November 11 is an extraordinary date on the football calendar, marked by shocking upsets, record-shattering feats, and outright gridiron absurdity. Precisely 114 years ago, in 1911, the legendary Jim Thorpe single-handedly scored every point in an 18-15 victory as the Carlisle Indian School stunned powerhouse Harvard! Fast forward to a surreal 1939 contest between Texas Tech and Centenary, which set an unbreakable NCAA record for combined punts —77— due to torrential rain. From Eddie George’s 314-yard rushing rampage for Ohio State in 1995 to Lamar Jackson becoming the first player with two seasons of 1,000 rushing/3,000 passing yards (2017), November 11 is defined by monumental performances.
November 11 American Football History Timeline
- November 11, 1892 – Bama’s First Football Game: The story of Alabama football took an important early step at Lakeview Park in Birmingham. Alabama’s first official football game took place on Friday afternoon, as the Cadets faced an all-star squad assembled from Birmingham high schools and Professor Taylor’s academy.
- November 11, 1893 – The Ole Miss football program played its inaugural game, in which the early Rebels knocked off Southwest Baptist University (now Union University) 56-0.
- November 11, 1893 – The Oregon State football team played its first organized game at College Field on Lower Campus against Albany College; the OSU eleven won 62-0, as around 500 onlookers paid a dime each to witness the event.
- November 11, 1911 – Cambridge, Massachusetts – A true legend of the Game began writing his football story. As reported in an article on NCAA.com, the Carlisle Indian School of Carlisle, Pa., led by Jim Thorpe, upset the nationally ranked Harvard University football squad by the score of 18-15, with 25,000 in attendance looking on. Thorpe scored every single point for Carlisle in that Game, punching in a touchdown, kicking an extra point, and hitting four field goals. Pop Warner coached the Indians in his 10th year as head coach. Carlisle compiled an 11–1 record in the season, outscoring opponents 298-49. Walter Camp easily selected Jim Thorpe as a first-team All-American.
- November 11, 1939 – Shreveport, Louisiana – A great story on commdiginews.com tells us of a contest between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Centenary College Gentlemen. This college football game set more NCAA records than any game in NCAA history: 13. Texas Tech and Centenary played to a 0-0 tie in a torrential downpour. According to the Weather Underground’s historical archives, 2.23 inches of rain fell in Shreveport, Louisiana, on game day. Players were getting hurt left and right, and the oversized ball used at the time, when wet, was hard to hang onto. According to the article, the weather dictated strategy; traditional offenses were ineffective at best, and dangerous, so both teams decided that punting the ball away was the best play. Centenary took the opening kickoff and ran it back to the 13. Without hesitation, the Gentlemen punted on their first play from scrimmage. After running just two plays, the Red Raiders followed suit and punted on third down. There were an NCAA-record 77 punts in the Game, 39 by Tech and 38 by Centenary. The most amazing fact, though, was that 67 of 77 occurred on first down! Talk about a record that will never be broken!
- November 11, 1978 – Colorado Springs, Colorado – Fromtherumbleseat.com tells the tale of the Game quite well: after a lousy previous season and their former coach, Ben Martin, announcing his retirement, Air Force hired a guy named Bill Parcells to coach the team. You would think the Falcons would be ready for a big win, given the frigid Saturday in Colorado Springs, where temperatures dropped to 21°F. Tech was thought to be at a severe disadvantage in such chilly conditions after coming from hot Georgia. No one told the Yellow Jackets rushing offense that, though, running back Eddie Lee Ivery rushed for 356 yards to lead Georgia Tech to a 42-21 victory over Air Force.
- November 11, 1995 – OSU’s Eddie George rushed for a school-record 314 yards on 36 carries and scored three touchdowns to boot as Ohio State routed the University of Illinois 41-3. The website elevenwarriors.com summed up the story nicely. Running against the Illini was supposed to be difficult. Coming into the 10th Game of the season, Illinois was ranked 10th in the nation in run defense, giving up barely more than 100 yards per Game. Linebackers Simeon Rice and Kevin Hardy were All-American caliber and were stout against the run. That is all well and good, but those facts seemed to motivate Eddie G and his blockers up front. George had over 100 yards in the 1st quarter alone and over 180 at halftime. Eddie kept up the yardage after the half, too, as on the first play of the 2nd half, George took a handoff from Hoying and burst through a hole on the left side, then sped down the sideline for a 64-yard touchdown.
- November 11, 2000 – South Bend, Indiana – According to onthisday.com, the 12th College Football Holy War was played, with Notre Dame knocking off Boston College 28-16. (source)
- November 11, 2001 – Husky Stadium, Seattle, Washington – Seahawks young running back Shaun Alexander, in just his sixth start, ran the rock for 266 yards on 35 carries and scored an 88-yard touchdown run as Seattle upset the favored Oakland Raiders 34-27.
- November 11, 2002 — With some record-setting performances, the Oakland Raiders scooted past the Denver Broncos by the score of 34-10. ESPN.com tells the story of how the 36-year-old veteran Quarterback, Rich Gannon, completed 21 straight passes, and how a 40-year-old GOAT wide receiver, Jerry Rice, became the first player to score 200 career touchdowns.
- November 11, 2007 – Green Bay, Wisconsin – CN-reuter.com has the headline story that tells how Brett Favre joined Dan Marino as the only quarterbacks to throw for 60,000 yards in a career. Favre accomplished the feat during the second quarter of Green Bay’s 34-0 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Old number 4 passed for 351 yards and three touchdowns in the Green Bay victory.
- November 11, 2011 – Montgomery, Alabama – A piece on AL.com reports that Faulkner University defeated Union University of Kentucky by the amazing score of 95-89 in triple overtime to set an NAIA football record. The 184 combined points smash the previous mark of 141 set in 1994, when Southwestern University defeated Sterling University in a State of Kansas shootout, 79-62. The 184 total points in our 2011 game, though, was the second-highest scoring game in college football history, surpassed only by Georgia Tech’s 222-0 blasting of Cumberland in 1916.
- November 11, 2017 – Louisville, Kentucky – The University of Louisville’s Lamar Jackson accounted for four touchdowns and 342 yards as the Cardinals dropped Virginia 38-21. The dailypress.com story fills us in on the action. Lamar Jackson passed for 195 yards and rushed for 147 in the Game against the Cavaliers. Lamar established an NCAA milestone in the victory as well. Jackson, the Heisman Trophy winner, became the first player in NCAA history to post two seasons with 1,000 yards rushing and 3,000 yards passing.
November 11 Football Hall of Fame Birthdays
- Bobby Dodd [1908] – One of the rare icons inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, Dodd was an All-American quarterback and punter under Robert Neyland at Tennessee before guiding Georgia Tech to the 1952 national championship and eight consecutive bowl victories during a legendary 22-year head coaching tenure.
- John Orsi [1908] – A consensus first-team All-American end for Andy Kerr’s powerhouse Colgate teams, Orsi was a three-sport standout renowned for his game-saving blocks and clutch two-way play, later serving as ends coach for the historic 1932 “unbeaten, untied, unscored upon, and uninvited” squad on his way to the College Football Hall of Fame.
- Ed Dyas [1939] – A versatile three-way dynamo for Auburn dubbed “Ed the Leg,” Dyas starred at fullback, linebacker, and placekicker, leading the SEC in rushing, setting an NCAA single-season record with 13 field goals in 1960, and finishing fourth in Heisman Trophy voting before entering the College Football Hall of Fame.
- Ricky Hunley [1961] – The first player in University of Arizona history to earn consensus All-American honors (achieving it twice) and the program’s first inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame, Hunley was a sideline-to-sideline tackling machine who went on to be selected seventh overall in the 1984 NFL Draft and play in two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos.
- Isaac Bruce [1972] – A premier deep threat and crisp route runner, Bruce served as a cornerstone of the St. Louis Rams’ high-octane “Greatest Show on Turf” offense. A Pro Football Hall of Famer and Super Bowl XXXIV champion—highlighted by his game-winning 73-yard touchdown reception—he amassed over 15,000 receiving yards and 91 career touchdowns.
Conclusion: Rushing Legends and Hall of Fame Birthdays
The milestones of November 11 underscore both the wild evolution of football and the enduring dominance of individual talent. While one college game set an NAIA record by scoring a mind-boggling 184 combined points in triple overtime (Faulkner vs. Union, 2011), another set a record for sheer defensive futility—or brilliant defensive strategy—by punting 77 times! This date also celebrates some of the Game’s greatest names, marking the birth of Hall of Famers Bobby Dodd, John Orsi, Ed Dyas, and Ricky Hunley. Whether it was Shaun Alexander’s 266-yard outburst or Jerry Rice becoming the first player to reach 200 career touchdowns on November 11, 2002, is truly a day for the record books.
