Does anyone know what the most team rushing yards allowed in an NCAA (Division I) football game are? Last week, the Rice Owls ran for a WAC record 692 yards in their win against Lousiana Tech. That is a hell of a lot of yards on the ground, but yet the NCAA record must be higher.
Anyone? Bueller?
On October 15, 1988 Oklahoma rushed for 768 yards on 72 carries against Kansas State.
You can view the NCAA record book at http://www.ncaafootball.net
If you want a game involving smaller colleges, Lenoir-Rhyne rushed for 837 yards against Davidson on 10/11/1975.
The worst rushing performance was -109 by Northern Illinois against Toledo on 11/11/1967.
Supposedly Georgia Tech Rushed for 1,620 yards on 40 attempts for 32 TDs vs Cumberland College (Tenn) in October, 1916. Beating them in an All-Time College Records Score of 222-0. Cumberland College had -96 yards rushing. But perhaps NCAA and College Records do not include Records from that far back, for whatever reason, i.e. different game, different rules, etc. ??? I dunno.
Record keeping was sporadic before 1937, so that’s the starting point the NCAA uses. And as the wikipedia entry on the Cumberland game notes, there’s considerable dispute – even among contemporary sources – about the statistics from that game.