Cal Football: Jamieson Sheahan's 11 Punts Last Year vs. Arizona Nowhere Near the Record
Punter Jamieson Sheahan wouldn’t mind a light work day on Saturday when Cal faces Arizona at Memorial Stadium.
A less busy afternoon, in any case, than last November 11 when the teams met at Tucson.
The Bears were without 24 players, including quarterback Chase Garbers, all of them required to remain home due to COVID-19 protocols.
The result was a 10-3 Arizona victory which broke the Wildcats’ 20-game losing streak. The Bears’ toothless offense totaled just 122 yards and nine first downs.
Sheahan was called on to punt 11 times.
“Obviously, last year was a different situation. I was happy to do my part and kick 11 times. That’s not ideal for us,” Sheahan says in the video at the top of this story. “The least amount of punting I do, the better for the Bears.”
Sheahan, the senior from Australia, is the Pac-12’s leading punter and is No. 2 in the nation with a 48.8-yard average.
He said he’s been asked whether he emerged from that game with a tired leg, but explained in Australian rules football, which he played at home, he would sometimes kick the ball 25 or 30 times.
Kicking more often signals good things in Aussie rules football, but in American football it’s a sign of difficulty on offense.
When asked if he’d be OK punting just once or twice Saturday, Sheahan said, “Wouldn’t mind a nice 45-yarder just to say I contributed to our success, but I’m more than happy to sit on the sidelines and watch our boys win.”
Sheahan’s 11 punts were one shy of the Cal record of 12, shared by Gary Fowler vs. Indiana in a 17-14 win on Sept. 27, 1969, and Nick Harris vs. Illinois in a 17-15 loss on Sept. 16, 2000.
The Pac-12 record also happened in a game involving Cal. Ninety-nine years ago, on Nov. 17, 1923, Cal beat Washington 9-0 in Berkeley and the Huskies’ Leo Ziel punted 17 times.
Ziel’s 17 punts are child’s play compared to the NCAA record, set by Charlie Calhoun of Texas Tech against Centenary back on Nov. 11, 1939.
In a constant downpour at Shreveport, LA, Calhoun punted 36 times — 36! — in a game that finished in a scoreless tie. It’s right there in the NCAA record book and the Texas Tech media guide.
Calhoun punted for a total of 1,316 yards — nearly a mile — and averaged 36.6 yards on his punts, despite having one blocked.
Still, 36 punts? How was that possible?
The NCAA specifically researched this game in 1987 in order to confirm what clearly are crazy numbers.
The result was that the two teams combined for 77 punts — still the collegiate record. Calhoun’s leg apparently did become fatigued, because three of Tech’s 39 punts were made by another player. Centenary punted 38 times.
According to multiple sources, the weather and field conditions were so bad that both teams repeatedly punted on first down, hoping to flip field position and perhaps benefit from a fumble on the return.
In fact, 33 of Tech’s 36 punts came on first down, as the Red Raiders ran just 12 offensive plays, netting 1 yard. One source reported that the teams combined to punt on 22 consecutive plays in the second half.
None of it led to a touchdown.
And you thought the Cal-Arizona game last year was weird.
Cover photo of Jamieson Sheahan by Al Sermeno, KLC fotos
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
