Some consider the Texas Tech Red Raiders-Centenary Gents football game of November 11, 1939 memorable. Others consider it weird. It was a different sort of football game. A torrential rain in Shreveport, Louisiana swamped the stadium and made the field unplayable. The two teams still tried to play the game. The host Gents and Red Raiders played, or didn't play, to a 0-0 tie. To cope with the miserable conditions, both teams resorted to constant and immediate punting. The teams combined to punt 77 times. 67 of those punts occurred on first down (34 by Texas Tech and 33 by Centenary) including 22 consecutively in the third and fourth quarters. It was a field position game from beginning to end. With each punt, the kicking team hoped to recover a fumble at the other end. 42 of the 77 punts were returned. 19 went out of bounds. 10 were downed. 1 went into the end zone for a touchback. Four were blocked. Surprisingly, only one was fair caught. As far as offensive production goes, Centenary piled up 31 yards of total offense. Texas Tech managed a total of -1 yards.
More NCAA single-game records (13 total) were set in the 1939 Texas Tech-Centenary game than in any other game in NCAA history. One would immediately think of tremendous offensive, or even defensive, production when one thinks of the game in which the most records were set. All of the records set in this game resulted from the tremendous lack of any kind of production.
Here are the 13 NCAA records set in the 1939 Texas Tech-Centenary football that still stand:
Individual records:
Most punts, game 36 Charlie Calhoun
Most punting yards, game 1,318 Charlie Calhoun
Most punt returns, games 20 Milton Hill
Most combined punt and kickoff returns, game 20 Milton Hill
Team records:
Most punts, both teams 77 Texas Tech and Centenary
Most Punts, game 39 Texas Tech
Most punt returns, game 22 Texas Tech
Most punt returns, both teams 42 Texas Tech and Centenary
Fewest plays 12 Texas Tech
Fewest plays allowed 12 Centenary
Fewest plays, both teams 33 Texas Tech and Centenary
Fewest yards gained, both teams 30 Texas Tech and Centenary
Fewest rushes, both teams 28 Texas Tech and Centenary
All these records should stand for a very, very long time. They are stunningly sad records. Calhoun's punting records are routinely listed among the records that are considered unbreakable.
This game was more like those of the 1800s than any being played in 1939.
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