1939 Cotton Bowl Classic
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The 1939 Cotton Bowl Classic was the third edition of the postseason college football
bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...
, between the St. Mary's Gaels and the
Texas Tech Red Raiders The Texas Tech Red Raiders and Lady Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University, located in Lubbock, Texas. The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders, while the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raider ...
.


Background

Texas Tech was undefeated and ranked eleventh in the final AP poll (released in early December). Sportswriters had tagged the California-based Gaels as a "Cinderella" team, due to their tawdry record, though the two blemishes were by narrow margins to ranked teams on the road. It was the first bowl game for unranked St. Mary's and the second for Texas Tech, which played in the previous season's Sun Bowl.


Game summary

Texas Tech committed eight turnovers in the game; five interceptions and three fumbles. Entering the fourth quarter, the Gaels led with a touchdown scored in each quarter; runs by Ed Heffernan and Michael Klotovich in the first half and Whitey Smith's interception return in the third quarter. Texas Tech scored twice in the fourth quarter on touchdown catches by Elmer Tarbox and E.J. McKnight from Gene Barnett. The extra point on the second score was blocked and the score was Tech nearly tied the game when George Webb caught a pass from Barnett, heading for daylight until Lou Rimassa stopped him in St. Mary's territory. But Tech could only advance to St. Mary's 15-yard line and they failed to score; St. Mary's held on to win in one of the biggest upsets in college football history.


Statistics

Attendance was recorded as 40,000.


Aftermath

St. Mary's played in two more bowl games, in the mid-1940s, and lost both. The program was dropped in 1951 and later returned joined Division II, and moved up to
Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...
in the 1990s; the football program was discontinued prior to the 2004 season. Texas Tech did not reach a Cotton Bowl again until
1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
; the Red Raiders have yet to win in four appearances.


References

Cotton Bowl Classic The Cotton Bowl Classic (also known as the Cotton Bowl) is an American college football bowl game that has been held annually in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex since January 1, 1937. The game was originally played at its namesake stadium i ...
Cotton Bowl Classic Saint Mary's Gaels football bowl games Texas Tech Red Raiders football bowl games Cotton Bowl January 1939 sports events {{Dallas-stub