There are records that everyone knows. DiMaggio‘s 56-game hit streak. UCLA‘s 88 consecutive basketball wins. Cal Ripken with 2,632 consecutive starts. Wilt Chamberlain‘s 100 points. But records are made to be broken, right? Most of them. But some records are so crazy that it’s hard to fathom them falling. What are the unbreakable college football records?
Six Unbreakable College Football Records
For our look at the unbreakable college football records, we only considered FBS records. And we limited ourselves to modern times. Sure, Tennessee‘s 15 straight shutouts, and unscored-upon regular season are impressive, but that was in a by-gone era.
Here are six unbreakable college football records.
Total Offense, Yards-Per-Game, Season: 474.6 (David Klingler, Houston, 1990)
Imagine a modern day quarterback that could pass for 300 yards and rush for another 175 yards in a game. And do it for every game in the season. Houston‘s David Klingler put up some amazing numbers, including an 11 touchdown game, a 716 yards passing game, and 54 passing touchdowns in one season. All of those came during the 1990 season. But the most impressive number was his yards-per-game of total offense during the 1990 campaign. He averaged 474.6 yards per game.
To put that in perspective, only four players in the last decade have averaged over 400 yards-per-game in college football. Only one of them, Patrick Mahomes II, got close to Klingler’s record. Mahomes averaged 444.8 yards-per-game in 2016, still 30 yards per game short. No one else is within 50 yards per game of Klingler in the last decade.
With the competitive balance in college football evening things out amongst teams, it’s hard to imagine an FBS player being able to put up these numbers for a full twelve-plus game season. Additionally, in the era of college free agency and big money playoffs, it pays to get your starters out of a game once it’s readily in hand.
Even with a seemingly insurmountable record, Klingler didn’t win the Heisman Trophy in 1990. Instead, BYU‘s Ty Detmer won the nation’s top college football award. Maybe it was because Houston’s Andre Ware had won the previous award. Maybe it was because voters thought Houston purposefully inflated his statistics. Or maybe voters thought the schedule was weak. Either way, voters can’t take away this impressive stat. And it’s unlikely a future player can take Klingler from this top of this list, either.
Career Yards: 20,114 (Case Keenum, Houston, 2007-2011)
One of those other four players to average more than 400 yards-per-game in a season in the last decade was Case Keenum, also from the University of Houston. He did it three different times, though. To best Keenum’s career yardage, a quarterback would have to account for over 385 yards per game for thirteen games a season, for four seasons.
A magical game? Sure. A season where it all comes together? Maybe. But four seasons of almost 400 yards a game for every game? Not in today’s college football. First, a three year starter with those numbers would be headed to the NFL after his junior season. Secondly, you have to be extremely lucky. You have to avoid injury, you have to have great talent around you, and you have to have stability in your coaching staff. With the defenses in the Power Five conferences and the coaching carousel for successful Group of Five coaches, it’s unlikely another player will even have a chance to get close to Keenum’s career numbers in the future.
How dominate is Keenum’s record? The difference between Keenum and the second place person on the all-time career yardage list (Timmy Chang, Hawaii) is 3,204 yards. That’s the difference between second place and 15th place on the list as well.
Like his fellow Cougar, Keenum never won the Heisman Trophy, even after three seasons of averaging over 400 yards-per-game. His senior season of 2011 was a after he tore his ACL in 2010.
Most Rushing Attempts In One Game: 58 (Tony Sands, Kansas, Nov. 23, 1991)
Are you kidding me? Any coach that had a player run 58 running plays in one game in today’s age would get vilified by the press and the fans for player endangerment. Everyone knows that the career window for running backs in short, and Sands used a good portion of his career span in one game.
Sands was able to gain 396 yards on the ground against Missouri that day, which comes out to about 7 yards per carry. Both of those are certainly good numbers, but at what cost? With 58 rushing plays, it’s unlikely the offense would have more than 65 or 70 total plays. One or two turnovers could negate all the work Sands did. Of course Kansas won the game, 53-29, against a woeful Missouri team that gave up over 36 points-per-game in that season.
With the proliferation of the passing game in today’s modern college offenses, and the justified increased attention on player safety, it’s highly unlikely anyone will ever get close to this mark again.
Most Rushing Attempts Without Losing A Fumble: 1,005 (Mike Hart, Michigan, 2004-2008)
If you assume an average of 20 carries a game, which is a significant work load for a big time college running back, this averages to 50 games without losing a fumble. That, in turn, averages to almost four (3.86) seasons of 13 games. Absolutely incredible.
With the athleticism of modern day defensive players, the odds against the running backs, and lessening importance of running backs, this might be the most unbreakable of all of the records listed here. Just getting 1,000 carries in a college career is a feat in and of itself. The record for most rushing attempts in a career is 1,220 (Ron Dayne, Wisconsin).
A four year starter, Hart fumbled three times in his career. In the fourth game of his freshman season and twice in his last game. 30 full games without a fumble lost. In addition to vice-like grips for forearms and hands, Hart needed a healthy dose of luck to reach this milestone. While it might be more of a obscure record, it’s worth noting. Turnovers are an integral part of the game.
Just like the football, it’s unlikely Hart will be losing this record.
Longest Punt: 99 yards (Pat Brady, Nevada, 1950)
So this might be the least glamorous of the statistics on the list, but it probably won’t be broken any time soon. In fact, it’s mathematically impossible for this to be broken.
Guess you’ve got to be known for something, right?
Most Interceptions In One Game: 9 (John Reaves, Florida, Nov. 1, 1969)
Coach! Get the guy out already. You’ve got to wonder what head coach Ray Graves was thinking. The Gators lost the game 38-12 to Auburn, but they finished the season 9-1-1. Reaves may have been one of Florida‘s “Super Sophs,” but one would think after interceptions 5, 6, or maybe even 7, someone else would come in. Just to keep Reaves’ name out of the bad part of the record.
Guess not. Wonder if Graves was on Reaves Christmas card list?
Do you have a college football record in mind that is unbreakable? Let us know below.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
