NCAA Football is extremely popular in the United States, some would say surprisingly popular, in many instances, it is ever more popular than the NFL. Pundits have attributed this popularity to the connection the college teams have to their fans. Many of which are alumni or ex-alumni who follow them religiously.
Last year alone NCAA College Football averaged 1.8 million viewers per game on ABC, CBS, ESPN, FOX, NBC, among other networks. Live games reached more than 145 million fans in the United States. Across the board, viewership is up for NCAA College Football reaching numbers that are staggering considering it is not a professional sports league. At the gate, more than 47 million fans turned up to NCAA Football games in the 2019/2020 season.
Many NFL legends have played for NCAA Football teams as the NCAA is a stepping stone to the big league that is the NFL. Here is a list of some of the best NCAA Football records by many who would be future NFL stars.
The quarterback with the most wins in NCAA Football
Kellen Moore, the current Dallas Cowboys Offensive coordinator, has the most wins of any quarterback in NCAA history. He won 50 games of 53 games played for a .943 winning percentage. Moore played for Boise State University for four seasons before moving to the NFL and playing for the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys.
Other great NCAA quarterbacks include Colt McCoy of Texas who went 45-8, Andy Dalton of TCU who went 42-7, and Payton Manning played for Tennessee and went 39-6 during their college careers.
NCAA Football Winningest Coach
John Gagliardi, won 489 games while coaching Saint John’s University in Minnesota and Carroll College in Montana. In total his record stands at 489-138-11, he won 34 College Football titles, winning the NAIA and NCAA Division III on two occasions.
Other coaches on this list are Joe Paterno, who coached for 46 years and obtained 409 wins coaching Penn State, and Eddie Robinson who won 408 games coaching Grambling on two occasions.
NCAA Football team with the most wins
As of this writing, The University of Michigan program has the most wins in NCAA Football history at 963 wins. The Wolverines have 16 National titles and 42 conference titles. They currently play in the Big Ten Conference, the oldest division I conference in the United States.
Some of the most renowned players to have played for Michigan are Charles Woodson, Desmond Howard, Anthony Carter, Jake Long, Marlin Jackson, among others.
NCAA Football team with most titles
That honor goes to Yale, with 18 NCAA National titles, the Bulldogs have won National titles in the following seasons: 1874, 1876, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1900, 1907, 1909, 1927.
With two of the first three Heisman winners, 100 All-Americans, and 28 Hall of Famers, the Yale Football program is one of the most prestigious in the whole country.
NCAA Single Game Passing Yards
Future Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, while playing for Texas Tech, threw for 734 passing yards and 85 rushing yards (819 total) in October of 2016. Mahomes played 3 years for Texas Tech before moving to the NFL.
The other players in other divisions to hold this record is Taylor Heinicke with 791, J.J. Harp in Division II with 681, and Sam Durley of Division III with 719.
NCAA Football Most Points Scored by a Kicker
Future Cincinnati Bengals placekicker Austin Seibert scored 499 points for the University of Oklahoma in four seasons for the Sooners. He played in the Big 12 conference and played a total of 53 games before moving on to the NFL.
In the NFL he only played one season with the Cleveland Browns, he appeared in just 1 game, before moving to Cincinnati, where he has an 86% field goal percentage in 16 games.
Consecutive games with an interception
That record belongs to Al Brosky who played Defensive Back for the University of Illinois, he recorded 15 interceptions from 1950 to 1952. He would later play only one season of professional football with the Chicago Cardinals.
The other record holders are Jamar Williams of Morgan State University with 8 between 1998 - 2001, Darin Nix of Missouri S&T in Division II with 8, and Brent Sands of Division III with 9.
Most yards in a college football season
That honor goes to Barry Sanders, in 1988, he ran 238.9 yards a game and recorded a total of 2,628 yards in one season. In that season Sanders had four games where he ran for 300 yards and scored 37 touchdowns.
Sanders NFL career is nothing short of great, he was the NFL’s MVP in 1997, he was a two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year, an NFL All-Decade team in 1990, and played his whole career with the Detroit Lions.
Most lopsided win ever in college football
Cumberland will forever be in the record books and for all the wrong reasons. Georgia Tech beat them 222-0 in 1916, only two other teams ever scored 200 points on an opponent. Cumberland had discontinued their football program and allowed fraternity brothers to play the game, that decision cost them as Georgia Tech didn’t just blow away with them, they blew them away and then blew away what was left.
The box score for the game stands as follows, 63-0 in the first quarter, 63-0 the second, 54-0 in the third, and 42-0 the fourth. Cumberland committed 15 turnovers—nine fumbles and six interceptions—during the game.
The best defense of all time
In 1939 the Tennessee Volunteers won 10 games and went 6-0 in SEC play, but their defense was nearly impossible to break. No one was able to score a single point on them the whole season. 19 straight shutout wins in total if you count part of the 1938 season.
They were the last team to hold all their opponents to zero in regular season play, while they did lose 14-0 in the Rose Bowl, one thing is for sure, it will be nearly impossible for teams to ever break a 19 game shutout streak.
Most rushing yards in a career
That honor goes to Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne, he ran for 7,125 career rushing yards in his four-year college career. He topped 2,000 yards in a season twice and finished with 1,220 carries. Dayne went on to play seven seasons in the NFL for the Giants, Broncos, and Texans.
His NFL career was hardly what his college career was, he only had 3,722 rushing yards, scoring 28 touchdowns. Dayne was inducted into the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Athletic Hall Of Fame in 2009.
Most Sacks in a single season
The most sacks in an NCAA Football season was 27 and it was achieved by Derrick Thomas for Alabama in 1988. He achieved 27 sacks for a total loss of 204 yards, this magical season came when he was a Senior. Thomas also had 18 sacks in his Junior year and was named to Alabama’s Team of the Century and Defensive Player of the Decade of the 1980s.
In the NFL Thomas would play for the Kansas City Chiefs his whole career, he was named to the NFL’s team of the decade in 1990, and the Chiefs retired his number 58 and he had 126 sacks in his career.
Longest unbeaten run
The longest winning streak in NCAA Football history belongs to the Oklahoma Sooners, 47 games, during the years of 1953-1957. The team won two national championships and the streak has stood with no other team getting close.
During this impressive run of 47 games, the Sooners outscored their opposition by an average of 34-6, they had the defense to match the offense. On 35 occasions they held their opponents to single-digit scores and they had 22 shutouts.
The longest game in NCAA Football history
That honor goes to Texas A&M and LSU who played 7 quarters and the game ended with a Texas A&M win over LSU 74 -72. After the game-winning touchdown was scored, Texas A&M fans ran on the field and as a result, the school was fined a total of $50,000.
The game itself set the record for most combined points scored in Division 1 Football at 146. The game lasted about five hours and was played in front of 101,000 fans.
Most tackles in a season
That record belongs to Kevin McLain, who made 198 tackles in 1975 playing for Colorado State playing in the FBS. McLain would later go on to the NFL and play for the Los Angeles Rams for three seasons.
The other record holders are Kevin Talley for Norfolk State in 2003 with 195, B.J. Russell of Mesa State in Division II with 169, and Keith LaDu in 1986 for Oberlin in Division III with 201.
Longest Field goal ever made without a tee
This honor goes to Martin Gramatica at 65 for Kansas State against Northern Illinois in 1998. Gramatica had a very good NFL career, he played for 5 teams and executed 155 out of 203 field goals.
Gramatica played soccer, but his precision in his kicks attracted the attention of his high school football coach and he was invited to try out for the team. He won the Super Bowl in 2003 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Most Passes completed in a college career
Case Keenum of Houston completed the most passes in a college career with 1,546 in the FBS. His records don’t end there as he also holds records for most career passing yards: 19,217, most career passing touchdowns: 155, most seasons passing for 4,000+ yards: 3 (tied with four others).
Sadly, his NFL career did not reflect his college career as Keenum bounced around 7 NFL teams not really cementing a starting position in anyone. Still, he is on a three-year, $18 million contract with the Browns.
49 points in six minutes
One of the NCAA’s strangest stat comes from a 2001 game between Utah State and Fresno State. Fresno was able to score 49 points in six minutes and 25 seconds.
At half time the Bulldogs had a 56 point lead over the Aggies, and the game would finish at 70-21 and stands as an NCAA FBS record.
Active coach with best winning percentage
Pete Fredenburg has a .856 winning percentage and is the coach with the best percentage at the moment. He has coached Mary Hardin–Baylor since 1998 and has a 237-40 record.
He currently has 2 NCAA Division II titles from the 2016 and 2018 seasons, and 17 ASC titles having won in 2002-2003 and 2005-2019, quite impressive.
Most watched College Football game ever
The Game of the Century it was dubbed and over 25 million people saw unbeaten Miami Hurricanes take on Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl in 1987. The game was watched by a 25.1 television rating on NBC, with an average audience of 22 million per minute.
In a tight game, Penn State would win 14-10, despite Miami’s dominance, the Hurricanes ran for 445 yards and had 22 first down. Nonetheless, the game came down to just one touchdown pass.
