Ranking the Most Important College Football Records Broken in 2014
Can you think of an NCAA FBS record that got broken in 2014?
What might come to mind is the single-game rushing mark, which got shattered not once but twice this season, in games played just a week apart.
The two instances share the magical essence of any record-setting performance: a statistical mark that is the best-ever, unmatched by any other athlete in the history of a sport.
These are more than just mere numbers—they are the elite individual achievements in the history of college football, a game that is 76 years older than the NBA, 50 years older than the NFL, 27 years older than college basketball and the same age as Major League Baseball.
Included among the record breakers are a couple of performances that tied longtime NCAA FBS marks. Though they didn’t technically break anything, they did match a mark that before seemed virtually impossible.
14. Most Passes Attempted by a Freshman – Single Game
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 72, Luke McCown, Louisiana Tech vs. Miami (Fla.), Oct. 28, 2000
New NCAA FBS Record: 74, Luke Falk, Washington State vs. Arizona State, Nov. 22, 2014
Luke Falk set the record for the most passes attempted by a freshman in only his third-ever career start, a 51-32 loss at Arizona State. Falk, playing in relief of injured starter Connor Halliday, went 45-of-74 (60.8 percent) for 601 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions in the loss.
Falk is a former 2-star, pro-style prospect from Logan, Utah.
13. Highest Average Yards Per Punt by a Freshman (Minimum 40 Punts) Season
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 47.8 yards, Austin Rehkow, Idaho, 2013
New NCAA FBS Record: 48.0 yards, JK Scott, Alabama, 2014
Not only did JK Scott break the NCAA FBS record for average yards per punt for a freshman, but he finished the season ranked No. 1 among all FBS punters. It was the best performance by any punter since 2012, when Louisiana Tech’s Ryan Allen, a senior, averaged 48.04 yards per punt.
Scott punted 55 times for 2,640 yards versus previous record-holder Austin Rehkow’s 75 punts for 3,587 yards in 2013. He came to Alabama as a 3-star prospect from Denver.
12. Highest Percentage of Passes Completed by a Freshman (Minimum 200 Attempts)
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 69.5 percent, Sam Bradford, Oklahoma, 2007
New NCAA FBS Record: 70.5 percent, Brandon Silvers, Troy, 2014
Troy’s Brandon Silvers completed 191 of his 271 pass attempts this season, beating out Sam Bradford’s seven-year-old mark of 237-of-341 in 2007.
Silvers’ completion rate was good enough for a No. 2 finish among FBS quarterbacks this season, second only to Boise State’s Grant Hedrick (70.8 percent).
Silvers is a former 2-star pro-style prospect from Gulf Shores, Alabama.
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11. Most Rushing Yards Gained in 1st Career Game
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 273 yards, Chris McCoy, Navy vs. SMU, Sept. 9, 1995
New NCAA FBS Record: 275 yards, Marlon Mack, USF vs. FCS Western Carolina, Aug. 30, 2014
Marlon Mack kicked off his college career with a 275-yard, four-touchdown day in USF’s 36-31 win over FCS Western Carolina in the 2014 season opener.
The mark also broke the NCAA FBS record for most yards gained by a freshman in the first career game, which was previously held by Texas A&M’s Greg Hill, who ran for 212 yards in a 1991 game against LSU.
Mack, a former 3-star from Sarasota, Florida, finished the season with 1,014 yards and nine scores.
10. Most Touchdown Passes in 1st Career Game
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 5, John Reaves, Florida vs. Houston, Sept. 9, 1969
New NCAA FBS Record: 6, Gunner Kiel, Cincinnati vs. Toledo, Sept. 12, 2014
Gunner Kiel’s much-anticipated collegiate debut not only resulted in a 58-34 win over Toledo but also broke a 45-year-old record.
Kiel’s six-touchdown performance was one score better than John Reaves’ mark in Florida’s 59-34 win over No. 7 Houston in the 1969 season opener. Reaves went on to win the 1971 Sammy Baugh Trophy and was selected as the 14th overall pick in the 1972 NFL draft. His daughter, Layla, is married to Lane Kiffin.
Kiel finished the season with 31 touchdowns, No. 10 in the FBS.
9. Most Passing Yards by a Freshman - Season
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 3,740, Brett Hundley, UCLA, 2012
New NCAA FBS Record: 3,793, Anu Solomon, Arizona, 2014
Anu Solomon broke at least three major NCAA FBS records as a freshman, beginning with edging Brett Hundley’s freshman passing-yard mark by 53 yards.
Solomon also owns the record for most plays (total offense) by a freshman in a season with 677. This broke the previous mark of 638 plays, also set by UCLA’s Hundley in 2012.
The last record he broke was when he accounted for 89 plays in the 49-45 win over Cal on Sept. 20, breaking the record for most plays (total offense) by a freshman in a single game. The previous record was held by Louisiana Tech’s Luke McCown, who had 80 plays in a 2000 game versus Miami (Fla.).
Solomon came to Arizona as a 4-star dual-threat prospect from Las Vegas.
8. Most Times Making 3 or More Field Goals in a Game - Season
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NCAA FBS Record: 6, Luis Zendejas, Arizona State, 1983 and Joe Allison, Memphis, 1992
Tied NCAA FBS Record: 6, Josh Lambert, West Virginia, 2014
Josh Lambert made 30 field goals in 2014, more than any other kicker in the FBS and the most since Alabama’s Leigh Tiffin hit 30 in 2009.
Included were three field goals in the game with Alabama, four versus Kansas, three at Texas Tech, three against TCU, three at Iowa State and three in the bowl game versus Texas A&M.
Beyond this, Lambert had four additional games where he made two field goals, bringing the number of two-plus outings up to 10. This also ties an NCAA FBS record, co-held by Paul Woodside of West Virginia (1982), John Sullivan of New Mexico (2007), Kai Forbath of UCLA (2007) and Dan Bailey of Oklahoma State (2010).
7. Highest Average Gain Per Kick Return (Minimum 1.5 Returns Per Game) – Season
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 38.2, Forrest Hall, San Francisco, 1946
New NCAA FBS Record: 38.32, J.J. Nelson, UAB, 2014
UAB senior wide receiver J.J. Nelson returned 22 kicks for 843 yards in 2014, breaking a 68-year-old record set by a guy from a program that ceased its football operations in 1982.
San Francisco’s Forrest Hall went on to go 85th overall in the 1945 NFL draft and eventually participated in two games for the 49ers in 1948.
Nelson finished the 2014 season with 1,820 all-purpose yards (655 receiving, 46 running, 277 punt returns and 843 kick returns) for a No. 18 finish in the FBS.
6. Most Passing Yards Gained – Single Game
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 716, David Klingler, Houston vs. Arizona State, Dec. 2, 1990
New NCAA FBS Record: 734, Connor Halliday, Washington State vs. California, Oct. 4, 2014
Not only did Connor Halliday’s 734-yard day versus Cal break the single-game passing record, but it also shattered three other FBS marks.
Halliday completed 49 passes in the win over the Golden Bears, which combined with consecutive performances at Utah (39 completions, Sept. 27), at Stanford (42 completions, Oct. 10) and versus Arizona (56 completions, Oct. 25) broke the record for most passes completed in three and four games.
The three-game mark (147) bested Wake Forest’s Rusty LaRue’s record of 146, set in 1995 against Duke, Georgia Tech and North Carolina. The four-game mark (186) broke Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury’s 176, set in 2002 against New Mexico, Texas A&M, Iowa and Missouri.
Last but not least, when Halliday’s yards are combined with Cal quarterback Jared Goff’s 527 yards that same day, the duo break the record for the most passing yards by two opposing players (1,261). The previous mark was held by TCU’s Matt Vogler (690) and Houston’s David Klingler (563), who hooked up for 1,253 yards in a Nov. 3, 1990 game.
5. Most Rushing Yards Gained – Single Game
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 406, LaDainian Tomlinson, TCU vs. UTEP, Nov. 20, 1999
New NCAA FBS Record: 427, Samaje Perine, Oklahoma vs. Kansas, Nov. 22, 2014
The first guy to break LaDainian Tomlinson’s 15-year-old single-game rushing mark was Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon, who hung up 408 yards on Nebraska on Nov. 15. That was just one week before Samaje Perine blasted Kansas for 427.
Perine’s record-setting day also broke records for most rushing yards gained by a freshman in a single game (427) and most all-purpose yards gained by a freshman in a single game (446).
Both records were previously held by San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk, who racked up 406 yards rushing and 422 all-purpose yards against FCS Pacific on Sept. 14, 1991.
4. Most Passes Intercepted – Season
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NCAA FBS Record: 14, Al Worley, Washington, 1968
Tied NCAA FBS Record: 14, Gerod Holliman, Louisville, 2014
Even though Louisville’s Gerod Holliman didn’t break the single-season record for interceptions, he’s the only guy to match Washington’s Al Worley’s performance in 46 years.
The most recent contender was N.C. State’s David Amerson, who scored 13 interceptions in 2011.
Holliman registered multiple interceptions in games against Virginia (two), Florida International (two), Florida State (two) and Boston College (three). His 245 return yards were almost double that of Worley’s 130.
3. Most Rushing Touchdowns Scored by a Quarterback – Career
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 59, Eric Crouch, Nebraska, 1998-2001 and Colin Kaepernick, Nevada, 2007-2010
New NCAA FBS Record: 64, Keenan Reynolds, Navy, 2012-2014
What’s even more remarkable than Navy’s Keenan Reynolds’ record-setting 64 career rushing touchdowns is that he achieved the mark in only three seasons. He still has his senior year left to play.
Reynolds’ 64 scores came in 37 games versus Eric Crouch’s 43 games and Colin Kaepernick’s 51.
He scored six rushing touchdowns in Navy’s 52-19 win over Georgia Southern this season and seven in a 58-52 win over San Jose State in 2013, also an NCAA FBS record.
2. Lowest Percentage of Passes Intercepted (Minimum 600 Attempts): Career
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 1.28 percent, Billy Volek, Fresno State, 1997-1999
New NCAA FBS Record: 1.18 percent, Bryce Petty, Baylor, 2011-2014
Perhaps the most underappreciated record in the bunch, Baylor’s Bryce Petty threw 845 passes as a collegian and only 10 interceptions.
It was enough to edge Fresno State’s Billy Volek, who threw 12 interceptions in 934 attempts from 1997 to 1999, previously the lowest percentage in history.
Petty’s cleanest performance came as a junior in 2013, when he threw a mere three interceptions in 403 attempts over 13 games.
1. Most Passes Caught – Career
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Previous NCAA FBS Record: 349, Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma, 2008-2011
New NCAA FBS Record: 387, Justin Hardy, ECU, 2011-2014
Given the pass-happy culture of major college football, Justin Hardy’s 387 career catches is a stunning achievement.
Hardy caught 64 passes as a freshman in 2011, 88 as a sophomore, 114 as a junior and 121 as a senior. His best day came in a 36-33 loss at Tulane in 2013 when he caught 17 passes for 230 yards.
Compare that to Broyles, whose high-water mark came in a 15-catch, 182-yard performance on Oct. 16, 2010 in a 52-0 win over Iowa State.
Records courtesy of NCAA FBS Record Book. Statistics courtesy of CFBStats.com. Recruit rankings courtesy of Rivals.
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