Mizzou's most unbreakable records: Football

With no live sports being played for more than two months now due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we at PowerMizzou have spent plenty of time looking back at some of Missouri’s most memorable performances from the past. This week, instead of reliving an individual game, we turn to a source that captures all of the Tigers’ most impressive feats in one place: the record books. We scoured the football records to find the 15 achievements least likely to be matched — five each from the categories of single game, single season and career records, as well as a few that have a chance of going down.

One note, we shied away from percentage records. Even though Jeff Wolfert’s record of making 100 percent of his career extra-point attempts is, by definition, unbreakable, we wanted to find records that have stood more so because of their impressiveness than their nature. (Same goes for the other kickers who have gone seasons without missing an extra point or the many quarterbacks tied for the team record of throwing zero interceptions in a game.) Without further ado, here are Missouri’s most unbreakable records.

1. Average yards per carry (min. 5): 30.0, Harry Ice (1941 vs. Kansas)

Any record that has stood for nearly 80 years is going to get a spot on this list. Way back in 1941, Don Faurot’s Missouri team walloped rival Kansas 45-6, led by Ice. Ice only carried the ball eight times, but he certainly made the most of those carries, rushing for 240 yards. (I wish I knew how many touchdowns he scored but that information appears to have been lost with time). The Missouri record book lists a couple other players for the yards per carry record at higher carry thresholds (minimums of 10 and 20 carries), and while those might someday fall, I have a hard time seeing anyone average 30 yards per rush on more than five carries anytime soon.

2. Team rushing attempts: 99 (1968 vs. Colorado)

This is another record that has stood for more than 50 years, and unless Missouri transitions to an up-tempo, triple-option offense at some point, it should persevere for another 50-plus. Rarely do college football teams run more than 100 plays in one game (Missouri has only run more than 105 in a game once in its history), especially if a majority of those plays are runs, which tend to take more time off the clock.

3. Rushing yards: 319, Devin West (1998 vs. Kansas)

West took over lead duties in the backfield after Brock Olivo’s graduation following the 1997 season and exploded onto the scene in the second game of the season: a 41-23 win over rival Kansas. West racked up 319 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Missouri as a team hasn’t had more than 300 yards rushing in a game in the past two seasons, much less an individual.

4. Tackles: 26, Taft Sales (1982 vs. Oklahoma State)

There have been some tackling machines to come through Missouri at the linebacker spot in the 38 years since Taft Sales: Travis McDonald, James Kinney, Sean Weatherspoon, Kentrell Brothers. None has broken this record, which is only two shy of the NCAA record of 28 tackles in a single game. The Tigers have another stellar linebacker this season in Nick Bolton, but in an age where offenses generally try to spread out their opponents and don’t run the ball as often, it would be hard to get enough opportunities to scare this record.

5. Interceptions: 8 (1946 vs. Iowa State)

I would love to go back and watch this game, or at least find a full box score, to understand what on earth happened to Iowa State. All I know is that Missouri won 33-13 and Iowa State managed to throw eight interceptions. In an era where teams didn’t pass the ball very often, that blows my mind. Was Iowa State’s quarterback color-blind and confused about which team to pass to? Perhaps there was a wind storm that made accuracy impossible? Those seem as plausible of explanations as any.

Bonus: One single-game record that we could see fall in the relatively near future? Total yardage responsible for: Drew Lock (2017 vs. Missouri State)

Somewhat incredibly, this game represents not only the lone 500-yard passing performance by any Missouri quarterback in school history, it's the only time a Tiger player has accounted for 500 total yards in a game. While Lock’s 521 passing yards from the game might be tough to match, I could see a dual-threat quarterback getting into a shootout and throwing for 400 and running for 100 or so. Not necessarily saying that guy is currently on Missouri’s roster, but it seems feasible.

1. Receptions: Danario Alexander, 113 (2009) and receiving yards: Danario Alexander, 1,781 (2009)

These are pass-happy times in college football, so it’s probably unrealistic to consider any passing or receiving records unbreakable. But what Alexander did in 2009 boggles the mind, and I don’t see any individual putting up numbers like those any time soon. If Missouri were to play a 13-game schedule, as the Tigers did that season, a pass-catcher would have to average nearly nine catches and 137 yards per game to beat those marks. To put that in perspective, last season’s national leaders in receptions (Justin Jefferson with 111) and yardage (JaMarr Chase with 1780) both played 15 games and still failed to eclipse Alexander’s totals.

2. Most passing yards: Chase Daniel, 4,335 (2008)

Not that this should come as a surprise to anyone, but Daniel’s numbers are still remarkable more than a decade later. Daniel eclipsed 4,300 passing yards in consecutive seasons. No other Missouri quarterback — not even Lock in his monster 2017 campaign — has thrown for more than 4,000 in a single year.

3. Most 200-yard passing performances: Chase Daniel, 14 (2008)

This almost feels like a cop-out to include. Since Missouri has never played more than 14 games in a single season, it’s almost unbreakable by definition. The Tigers would have to appear in the SEC title game and the College Football Playoff and advance to the national title game, all while having a quarterback throw for more than 200 yards in every game that season. I’d bet that’s not happening any time soon.

4. Sacks: Shane Ray, 14.5 (2014)

For a while during Gary Pinkel’s tenure, it looked like Missouri was going to have a new player scare the school sack record every few years. But since Ray set a then-SEC record with 14.5 sacks in 2014, no Tiger has totaled more than nine in a single year. Even if Missouri’s defensive end recruiting improves and the team finds a difference-maker on the edge, I have a hard time seeing this one broken. It took the perfect storm of not only Ray's performance, but having Markus Golden on the other end, which kept teams from double-teaming Ray, as well as a scheme that limited the ends’ responsibilities in the run game and prioritized getting after opposing quarterbacks.

5. Fewest points: 25 (1934)

Lord, I hope we never see this one broken. Twenty-five points in an entire season? How is that possible? I looked it up, and the team only plays nine games, but still, that’s fewer than three points per game. Even if you take the nine lowest-scoring games from Missouri’s inept 2015 season, the Tigers averaged 8.7 points per contest.

One record that could fall — Average yards per carry (Min. 150 carries): Damarea Crockett, 6.9 (2016)

That’s an impressive number from Crockett’s freshman season, probably helped by the fact that he didn’t play much during the first three games of the season and missed the finale due to suspension. But it’s far from unheard of. Last season, seven players nationally carried the ball more than 100 times and averaged more than 6.9 yards per rush. I could see a home-run hitting, change-of-pace back — shoot, possibly even Tyler Badie if the offensive line plays a lot better — scaring that number.

1. Yards per reception (min. 50): Mel Gray, 22.3 (1968-70)

Missouri has had some productive deep threats at wide receiver in recent years, most recently Emanuel Hall. But even Hall couldn’t match this 50-year-old record. Gray caught 67 passes for 1,491 yards during his college career. With teams passing so much more often now, and often using short completions in place of running plays, it’s hard to imagine a receiver being both good enough to catch 50 passes and niche enough to maintain this high of an average.

2. Consecutive games with a reception: Chase Coffman, 45 (2005-08)

Coffman also has the records for most career receptions (247) and receiving touchdowns (30), which will be tough to match, but I think this is his most unbreakable achievement. A player would have to play four seasons and catch a pass in every single game across at least two of those seasons to have a shot. That level of consistency, especially from a player who doesn’t leave for the NFL after three seasons, is virtually unheard of.

3. Most touchdown passes: Chase Daniel, 101 (2005-08)

Lock gave this record a scare, finishing his career with 99 touchdown passes. As a four-year starter who threw more than 40 touchdowns one season, if he couldn’t break it, it’s difficult to imagine someone else doing so any time soon. No other Missouri player has ever thrown more than 56 touchdowns in his career.

4. Rushing yards: Brad Smith, 4,289 (2002-05)

This record actually has an outside chance of being broken this season. Larry Rountree III would need a massive year, more than 1,500 yards, but he could feasibly eclipse Smith’s mark. However, I don’t see it happening. If he gains 542 yards, Rountree would be the first Missouri player to even come within 1,000 of Smith's career total. More than anything, Smith needed to be mentioned on this list, and this is his most enduring record.

5. Most punts: Corey Fatony, 255 (2015-18)

Not only did Fatony serve as Missouri’s starting punter for every game of his four-year career, he played during a few seasons when the Tigers did a lot of punting. Even if another punter plays four 13-game seasons at Missouri, he would have to average five punts per game to eclipse Fatony’s mark. Tiger fans certainly hope they won’t have to see that any time soon.

One record that could fall — Most field goals made: Andrew Baggett, 66 (2012-15)

I was surprised to find Baggett atop this list instead of all-Americans Wolfert and Grant Ressell, although he also has the record for most field goals attempted, so it makes sense. But I don’t think it’s insane to think Missouri could have another four-year kicker come along and average 17 made field goals per season. (Eight Missouri kickers have made 17 or more in a single season in the past.) Missouri certainly hopes incoming freshman Harrison Mevis could be that guy, although it's a tad early to pencil the incoming freshman into the record books.