In each sport, there are hallowed data, doubtful data and data which might be seemingly unbreakable.
School soccer has developed tremendously over time — every part from guidelines adjustments and magnificence of play to the variety of video games in a season — however there are some data and accomplishments which have stood the take a look at of time.
Some good, some not so good.
We have examined the previous 75 years in faculty soccer, tracing again to the 1950 season, and have ranked the ten most “unbreakable” data within the sport, itemizing them so as of least more likely to be topped. We additionally dug up a few of the extra obscure accomplishments (and failures) throughout that interval.
Once more, we’re solely contemplating play since 1950, so iconic data comparable to Tennessee going your entire 1939 common season unbeaten, untied and unscored upon below then-Main Robert Neyland, or Georgia Tech’s 222-point margin of victory over Cumberland in 1916 should not on our listing.
Undoubtedly, you may tell us if we missed something.
1. Oklahoma’s 47-game profitable streak
When surveying essentially the most dominant faculty soccer machines in historical past, the dialog begins and ends with the Bud Wilkinson-led Oklahoma groups of the Nineteen Fifties. The Sooners bulldozed their solution to 47 consecutive wins, a streak that started in 1953 and lasted most of 5 seasons, producing back-to-back nationwide championships in 1955 and 1956. Oklahoma held its opponents to single digits in 35 of the 47 wins and recorded 22 shutouts.
Unranked Notre Dame, a 19-point underdog, ended the streak on Nov. 16, 1957, with a 7-0 victory in Norman. The Irish scored the profitable landing inside the ultimate 4 minutes on a fourth-and-goal play from the 3-yard line, then intercepted a cross in their very own finish zone within the ultimate seconds to seal the upset, leaving the house crowd shocked. Most of the followers sat within the stands for practically half-hour attempting to course of the unthinkable — an OU loss.
Practically 70 years later, no person has come near that streak. Toledo gained 35 straight from 1969 to 1971. Miami (2000-02) and USC (2003-05) every gained 34 in a row. Even these star-studded Georgia groups below Kirby Good failed to noticeably problem the mark. The Bulldogs gained 29 in a row throughout their run to back-to-back nationwide championships in 2021 and 2022.
With the School Soccer Playoff period upon us and groups having to play as many as 4 postseason video games to win the nationwide title, to not point out convention championship video games, it is tough to think about a workforce going what would quantity to 3 straight seasons unscathed. It is a document groups will probably be chasing for a very long time, perhaps ceaselessly.
2. Barry Sanders’ magical season
Some of the electrifying gamers within the historical past of the game, Barry Sanders put up dizzying numbers in 1988, his junior season at Oklahoma State.
Sure, his single-season NCAA document of two,628 dashing yards was challenged final season by Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty (2,601 yards), however there is a catch. Sanders’ whole got here in simply 11 video games, whereas Jeanty performed in 14. What’s extra, bowl statistics did not rely when Sanders was taking part in, and he had a further 222 yards in opposition to Wyoming within the Vacation Bowl. So if these yards are added, Sanders’ whole jumps to 2,850.
What appears untouchable is Sanders’ NCAA document of 238.9 dashing yards per recreation. For perspective, Jeanty averaged 185.8 yards final season. In truth, solely two different operating backs in main faculty soccer historical past have averaged 200 dashing yards per recreation in a season, USC’s Marcus Allen in 1981 (212.9) and Cornell’s Ed Marinaro (209) in 1971. Sanders had 4 300-yard video games in 1988, and counting the bowl recreation, rushed for 43 touchdowns.
3. Florida State’s top-5 finishes
For all of the late Bobby Bowden achieved throughout his Corridor of Fame profession, his exceptional consistency might be essentially the most spectacular factor. His Florida State groups completed within the prime 5 of each ultimate AP ballot from 1987 to 2000, a tremendous run irrespective of the period.
Bowden completed his legendary 34-year profession at FSU with two nationwide championships (and will have gained a couple of extra had it not been for these dreaded missed area targets in opposition to Miami), and extra importantly, he put Florida State soccer on the map.
Give it some thought: Fourteen straight top-5 finishes. Pete Carroll had some dominant groups at USC, and the Trojans’ longest streak was seven straight top-5 finishes (2002-08). The identical is true for Oklahoma below Wilkinson (1952-58). And whereas Alabama gained six nationwide titles below Nick Saban, his longest run of top-5 seasons was 5 in a row (2014-18).
4. Oklahoma’s wishbone onslaught
If an offense is dashing for greater than 250 yards per recreation at present (there have been 4 in 2024), that is thought of a punishing operating assault. In 1971, with Barry Switzer as offensive coordinator, Oklahoma averaged a staggering 472.4 dashing yards per recreation.
The Sooners had put in the wishbone the 12 months earlier than, and no person may sluggish them down. They averaged 45 factors per recreation and misplaced solely as soon as, to eventual nationwide champion Nebraska 35-31 in what was billed because the “Recreation of the Century.” Even in that loss, Oklahoma rushed for 279 yards.
The final workforce to come back inside 50 yards of the Sooners’ document was the 1987 Oklahoma workforce, which averaged 428.8 yards per recreation. No workforce previously 30 years has reached even 400 yards. Even triple-option groups have not come shut. Military was first nationally in dashing final season, averaging 300.5 yards per recreation.
5. Throwing it to the improper workforce
Not all data are enshrined in trophy circumstances. Florida quarterback John Reaves threw an NCAA-record 9 interceptions (on 66 passing makes an attempt) in a 38-12 loss to Auburn in 1969. Reaves was a prolific passer and put up higher profession numbers than Gators Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier, however Florida’s solely lack of the 1969 season was “a kind of days.”
When Reaves left Florida in 1971, he was faculty soccer’s all-time main passer with 7,549 yards, and he was chosen within the first spherical of the NFL draft. Reaves died in 2017 on the age of 67. He joked years after that forgettable recreation that the “safeties had been the one guys who had been open that day.” On this age of school soccer, any coach that stored a quarterback in a recreation lengthy sufficient to throw 9 interceptions in all probability could be on the lookout for a brand new job the subsequent week.
6. Derrick Thomas’ sack parade
Derrick Thomas was a generational cross rusher. He as soon as had seven sacks in an NFL recreation, which continues to be a document. As a senior linebacker at Alabama in 1988, Thomas devoured up opposing quarterbacks at an astonishing price, ending with 27 sacks (39 tackles for loss) on his solution to incomes SEC Defensive Participant of the 12 months honors.
Thomas was unblockable that season, however you will not discover his eye-popping numbers within the NCAA document ebook. On the time, sacks weren’t an official NCAA statistic, which means Arizona State’s Terrell Suggs has the “official” NCAA sack document with 24 in 2002. Whereas defenders play extra video games now (Thomas performed in 11 video games in 1988), no FBS participant has reached the 20-sack plateau previously 20 years. Final season, the FBS sack chief was Marshall’s Mike Inexperienced with 17.
Thomas, who completed with 52 profession sacks at Alabama, performed 11 seasons within the NFL, all with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs. He died in 2000 on the age of 33 following a automotive accident.
7. Hat trick for Antonio Perkins
If a participant returns one kick for a landing in a recreation, he is in all probability not going to get an opportunity to return one other one. And if he returns two, the one means he will contact the ball once more is after it goes out of bounds. However three punt returns for a landing?
Perkins did the unfathomable in 2003 when he grew to become the primary participant in NCAA historical past to attain on three returns in a recreation, going 84, 74 and 65 yards, in Oklahoma’s 59-24 rout of UCLA in Norman. So, sure, a sound query is: Why within the title of Boomer Sooner did the Bruins hold kicking to him? Perkins’ ultimate landing got here with 2:39 to play within the recreation.
Perkins additionally broke the NCAA document for punt return yards (277), a mark beforehand held by the late Golden Richards, who had 219 punt return yards in 1971 in opposition to North Texas whereas taking part in for BYU. Perkins, a cornerback for Bob Stoops’ OU groups, completed his faculty profession with eight punt returns for touchdowns.
8. Marcus Allen’s superb run
After coming to USC as a defensive again and taking part in some as a fullback early in his profession, Marcus Allen did issues in his 1981 senior 12 months that not even Sanders achieved in his record-setting 1988 season.
For starters, Allen rushed for greater than 200 yards in eight of 11 video games (Sanders had seven 200-yard video games in ’88) and completed with 2,342 yards on his solution to profitable the Heisman Trophy. However what actually jumps out is that Allen began the season with 5 straight 200-yard video games, a streak that appears surreal 44 years later.
In some ways, Allen is essentially the most achieved soccer participant ever. He is the one participant to win a nationwide championship, Heisman Trophy, Tremendous Bowl championship, Tremendous Bowl MVP award and NFL MVP award, a distinction which will by no means be duplicated. He is additionally each a Professional Soccer and School Soccer Corridor of Famer.
9. Patrick Mahomes’ wizardry
Earlier than he began accumulating Tremendous Bowl rings with the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes performed a starring function in one of many wildest shootouts in faculty soccer historical past. Oklahoma and Baker Mayfield outlasted Texas Tech and Mahomes 66-59 in 2016, an offensive smorgasbord that produced one document after one other.
Enjoying via a separated throwing shoulder and fractured left wrist he suffered within the first half, Mahomes set an FBS document with 819 yards of whole offense. He accomplished 52 of 88 passes for 734 yards and 5 touchdowns and likewise rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
Mayfield, who had transferred from Texas Tech to Oklahoma, had the “lesser” of the stats between the 2 future NFL quarterbacks that day. He threw for solely 545 yards and 7 touchdowns — however acquired the win. The groups mixed for an FBS-record 1,708 yards of offense. “To have each these guys play the best way they did … We’ll by no means see it once more, I do not suppose,” stated Kliff Kingsbury, who was Texas Tech’s head coach that season.
10. No upsetting Nick Saban
Nick Saban gained a slew of video games in opposition to nationally ranked groups throughout his profession, 104 to be precise, however his streak of beating the groups he was alleged to beat throughout his 17 seasons at Alabama was unmatched. The Crimson Tide gained 100 consecutive video games in opposition to unranked foes below Saban and went 14 years with out dropping a recreation to an unranked opponent, a streak that was snapped by a 41-38 loss to 19-point underdog Texas A&M on Oct. 9, 2021 with a walk-off 28-yard area objective by the Aggies’ Seth Small. It was the longest such streak within the AP ballot period, and Saban was 123-4 total at Alabama in opposition to unranked groups.
The A&M recreation additionally marked the primary time certainly one of Saban’s former assistants (Jimbo Fisher) had crushed him. Saban had been 24-0 in opposition to former assistants.
Saban had not misplaced to an unranked workforce since his first season at Alabama in 2007, when Louisiana-Monroe upset the Tide 21-14 in Tuscaloosa. The subsequent closest profitable streak in opposition to unranked groups within the AP ballot period (since 1936) is 73 by Florida from 1990 to 2000 below Steve Spurrier. Miami gained 72 in a row from 1985 to 1995.
Now that we have ranked the highest 10, listed here are some honorable (and dishonorable) mentions:
• Florida has scored in 461 straight video games, the longest energetic streak and the longest in FBS historical past. The final time the Gators had been shut out in a recreation was on Oct. 29, 1988, a 16-0 loss to Auburn. A distant second is TCU, which has scored in 407 straight video games.
• Houston quarterback Andre Ware handed for 517 yards and 6 touchdowns — all within the first half earlier than sitting out the remainder of the sport — in a 95-21 battering of NCAA probation-beleaguered SMU in 1989 within the Astrodome. Houston completed with an NCAA-record 1,021 yards of offense. The Mustangs had been coming off a two-year NCAA “demise penalty” for violating guidelines and greater than half their starters had been freshmen. SMU coach Forrest Gregg was livid afterward about Houston operating up the rating and referred to as it a “unhappy day for faculty soccer.” Houston additionally was on probation that season and wasn’t allowed to play in a bowl recreation or seem on dwell tv, however Ware nonetheless gained the Heisman Trophy.
• Michigan’s Mike Hart had 1,005 consecutive dashing makes an attempt and not using a dropping a fumble from 2004 to 2008. Two of his three profession misplaced fumbles got here in his final recreation, the Capital One Bowl in opposition to Florida, which the Wolverines gained 41-35.
• Nebraska has offered out each dwelling soccer recreation at Memorial Stadium relationship again to Nov. 3, 1962, a streak of 403 straight video games. The Huskers have suffered via some lean instances over the previous decade, and whereas packed stadiums and sellouts aren’t essentially the identical factor, each ticket accessible to the general public has been offered for 60-plus years. Admittedly, Nebraska has been pressured to get inventive to maintain the streak alive, with companies and donors shopping for up unused tickets at low cost costs. However nonetheless… 403 straight sellouts!
• Alabama gained a document 27 straight video games in opposition to SEC opponents from 1976 to 1980, a streak that ended with a 6-3 loss to Mississippi State in Jackson, Mississippi on Nov. 1, 1980. That setback to the Bulldogs was the one loss to an SEC opponent Alabama captains Main Ogilvie and Randy Scott had their total faculty careers. The Crimson Tide’s common margin of victory within the streak was 21.6 factors, and solely 3 times in 27 video games did their opponent rating greater than 20. Florida gained 25 straight in opposition to SEC foes below Spurrier from 1994 to 1997.
• East Carolina’s Dominique Davis accomplished 36 consecutive passes in 2011, finishing his final 10 in opposition to Memphis and his first 26 the next week in opposition to Navy. That broke Aaron Rodgers’ document of 26 in a row in 2004 when Rodgers was at Cal.
• Georgia had an NCAA-record 13 turnovers in a 48-6 loss to rival Georgia Tech and Bobby Dodd in 1951. Zeke Bratkowski threw eight interceptions (in 35 makes an attempt) and the Bulldogs misplaced 5 fumbles. Bratkowski nonetheless holds the SEC document for profession interceptions (68), however as a second-year starter in 1952, he led the nation in passing and earned All-America honors earlier than happening to play for the Inexperienced Bay Packers following the 1953 season.
• With Chris Klieman in his third season as coach, North Dakota State allowed simply three punt returns in 14 video games for a internet whole of zero yards in 2016. Of North Dakota State’s 61 punts that season, 37 had been honest catches.
• Northwestern misplaced 34 straight video games from 1979 to 1982. The closest any college has come to that futility is New Mexico State dropping 27 in a row from 1988 to 1990.
• Vanderbilt went your entire season in 1993 and not using a single landing cross, the final FBS workforce to take action. The Commodores’ solely SEC win that season was 12-7 over Kentucky. They ran the I-bone choice offense below Gerry DiNardo and tried 157 passes with no touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Three completely different quarterbacks performed that season, and the Commodores tried a complete of 17 passes of their 4 wins.
• Wake Forest’s Nick Sciba holds the NCAA document with 34 consecutive made area targets within the 2018 and 2019 seasons. He made his first 23 makes an attempt in 2019 earlier than lacking from 48 yards within the regular-season finale in opposition to Syracuse.
• With 6,405 yards in 54 video games, San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey broke Ron Dayne’s NCAA profession dashing document in 2016. Dayne had 6,397 in 43 video games at Wisconsin. It is exhausting to think about a participant placing up these numbers — and taking the beating a operating again does — and staying 4 years within the present local weather of school soccer to make a run at Pumphrey’s document.
