In recording one of our paywalled podcasts, we came across a game where Syracuse ran the ball 79 times in a game. Then the question was asked: What is the NCAA record for most rushing attempts in a game?

We found the answer, and I will share it in a moment, but in my search about this game, I never saw a mention of this game being a record setter. Honestly, nothing in the newspaper about it being a record, nothing on the team’s Wikipedia page or the team’s website. If you set an NCAA record, you’d think you’d highlight it a little.

October 12, 1968 - Columbia, Missouri.

On October 12, 1968, an NCAA record was going to be set, and no one seemed to know about it. A Big 8 Battle between Colorado and Mizzou took place. The Wing-T Formation was implemented by Mizzou’s Head coach, Dan Devine, for their game against Colorado.

Mizzou dominated Colorado and walked away with a 27-14 win over their conference rivals. The dominance by Mizzou showed up in a play total advantage. They ran for 421 yards on the ground and ran 111 plays to Colorado’s 37 plays.

Out of the 111 offensive plays, they set an NCAA record of …

 99 RUSHING ATTEMPTS

I attached some newspaper articles from after the game below.

I love the newspaper taking a shot at the offense while they just set an NCAA RECORD FOR MOST RUSHING ATTEMPTS IN A SINGLE GAME. “Anyone knows it is the offense that almost costs M.U. football games.” There is absolutely no way they knew Mizzou’s offense just set an NCAA RECORD FOR MOST RUSHING ATTEMPTS IN A SINGLE GAME.

Here are the NCAA Record Setting Stats for the game.

LISTING ALL THE MIZZOU BALL CARRIERS AS AN HONOR FOR RUNNING THE DAMN BALL!!!

The strange thing about the total play disparity is that both of Colorado’s touchdowns came on quick strikes. They scored on a 66-yard TD Pass and an 80-yard TD Pass. The Colorado QB Bob Anderson only completed three passes to his team! He also threw 4 Interceptions! That was really it; Colorado really couldn’t do anything else!

Mizzou went on to finish 5-2 in the Big 8, which was good enough for 3rd behind the Co-Champions of #7 Kansas and #11 Oklahoma. The Tigers went on to win the 1968 Gator Bowl against Alabama 35-10, finishing 8-3 overall.

I could not find a write-up praising the Mizzou rushing attack here as an NCAA record anywhere, so I decided to write about it to praise it. Hope you enjoyed finding out that Mizzou ran the damn ball 99 times in a game for an NCAA record.