knocked a Washington and Lee player out of the game by "wearing an old horse collar shaped into a shoulder pad but reinforced with a little steel".

And it took one of history's top backfields–Joe Guyon, Ev Strupper, Al Hill, and Judy Harlan of Georgia Tech–to do it," writes Edwin Pope.

Tech played hard, clean football, and we were somewhat surprised to meet such a fair, aggressive team, after the reports we had heard.

[50] Tech played coach Clark Shaughnessy's Tulane Olive and Blue for its only road game, winning 48–0.

[52] According to the Times-Picayune, "Strupper, Guyon, Hill, and Harlan form a backfield with no superiors and few equals in football history".

On another occasion he attempted a wide end run, found that he was completely blocked, then suddenly whirled and ran the other way, gaining something like 25 yards before he was downed.

Coach Mike Donahue's Tigers had lost only to Davidson in an upset,[58][59] and held undefeated Big Ten champion Ohio State to a scoreless tie less than a week before the Tech game.

After getting through the first line, Stroop was tackled squarely by two secondary men, and yet he squirmed and jerked loosed from them, only to face the safety man and another Tiger, coming at him from different angles.

[55]In the second quarter, Auburn's Moon Ducote broke through the line toward the goal with blocking by Pete Bonner and William Donahue.

[57] For Auburn's only score Ducote circled around end for 17 yards and lateraled to Donahue, who ran down the sideline for a six-yard touchdown.

[55] Auburn was considered a strong team, despite the lopsided score; Ducote and Bonner were the only non-Tech, unanimous All-Southern selections.

[66] Quarterback Al Hill led the nation in touchdowns with 23,[67] and tackle Bill Fincher kicked 49 extra points.

[21] In addition to Carpenter, Strupper, and Guyon, Bill Fincher, Pup Phillips, Si Bell, Shorty Guill, and Al Hill were selected to the All-Southern Team by sportswriters.

[69] On December 8, the Golden Tornado celebrated its national-championship season at a team dinner at the Druid Hills Golf Club in Atlanta.

[70] Although the Golden Tornado was invited to play the 4–3 Oregon team in the Rose Bowl, by then many players had joined the war effort.

[4] According to a contemporary New York Sun account, "Georgia Tech looms up as one of the truly great teams of all time.

"[62] The following chart provides a visual depiction of Tech's lineup during the 1917 season with games started at the position reflected in parentheses.