Forde-Yard Dash: The 10 Greatest Individual Games in College Football History

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You saw what Shohei Ohtani did for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night, pushing the envelope on what’s possible in a single game. That sparked discussion of the greatest individual performances in baseball history, which in turn got The Dash thinking about the college football version.

Henceforth, the 10 greatest individual college football performances—a list that is subject to revision, given that the sport is more than 150 years old and is played at hundreds of schools. Check it out and weigh in with the best games The Dash overlooked.

The Best

Vince Young (11) vs. USC, Jan. 4, 2006

The greatest college football game of the 21st century was decided by the greatest individual effort of any century, when Young simply said: I’m taking over.

The broad strokes: Young led Texas to the 2005 national championship with a thrilling victory over USC, 41–38. He threw for 267 yards that night in the Rose Bowl and ran for another 200 and three touchdowns. Young was the best player on the field, and he was sharing it with Heisman Trophy winners Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart. USC had its 34-game winning streak snapped, denying the Trojans a national title three-peat.

The details: Young already had been transcendent, but when the Longhorns fell behind by 12 points with 6:42 remaining, he became the entire offense. On Texas’s final two touchdown drives he ran or passed for all 125 yards, scoring two touchdowns and adding a two-point run. His fourth-and-5 TD run with 19 seconds left, followed by the two-point scamper, was the clincher.

The Rest

Red Grange (12) vs. Michigan, Oct. 18, 1924

It was more than a century ago, but the performance still pops off the page. The Illinois running back ran the opening kickoff back against undefeated Michigan for a touchdown, then added scoring runs of 67, 56 and 44 yards … all in the first quarter. Later in the game, the “Galloping Ghost” had an 11-yard TD run and threw 20 yards for a score.

Grange finished with six touchdowns, 212 rushing yards, 64 passing and 126 in kickoff returns as the Illini ended the Wolverines’ 20-game winning streak. Grange was one of the first larger-than-life characters in football, the kind Grantland Rice immortalized for nationwide reading audiences. Grange turned pro the day after his final college game and immediately legitimized professional football.

(The modern version of Grange’s start in that game was Christian McCaffrey in the Rose Bowl against Iowa on Jan. 1, 2016. McCaffrey took a reception 75 yards to the house on the first play, then added a 63-yard punt return TD early in the second quarter. He finished with a Rose Bowl-record 368 all-purpose yards.)

Patrick Mahomes (13) vs. Oklahoma, Oct. 22, 2016

Sometimes, losing performances are too incredible to ignore. That was Mahomes, a Texas Tech junior, against the Sooners and their own star quarterback, Baker Mayfield. Oklahoma won a peak Big 12 video game offense era circus, 66–59, but Mahomes was the QB who shredded the record book.

Hinting at what was to come as a professional, Mahomes lit up the Sooners for 819 yards of total offense, still the FBS single-game record. He threw for 734 and five touchdowns and ran for 85 and two more TDs. Mahomes attempted a staggering 88 passes and ran the ball 12 times on the Red Raiders’ 109 offensive snaps.

(Honorable mention to LSU’s Joe Burrow for his eight-touchdown strafing of Oklahoma in the 2019 College Football Playoff semifinals. Burrow’s two playoff games that season were preposterous—more than 1,000 yards total offense and 14 total touchdowns.)

Reggie Bush (14) vs. Fresno State, Nov. 20, 2005

The perfect snapshot of an artistic athlete in the zone came on a simple play in this game, when Leinart handed off to Bush on a run off left tackle from midfield. Bush broke the play to the sideline, but he was carrying the ball in the wrong hand—the right, giving the defense an opportunity to knock it loose. When approached by a Fresno State defender, Bush slipped the ball behind his back, cut hard right, let the defender sail by and resumed sprinting. By the time he hit the end zone he was on the opposite side of the field and the L.A. Coliseum was in pandemonium.

Bush finished with 294 rushing yards and 513 all-purpose yards, a record total in what was then the Pac-10. A few weeks later he was winning the Heisman.

Doug Flutie (15) vs. Miami, Nov. 23, 1984

If ever a player won the Heisman Trophy in a single day, this was it. Boston College was ranked 10th but a six-point underdog to the No. 12-rated, defending national champion Miami Hurricanes, who had a star quarterback of their own in Bernie Kosar. A Black Friday shootout ensued, with 92 total points and nearly 1,300 yards of offense.

Flutie had already passed for nearly 400 yards when he and the Eagles took possession of the ball at their own 20-yard line with just 28 seconds remaining, trailing 45–41. With six seconds left, BC had the ball just past midfield, at the Miami 48. It was time for a Hail Mary. On a misty day and a muddy field, Flutie dropped back 12 yards—then went back five more and rolled right to avoid a Miami rusher. He finally planted his back foot at the 36-yard line and hurled the ball 65 yards in the air, into the stomach of his roommate, Gerard Phelan, for the winning touchdown. Hail Flutie.

(Honorable mention Hail Mary to BYU’s Jim McMahon against SMU in the Holiday Bowl, when the last of the Cougars’ three touchdowns in the final four-plus minutes was a bomb that won the game.)

Elmer Layden (16) vs. Stanford, Jan. 1, 1925

Having been immortalized by Rice as one of Notre Dame’s Four Horsemen earlier that season, Layden finished it off with an all-around tour de force against Stanford in the Rose Bowl. Layden had two pick-sixes, ran for a touchdown and launched an 80-yard punt as the Fighting Irish won, 27–10, to cap an undefeated season.

(Honorable mention for all-purpose excellence to Paul Hornung, who had several games where he did everything along the way to winning the 1956 Heisman Trophy at Notre Dame. And Syracuse’s Jim Brown, who in the 1957 Cotton Bowl ran for 132 yards and three touchdowns, made five tackles and kicked three extra points. And, of course, to Colorado’s Travis Hunter.)

Tony Dorsett (17) vs. Notre Dame, Nov. 15, 1975

This past Saturday, Fighting Irish running back Jeremiyah Love set a school rushing record for most yards by a player for the home team in Notre Dame Stadium with 228. That’s far less than Dorsett gained in the building 50 years earlier.

Dorsett shredded Notre Dame for 303 rushing yards and two touchdowns and on just 23 carries, and added a 49-yard receiving TD in a 34–20 Pittsburgh triumph. He had 151 yards on his first four carries, including a 71-yard touchdown and a 57-yard sprint.

Ndamukong Suh (18) vs. Texas, Dec. 5, 2009

A defensive tackle almost single-handedly won the Big 12 championship, ruined Texas’s undefeated season and vaulted TCU into the BCS championship game against Alabama. If it weren’t for one second.

Suh, the wrecking-ball tackle for Nebraska, terrorized Texas in the Big 12 title game, recording 4.5 sacks, seven tackles for loss and 12 total tackles. The Cornhuskers led 12–10 in the final seconds, poised to pull a shocking upset. But Suh might have actually been too good—he rushed quarterback Colt McCoy so fast that McCoy released an incomplete pass to the sideline in time to stop the clock with a single second remaining (after the clock read :00 and Longhorns coach Mack Brown lobbied for a review).

Texas kicked the game-winning field goal on the final play. Suh went on to finish fourth in the Heisman voting the next week.

(Honorable mention to Ohio State’s Chase Young for a four-sack, five-TFL, two-forced-fumble demolition of Wisconsin in 2019.)

Jerry Rice (19) vs. Kentucky State, Sept. 1, 1984

It would be a bad list without at least one HBCU performance, and what Rice and his teammates did at Mississippi Valley State in the early 1980s was outrageous. In the ’84 season opener, Rice lit up Kentucky State with 17 receptions for 294 yards and five touchdowns, the start of a senior season that rewrote the FCS record books. (Rice then went on to rewrite the NFL record books.)

“I feel fortunate we held him to 17 catches,” Kentucky State coach Bill Williamson said that day. “He caught 24 against somebody last year.”

David Langner (20) vs. Alabama, Dec. 2, 1972

You might think the greatest day in Auburn history was turned in by Bo Jackson, winner of the 1985 Heisman. Or even Chris Davis, returner of the 109-yard Kick Six in 2013. But really, the honor belongs to Langner, who made three plays that will never be forgotten in Iron Bowl lore.

Trailing the undefeated Crimson Tide 16–3 in the fourth quarter, Auburn needed a miracle. Langner and teammate Bill Newton produced it. Twice. Newton blocked an Alabama punt, which Langner scooped up and returned 25 yards for a touchdown. On the next possession, Newton again blocked a Tide punt and Langner again returned it for a TD—with the extra point, the Tigers had a shocking lead.

Then, with the clock winding down, Langner intercepted an Alabama pass to cement the victory. (That’s why this is a Langner entry and not Newton.)