Single-Season and Career College Football Records That Could Be Broken in 2015
Records are meant to be broken, and college football does its part to keep this old adage true.
Last season we saw individual FBS records set for career receptions, single-game passing yards and single-game rushing yards (twice!) and a tie for most interceptions in a season, among others. That's not including all of the school and conference records that were shattered by players all over the country, as offenses keep getting more prolific, yet defensive players continue to find ways to make big plays.
Several more national records could fall during the 2015 season, including a few that are almost a certainty based on the career pace that some players are on. Plenty of school and conference records will get topped as well.
We've highlighted the more notable single-season and career records that are in jeopardy of being toppled this fall as well as who is the top candidate to set these milestones.
FBS Passing Yards, Single-Season: Brandon Doughty, Western Kentucky
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Current record: 5,833 (B.J. Symons, Texas Tech, 2003)
This record was Connor Halliday's to break last year, and he was well on his way to doing so after the Washington State quarterback set the single-game record with 734 yards in October. But Halliday broke his leg in November and was lost for the year, coming up about 2,000 yards short.
The closest challenger to Symons' mark in 2014 was Brandon Doughty, who exploded for 4,830 yards to go with 49 touchdowns for Western Kentucky. That included two games with fewer than 200 yards compared to the pair of 500-yard games he had early in the season and the 977 yards he threw for in the Hilltoppers' final two contests.
Doughty was a senior last season but has the chance to break the season mark after the NCAA granted him a sixth year of eligibility because he missed nearly all of the 2011 and 2012 seasons with knee injuries.
Western Kentucky has a chance to play 14 games in 2014 if it wins Conference USA's East Division and then plays in a bowl, and if Doughty can avoid any stinkers, he'd need to average 417 yards per game to claim the FBS record.
FBS Rushing Touchdowns, Career: Keenan Reynolds, Navy
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Current record: 77 (Montee Ball, Wisconsin, 2009-12)
Keenan Reynolds already has two FBS records, so why not add a few more to the Navy quarterback's impressive resume before his career is over?
"I am aware of the records," Reynolds told David Ammenheuser of the Tennesseean. "And I know what I need to do to break them, but I don't think about it. If it happens, it happens."
There are three national marks that he's got a great shot at breaking in 2015, the most likely being Ball's career record for rushing touchdowns. Reynolds enters the season with 64, which is already the most ever by a quarterback (surpassing Nebraska great Eric Crouch's mark of 59) and currently ranks sixth-best in FBS history.
Reynolds set the FBS single-season record for rushing TDs by a quarterback in 2013 when he scored 31 times, including a record (for a QB) seven in a triple-overtime win over San Jose State. He had 23 last year, when he missed two games because of injury.
Ball's FBS record for total touchdowns of 83 is also well within reach for Reynolds, and he has a good shot at topping the all-time mark for rushing yards by a quarterback. Michigan's Denard Robinson had 4,495 yards from 2009-12, and Reynolds sits at 3,186.
FBS Solo Tackles, Career: Tyler Matakevich, Temple
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Current record: 360 (Rod Davis, Southern Mississippi, 2000-03)
Temple has spent the last three seasons mostly off of the national college football radar, the product of the school winning only 12 games during that time with no bowl appearances and only one victory over a power-conference team. That's kept one of the most consistent tacklers in NCAA history from getting the attention he's due.
Tyler Matakevich has topped 100 tackles in all three of his seasons at Temple, with a high of 137 in 2013. That year he had 105 solo tackles, most in the FBS and the 14th-best single-season total.
The 6'1", 235-pound senior has 260 solo takedowns for his career, which ranks 17th all-time. If Temple can get into a bowl game, that will give Matakevich an extra opportunity to reach triple digits again and become the FBS career leader.
FBS Interceptions Returned for Touchdown, Career: Kevin Byard, Middle Tennessee
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Current record: 5 (four times, most recently by Darrent Williams, Oklahoma, 2001-04)
Kevin Byard is coming off his best season in terms of total interceptions, picking off a team-high six for Middle Tennessee in 2014. But unlike the previous two years, Byard didn't manage to return any of those picks for touchdowns, meaning for the second season in a row he'll start off just one pick-six from tying the FBS career record.
Byard brought back two interceptions for TDs in 2012 and another pair in 2013, and for his career he has 15 interceptions. He did score once in 2014 on a 76-yard punt return in a win over Old Dominion.
The 5'11", 217-pound senior was on the watch list last year for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation's top defensive back, but did not make the cut to the semifinalists. This year's watch list is set to be released Monday, July 13.
FBS Field Goals Made, Single-Season: Josh Lambert, West Virginia
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Current record: 31 (Billy Bennett, Georgia, 2003)
Following a game-winning 47-yard field goal to beat Maryland last September, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen admitted that he hadn't talked to kicker Josh Lambert "since he got on campus, and we're going to keep it that way," per Bob Cohn of TribLive.com.
But after booting a 55-yarder to beat Texas Tech a few weeks later, Lambert tweeted out a picture of Holgorsen hugging him with the caption, "He finally talked to me!"
There was a good reason for that, as Lambert's FBS-leading 30 field goals last year were as important to West Virginia's performance as anything else.
Lambert came within one kick of tying the FBS mark, and he figures to have the chance to top it during his junior year if the Mountaineers' inexperienced offense struggles as expected. He missed nine field goals in 2014 though set an FBS record with 16 makes from 40 yards or longer.
FBS Total Punts, Career: Alexander Kinal, Wake Forest
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Current record: 322 (Nick Harris, California, 1997-2000)
Setting an FBS record isn't always a good thing, but Alexander Kinal probably hopes that his likely finish as the all-time leader in punts will lead to a pro career.
The Wake Forest senior set an ACC record with 95 punts as a redshirt freshman in 2012, and despite his total going down each year (to 86 in 2013 and 81 last year), he's well-positioned to set the career mark sometime this fall. And he's not just going through the motions, as Kinal possesses a healthy 41.6-yard average.
Kinal sits at 262 punts for his career, and using his 2014 average of 6.75 per game, he'd break the record during the Demon Deacons' ninth game on Oct. 30 against Louisville.
If Kinal were to fall short of the record that wouldn't necessarily be bad because it would mean Wake Forest's offense had made major leaps and bounds over the 2014 unit that averaged an FBS-worst 216.3 yards per game.
Pac-12 Receptions, Career: Nelson Spruce, Colorado
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Current record: 258 (Derek Hagan, Arizona State, 2002-05)
Colorado is mired in one of its worst stretches in program history, with nine straight losing seasons and only six wins in the past three years. Nelson Spruce has managed to be one of the few bright spots among the Buffaloes' dark times, though, and he's in line to be the most productive receiver in Pac-12 history.
Following his 106-catch junior year, Spruce has 205 career receptions. That's tied for 18th all-time in the conference, but based on his past work Spruce should surpass all those in front of him midway through the 2015 season.
The 6'1", 195-pound wideout isn't the biggest target on the field, and he's not normally the guy who's sent deep to get behind coverage. Instead, he's a reliable possession receiver whom quarterback Sefo Liufau can turn to on nearly every play.
Last season Spruce had four games with at least 10 receptions, including a 19-catch effort for 179 yards and three touchdowns in a double-overtime loss to California.
Mountain West Receiving Yards, Career: Rashard Higgins, Colorado State
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Current record: 3,634 (David Anderson, Colorado State, 2002-05)
It's the year of the receiver in Colorado, where not only can the Buffaloes find one of their players reaching the top of a career conference chart, but so can Colorado State. And for Rashard Higgins, he'd be doing it in only three seasons.
Following a breakout sophomore year, when Higgins had 1,750 receiving yards, he amassed nearly half of what the current Mountain West career receiving leader managed in four years. Higgins has 2,587 yards in only two seasons, which ranks 15th in the league's history dating back to 1999.
Higgins won't have Garrett Grayson throwing to him anymore after Colorado State's all-time passing leader graduated (and was drafted in the third round by the New Orleans Saints), and he'll have someone new calling plays, as Jim McElwain has left for Florida and been replaced by Mike Bobo.
But based on how effective he was at getting open in 2014, when he had three straight games with 175 or more yards, he figures to be able to easily get the 1,038 yards he needs to set the Mountain West record.
SEC Rushing Yards by a Quarterback, Career: Dak Prescott, Mississippi State
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Current record: 2,947 (Tim Tebow, Florida, 2006-09)
Before Tebow came along, the SEC was almost exclusively an "our quarterbacks throw the ball; they don't run with it" league. But with more and more teams in the conference turning toward spread offenses, mobility from that position has become far more important.
It's what has made Dak Prescott as successful as he's been and consequently was a huge part of Mississippi State's big start to the 2014 season, when it opened 9-0 and spent several weeks ranked No. 1. Prescott didn't lead the Bulldogs in rushing, as was the case the year before, but his 986 yards on the ground were immensely important.
Prescott has rushed for 1,933 for his career, which is 348 yards short of John Bond's school mark for a quarterback set from 1980-82. It's also within sight of Tebow's SEC QB rushing mark, especially if MSU isn't able to find a running back who can replace Josh Robinson's production from last year.
Michigan State Passing Yards, Career: Connor Cook
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Current record: 9,131 (Kirk Cousins, 2008-11)
Michigan State isn't exactly a quarterback factory, but its last few starting passers have managed to carve themselves a career in the NFL. Cousins, Brian Hoyer and Drew Stanton have combined for 47 pro starts, including 27 during the 2014 season, and they are three of the four passers who are ahead of Connor Cook on MSU's career passing list.
Cook should surpass them all this year, however. He's at 6,063 yards heading into his third season as the Spartans' starter, and if he matches the 3,214 yards he tallied in 2014 that will put him ahead of Cousins.
The school record would be another nice line on a college resume that includes a Big Ten title and two major bowl wins, all of which have put the 6'4" Cook in line to be one of the first quarterbacks taken in the 2016 draft.
Ohio State Sacks, Career: Joey Bosa
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Current record: 36 (Mike Vrabel, 1993-96)
The sack has only been an official stat in the eyes of the NCAA since 2000, so a lot of the records associated with tackling the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage are skewed. The NCAA considers the all-time record to be 44, set by Arizona State's Terrell Suggs from 2000-02, while the Big Ten mark would technically be the 33.5 that Purdue standouts Ryan Kerrigan and Shaun Phillips tallied.
Ohio State's record book goes back much further than the turn of the century, though, recognizing the 36 sacks that Vrabel had in the mid-1990s. And that's the mark that defensive end Joey Bosa has an excellent shot at surpassing, assuming he can parlay what he did in 2014 into another big year this fall.
Bosa has 21 career sacks after recording 13.5 last season. He admits he "saw five or six sacks that I could have had," per Austin Ward of ESPN.com, due to him "doing my own thing" instead of playing within a team approach.
If Bosa weren't able to match or beat Vrabel's number this year, he's not likely to do so in 2016. Most mock drafts have Bosa among the top picks taken next spring, if not first overall, as is the case with WalterFootball.com.
Record information courtesy of Sports-Reference.com and the NCAA unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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