Most Punts in Single CFB Game

The Game Before the Money Radio Show shared outstanding college football records. In this post, we talk about punts and punt returns.

A Long-Standing Record

Here’s a college football record that stood longer than Rocket Ismail’s record and longer than Tony Franklin’s most field goals over 60 yards in one game record. Hopefully, it will never be broken.

Record for Most Punts in College Football Game

Let’s go all the way back to 1939. Charlie Calhoun of Texas Tech punted 36 times in a single game. That was against Centenary.

For you trivia buffs out there, Centenary’s nickname is the Gentleman. In 1939, over two inches of rain fell in Shreveport, Louisiana, creating a muddy field in the game between Texas Tech and Centenary. Although Centenary’s team name is the Gentlemen, both teams played like gentlemen that day, giving the ball away on punts, often on first down.

Most Punt Returns in Single NCAA Game

The game plan for both teams apparently was to kick the ball in the rainy conditions and hope that the other team fumbled. There were 14 fumbles on the day, six that the kicking team recovered. As you can imagine, that game ended as a scoreless tie. Now, besides Charlie Calhoun with his 36 punts, Centenary’s Milton Hill had 20 punt returns, which is also an NCAA record that stands to this day. Thirteen records were set that day that still stand. Let’s hope that they still do for a long time.

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