One average rush for Donnel Pumphrey became, as a famous man once said, a giant rush for college football history.
With a 15-yard carry in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s Las Vegas Bowl, Pumphrey became the all-time leading rusher in FBS history, passing Wisconsin runner Ron Dayne‘s mark of 6,397 carries. The carry pushed the San Diego State rusher to 6,402 career yards on 1,058 carries.
Pumphrey finished the game rushing 19 times for 115 yards and a touchdown, and finished his career with 1,059 carries for 6,405 yards and 62 touchdowns spread over 53 games.
However, it must be noted, the record does come with an asterisk.
Had the NCAA kept records throughout Dayne’s career as they did in Pumphrey’s, the Wisconsin rusher would’ve closed his career with 1,220 carries for 7,125 yards spread across 50 games. Officially, Dayne carried for 6,397 yards on 1,149 carries in 47 countable games.
So Dayne holds the mark of running for the most yards in FBS games, but Pumphrey is the FBS all-time rushing leader. Makes perfect sense, right?
In an odd bit of history, Brent Musburger was also on the call when Ricky Williams broke Tony Dorsett‘s FBS record in 1998 (which Dayne smashed just one year later). Williams, like Pumphrey, was exactly 11 yards shy of the mark on the carry that broke the record as well. Handing the ball off to Williams on that carry? Houston head coach Major Applewhite.