Most Rushing Yards by Quarterback in College Game

On November twenty sixth, twenty thirteen, Jordan Lynch, the quarterback of the Northern Illinois Huskies, plays a game where he runs the ball for three hundred and twenty yards, setting the record for the most yards by quarterback in a single game, and he ended up having one of the most all around best seasons by a player in college football, finishing third in the Heisman voting. At a smaller Division I school, it may have been the greatest season of all time. And we're going to take you back through his season and how this incredible game happened today on Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Rees your guide because the most I've ever ran in my life, it's for three hundred yards. So have you never heard of Jordan Lynch? That It's okay, Honestly, unless you were a big college football fan or you grew up in the Chicago area, you probably have not heard of him. He's often forgot about, as a lot of players from small schools who do amazing things do get forgotten about. But some of the greatest players of all time have come from small schools, such as Jerry Rice or Walter Payton. And Northern Illinois isn't as small of a school as you might think. So Jordan grew up just outside of Chicago and he attended Mount Carmo High School, which is one of the better high school football teams in the States, and he was a varsity player there for three years, running a very run, heavy wing tea type offense. Now, over time, they actually allowed him to pass a little bit more because he was so good at it for the team, but they really relied on his rushing ability. So after he was getting close to the end of his senior season, he really wanted to continue to be a quarterback, and so he went to all all the camps he could. If you don't know in college, there are camps across the country. Usually most colleges have a camp, and there's some other like pro style camps that are around for high school kids to come learn and also they get the chance to showcase who they are in front of some actual college coaches, because as a former college coach, we actually can supplement our income by doing these camps. Some of them pay money, some of them give room and board, some of them just give swag. Some of them gives you good connections for continuing your career. So these camps are great things for college coaches to move on in their career and great for kids to make an impact and a name for themselves in these coaches' minds. So that's what he did. He went to all these different ones, and he went to one at Northern Illinois, and he kept getting the same response. He was barely six foot weighing two hundred pounds, which was not what people want as a quarterback. They want someone six two six three six four. That's the prototypical size either for a quarterback, but at smaller D one schools they are willing to look differently if that player is for the accurate or has intangils. And he was showing off his intangibles at these camps, catching the eye of smaller Division one schools, especially in the MAC schools such as Ball State in Northern Illinois, and based off a recommendation from his high school coach, a legend in Chicago, Frank Lnty, the coach Jerry Kill from Northern Illinois offered his scholarship to Jordan and offered it with the chance of he could play quarterback. That didn't go well, maybe he would move to running back. In Northern Illinois, although they are part of the MAC which means they are not a major conference in Division one, they are Division one, which means they give out fourth scholarships. And they've been around since eighteen ninety nine, being one of the oldest programs in the Midwest, and then they joined the Mid America Conference in nineteen seventy three, and over the years they had gained eight conference championships, and in nineteen sixty three they actually won the College Division National Championship, which is a lower championship in the National Championship. And they have played in sixteen bowl games throughout their career, including an upset in twenty twenty four at the famous Idaho take A Bowl where they upset Fresno State, winning in double overtime. And they have continuously produced many different athletes that have made it to the NFL or CFL level. So he was coming into a school who was known for having football. They may not be the best, but it was a good program, and he arrived determined to prove that he could be a quarterback. And he came in and Chandler Harshness was the starting quarterback, So he came up and back upped him, learning and building his quarterback skills to go along with his athletic skills, and Lynch waited patiently for his moment to shine. In his first two seasons, he was able to get in in backup situations and passed for one hundred and seventy nine yards and two touchdowns, but he was also able to get in there on random plays to rush the ball because he had a great knack for running the ball, and in those first two seasons he ran for over six undred yards and six touchdowns. And then in twenty twelve, he became the starting quarterback for the Northern Illinois Huskies and then went on to revolutionize the game for the Northern Illinois as that first year, he rushed for eighteen hundred and fifteen yards, breaking the record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback, and he had three thousand yards, twenty five touchdowns, and only six interceptions. This was good enough for him to break out and finished seventh in Heisman voting. He came out and blew everyone away, and he was a junior, which meant he was coming back for a senior season, and his senior season did not disappoint him because he had the team going undefeated when they came out to Eastern Michigan, fueled by Lynch leading this offense to get the ball in the end zone at any cost. And this night he would go on to break another record when he rushed for over three hundred and sixteen yards on the ground, scoring three touchdowns, breaking the record for the most rushing yards by a quarterback. He would also add in one hundred and fifteen passing yards in a touchdown, becoming the first player also to pass four hundred yards as well as rush for one hundred yards in a single game. Now he brought this team in breaking fourteenth in the nation. They were undefeated, and at this time this was still the BCS era, so if you could go undefeated, you had a shot at maybe making it to the National Championship or at least a BCS game. So on November twenty sixth, twenty thirteen, at the collb Illinois Husky Stadium, Western Michigan came in to deface the undefeated Northern Illinois and in the first half, Lynch just exploded, finding hole after hole, rushing for two hundred and twenty nine yards in two touchdowns, including multiple twenty plus runs. He finished the game which is thirty nine past yards, but he did throw for one touchdown, but on the ground he ran for three touchdowns and three hundred and twenty nine yards, breaks his own record, including a run of sixty seven yards for touchdown, showcasing that it wasn't just him bumbling out there. He had speed to go break big plays, and he led the team to an undefeated regular season twelve and oh. So they're ranked in the top ten and they headed into the MAC Championship game facing Bowling Green, and unfortunately, Jordan didn't have a great game and they end up losing this game, and the Huskies go played in the Point Stia Bowl and lose again. So a perfect regular season zero to two in the finals. So it's a down note for Jordan Lynch's career. But he ended up this season with twenty eight hundred passing yards twenty four touchdowns to eight interceptions, as well as nineteen hundred rushing yards, breaking his previous record the year before in twenty three touchdowns. And this year he gets invited to New York for the Heisman Trophy ceremony, where he finished his third but would be voted in first team All American as an All purpose player, which he really was, and unfortunately, his record for the most yards in a single season would be broken in twenty nineteen by Malcolm Perry of Navy, who was the first quarterback to rush for over two thousand yards in a single season. Then he would go undrafted because he still wanted to beat a quarterback. Although his skills at quarterback were still a little suspect. His arms, strength and accuracy was always in question, but the Chicago Bears gave him a chance. They gave it to him as a running back. They signed him as an undrafted free agent. He came into training camp but would later be cut, and the following year he would join the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League and he would go on to score the game winning touchdown for the Eskimos to win the twenty fifteen Great Cup, and he played a few seasons up there before retiring in twenty seventeen from professional football and joining Northern Illinois as an assistant coach. Then, following that, he would go on to become the head coach of his alma mater, Mount Carmel, where he has led them to four state championship in his career and he still is today. So I went from a legend in college football back to being a legend in high school. Just shows you you may not end up where you want to be, but sometimes you end up in the right place. I want to thank you for listening to this story. If you enjoyed it, please make sure you share it with a friend. Hit that little square with the arrow button and share it to a buddy. Say do you remember this guy? Because I don't. And come back tomorrow for more daily sports history.