The 10 Biggest Individual Video games in College Football History

Forty names, video games, groups and trivia making information in school soccer, the place it’s Statement of Support Season for athletic directors with embattled coaches. First Quarter: College Football Job Jeopardy Is Spreading.

You noticed what Shohei Ohtani did for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday evening, pushing the envelope on what’s attainable in a single sport. That sparked dialogue of the best particular person performances in baseball historical past, which in flip received The Dash occupied with the school soccer model.

Henceforth, the ten biggest particular person school soccer performances—a listing that’s topic to revision, provided that the game is greater than 150 years outdated and is performed at lots of of faculties. Check it out and weigh in with the perfect video games The Dash neglected.

Vince Young (11) vs. USC, Jan. 4, 2006

The biggest school soccer sport of the twenty first century was determined by the best particular person effort of any century, when Young merely mentioned: I’m taking on.

The broad strokes: Young led Texas to the 2005 nationwide championship with an exhilarating victory over USC, 41–38. He threw for 267 yards that evening within the Rose Bowl and ran for an additional 200 and three touchdowns. Young was the perfect participant on the sector, and he was sharing it with Heisman Trophy winners Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart. USC had its 34-game profitable streak snapped, denying the Trojans a nationwide title three-peat. 

The particulars: Young already had been transcendent, however when the Longhorns fell behind by 12 factors with 6:42 remaining, he grew to become your entire offense. On Texas’s ultimate two landing drives he ran or handed for all 125 yards, scoring two touchdowns and including a two-point run. His fourth-and-5 TD run with 19 seconds left, adopted by the two-point scamper, was the clincher.

Red Grange (12) vs. Michigan, Oct. 18, 1924

It was greater than a century in the past, however the efficiency nonetheless pops off the web page. The Illinois operating again ran the opening kickoff again in opposition to undefeated Michigan for a landing, then added scoring runs of 67, 56 and 44 yards … all within the first quarter. Later within the sport, the “Galloping Ghost” had an 11-yard TD run and threw 20 yards for a rating.

Grange completed with six touchdowns, 212 dashing yards, 64 passing and 126 in kickoff returns because the Illini ended the Wolverines’ 20-game profitable streak. Grange was one of the first larger-than-life characters in football, the sort Grantland Rice immortalized for nationwide studying audiences. Grange turned professional the day after his ultimate school sport and instantly legitimized skilled soccer.

(The fashionable model of Grange’s begin in that sport was Christian McCaffrey within the Rose Bowl in opposition to Iowa on Jan. 1, 2016. McCaffrey took a reception 75 yards to the home on the primary play, then added a 63-yard punt return TD early within the second quarter. He completed with a Rose Bowl-record 368 all-purpose yards.)

Patrick Mahomes (13) vs. Oklahoma, Oct. 22, 2016

Sometimes, dropping performances are too unimaginable to disregard. That was Mahomes, a Texas Tech junior, in opposition to the Sooners and their very own star quarterback, Baker Mayfield. Oklahoma gained a peak Big 12 online game offense period circus, 66–59, however Mahomes was the QB who shredded the document e book.

Hinting at what was to return as knowledgeable, Mahomes lit up the Sooners for 819 yards of whole offense, nonetheless the FBS single-game document. He threw for 734 and 5 touchdowns and ran for 85 and two extra TDs. Mahomes tried a staggering 88 passes and ran the ball 12 occasions on the Red Raiders’ 109 offensive snaps.

(Honorable point out to LSU’s Joe Burrow for his eight-touchdown strafing of Oklahoma within the 2019 College Football Playoff semifinals. Burrow’s two playoff video games that season have been preposterous—greater than 1,000 yards whole offense and 14 whole touchdowns.)

Reggie Bush (14) vs. Fresno State, Nov. 20, 2005

The good snapshot of a creative athlete within the zone got here on a easy play on this sport, when Leinart handed off to Bush on a run off left sort out from midfield. Bush broke the play to the sideline, however he was carrying the ball within the improper hand—the proper, giving the protection a chance to knock it free. When approached by a Fresno State defender, Bush slipped the ball behind his again, minimize laborious proper, let the defender sail by and resumed sprinting. By the time he hit the tip zone he was on the alternative facet of the sector and the L.A. Coliseum was in pandemonium.

Bush completed with 294 dashing yards and 513 all-purpose yards, a document whole in what was then the Pac-10. A number of weeks later he was profitable the Heisman.

Doug Flutie (15) vs. Miami, Nov. 23, 1984

If ever a participant gained the Heisman Trophy in a single day, this was it. Boston College was ranked tenth however a six-point underdog to the No. 12-rated, defending nationwide champion Miami Hurricanes, who had a star quarterback of their very own in Bernie Kosar. A Black Friday shootout ensued, with 92 whole factors and practically 1,300 yards of offense.

Flutie had already handed for practically 400 yards when he and the Eagles took possession of the ball at their very own 20-yard line with simply 28 seconds remaining, trailing 45–41. With six seconds left, BC had the ball simply previous midfield, on the Miami 48. It was time for a Hail Mary. On a misty day and a muddy subject, Flutie dropped again 12 yards—then went again 5 extra and rolled proper to keep away from a Miami rusher. He lastly planted his again foot on the 36-yard line and hurled the ball 65 yards within the air, into the abdomen of his roommate, Gerard Phelan, for the profitable landing. Hail Flutie.

(Honorable point out Hail Mary to BYU’s Jim McMahon in opposition to SMU within the Holiday Bowl, when the final of the Cougars’ three touchdowns within the ultimate four-plus minutes was a bomb that gained the sport.)

Elmer Layden (16) vs. Stanford, Jan. 1, 1925

Having been immortalized by Rice as certainly one of Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen earlier that season, Layden completed it off with an all-around tour de pressure in opposition to Stanford within the Rose Bowl. Layden had two pick-sixes, ran for a landing and launched an 80-yard punt because the Fighting Irish gained, 27–10, to cap an undefeated season.

(Honorable point out for all-purpose excellence to Paul Hornung, who had a number of video games the place he did every part alongside the best way to profitable the 1956 Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame. And Syracuse’s Jim Brown, who within the 1957 Cotton Bowl ran for 132 yards and three touchdowns, made 5 tackles and kicked three additional factors. And, in fact, to Colorado’s Travis Hunter.)

Tony Dorsett (17) vs. Notre Dame, Nov. 15, 1975

This previous Saturday, Fighting Irish operating again Jeremiyah Love set a college dashing document for many yards by a participant for the house crew in Notre Dame Stadium with 228. That’s far lower than Dorsett gained within the constructing 50 years earlier.

Dorsett shredded Notre Dame for 303 dashing yards and two touchdowns and on simply 23 carries, and added a 49-yard receiving TD in a 34–20 Pittsburgh triumph. He had 151 yards on his first 4 carries, together with a 71-yard landing and a 57-yard dash. 

Ndamukong Suh (18) vs. Texas, Dec. 5, 2009

A defensive sort out virtually single-handedly gained the Big 12 championship, ruined Texas’s undefeated season and vaulted TCU into the BCS championship sport in opposition to Alabama. If it weren’t for one second.

Suh, the wrecking-ball sort out for Nebraska, terrorized Texas within the Big 12 title sport, recording 4.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss and 12 whole tackles. The Cornhuskers led 12–10 within the ultimate seconds, poised to drag a stunning upset. But Suh might need truly been too good—he rushed quarterback Colt McCoy so quick that McCoy launched an incomplete go to the sideline in time to cease the clock with a single second remaining (after the clock learn :00 and Longhorns coach Mack Brown lobbied for a assessment). 

Texas kicked the game-winning subject aim on the ultimate play. Suh went on to complete fourth within the Heisman voting the subsequent week.

(Honorable point out to Ohio State’s Chase Young for a four-sack, five-TFL, two-forced-fumble demolition of Wisconsin in 2019.)

Jerry Rice (19) vs. Kentucky State, Sept. 1, 1984

It can be a nasty record with out at the very least one HBCU efficiency, and what Rice and his teammates did at Mississippi Valley State within the early Eighties was outrageous. In the ’84 season opener, Rice lit up Kentucky State with 17 receptions for 294 yards and 5 touchdowns, the beginning of a senior season that rewrote the FCS document books. (Rice then went on to rewrite the NFL document books.)

“I feel fortunate we held him to 17 catches,” Kentucky State coach Bill Williamson mentioned that day. “He caught 24 against somebody last year.”

David Langner (20) vs. Alabama, Dec. 2, 1972

You may suppose the best day in Auburn historical past was turned in by Bo Jackson, winner of the 1985 Heisman. Or even Chris Davis, returner of the 109-yard Kick Six in 2013. But actually, the honour belongs to Langner, who made three performs that can by no means be forgotten in Iron Bowl lore.

Trailing the undefeated Crimson Tide 16–3 within the fourth quarter, Auburn wanted a miracle. Langner and teammate Bill Newton produced it. Twice. Newton blocked an Alabama punt, which Langner scooped up and returned 25 yards for a landing. On the subsequent possession, Newton once more blocked a Tide punt and Langner once more returned it for a TD—with the additional level, the Tigers had a stunning lead.

Then, with the clock winding down, Langner intercepted an Alabama go to cement the victory. (That’s why this can be a Langner entry and never Newton.)

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