re: Examples of programs and franchises being “broken” by individual games?

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2005 NLCS game 5. Specifically this moment This set the Astros back near a decade, they have since recovered obviously but they were on the rise and then boom, had to switch leagues to get over the stench

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Wtf? Astros won that series.

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This possibly could be a win that broke a program

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The vast majority of programs will go their entire existence without a season like that.

O literally beat the game with a perfect score.

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What are some examples that immediately come to mind of college and pro teams that lost a massively important game in heartbreaking/humiliating fashion to the point the affects lingered for years onward to detriment of said franchise?

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How about University of Michigan in football?

You could argue the extra inning game 7 loss by the Indians in the 1997 WS. Their AL central run continued for a couple more years but the team was ageing and the window to win closed.

Houston Oilers 35-3 over the Bills 1992 wildcard weekend, Adams ends up moving the team and rebranding

People forget how wide open the AFC bracket was that season, so many AFC playoff teams with 10-6 and 11-5 records, Oilers might have made the Super Bowl if they don't lose that game

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2009 BCS Title Game and McCoy realizing his O-line was going to get him killed so he benched himself. Texas has been bad ever since

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Fify

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I was coming in to say this. I was a just getting into my teenage years and my football fandom was starting to become my own rather than stories told to me by my parents and grandparents. Nebraska at the time still had that mystique of an elite program, the "blackshirt defense" was still a moniker that every CFB fan knew. I was watching LSU/Arkansas because LSU was trying to get into the SEC CG when I saw the bottom of the screen scores start to pop up and when I saw Colorado hung 62 on them I honestly thought it had to be a typo, surely it had to be 36-26 right? But no, Colorado beat the shite out of them.

And they've never been the same since. Somehow they still made the title game as a sacrificial lamb for that Miami team after LSU knocked of Tennessee funnily enough

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Really interesting game. Nebraska got down big, early. Early in the 2nd quarter it was a route, 35-3, Colorado. Nebraska, then, did a pretty good job of making a comeback. At halftime is was 42-23.

Nebraska made some really good defensive adjustments at halftime and pretty much stopped Colorado from doing anything in the 3rd.

Midway in the 3rd quarter, still 42-23, Nebraska had the ball on the Colorado goal line and was going into score. Their running back tried to dive over the line, and fumbled the ball and Colorado recovered it in their own endzone, killing their momentum. Nebraska was able to stop Colorado, and Eric Crouch was able to get in another score just before the start of the 4th quarter, making is 42-30, Colorado. But, remember, if their running back didn't fumble on the goal line, it, arguably, would have been 42-37 Colorado going into the 4th quarter.

From there on, Colorado just pulled away in the 4th and plowed through the Nebraska defense. Nebraska's triple-option wasn't viable as time was running out. Eric Crouch was forced to pass, which he couldn't do to save his life, and threw a INT or 2. Colorado still manhandled and bulldozed and through an awful, concrete footed Nebraska defense and just continued to lay it on them.

This answer, 62-36, is the most perfect response to the OP's question, imo.

ETA: Also, want to know how I remember so much about this game in great detail? I lost $1,000.00 on it in Las Vegas. My Oregon "Joey Harrington" friends were going nuts and thought they'd be a shoe-in for the national title game.