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There are some accomplishments that make the record books, and there are some that may as well be etched in stone.
Golden State reminded us all Wednesday night that sometimes even stone breaks, as the Warriors surpassed the Chicago Bulls with 73 regular-season NBA wins.
Even so, these records are stubborn enough to stick around for decades to come, whether it be in school, conference or even NCAA record books.
Here’s a look at each SEC team’s most unbreakable record. Any others you feel are more worthy? Let us know below.
ALABAMA
Derrick Thomas: QB sackmaster
Before terrorizing NFL quarterbacks, linebacker Derrick Thomas terrorized college quarterbacks. A consensus All-American in 1988, Thomas set the Alabama single-season record for sacks that season with 27, beating his own mark of 18 that he set in 1987. The closest person to either total, believe it or not, was Jonathan Allen and his 12 sacks last season. Next would be Emmanuel King with 11 sacks in 1983. Consider that there have only been three players to record double-digit sacks under Nick Saban’s watch, and two of them came last season with Tim Williams (10.5) alongside Allen. The other was Wallace Gilberry with 10 in 2007, Saban’s first season in Tuscaloosa. Reaching double-digit sacks is obviously tough enough, so coming close to 30 seems impossible.
ARKANSAS
Little’s long kick
Who’s going to beat Arkansas kicker Steve Little’s 67-yard field goal against Texas in 1977? Well, 60-yard makes don’t happen that often as there’s only been one in the FBS in the last three seasons: UCLA’s Ka’imi Fairbairn from 60 yards in 2015. There have been six in the last 10 years with the longest being a 64-yarder from UTEP’s Jose Martinez in 2008. Meanwhile, the NFL record is 64 by Matt Prater, so let’s just say it’s going to be tough. Coincidentally, Little shares the NCAA mark with the opposing kicker of the team he set the record against, the Longhorns’ Russell Erxleben. In fact, Erxleben made his 67-yarder earlier that same season against Rice. Joe Williams of Wichita State also hit a 67-yarder against Southern Illinois the following season.
AUBURN
Cam Newton lives in the end zone
Superman did it all in 2010. Literally. His team won every game. He won the national title. He won the Heisman. However, he also set several records. Newton was responsible for 51 touchdowns (30 passing, 20 rushing, 1 receiving). Only Tim Tebow’s SEC record of 55 during his Heisman campaign in 2007 tops that. However, in terms of being a school record, don’t expect a Tiger to come along and break that for a while. No other Auburn player ranks among the top 20 in SEC history in single-season touchdown responsibility, needing 32 to crack that list.
FLORIDA
Tim Tebow the running man
Of course, that record mentioned above is going to be tough to top, but Tebow set plenty of records in his four years at Florida. Tebow left a mark as a rushing QB, and his 2,947 rushing yards are the most in SEC history by a quarterback. That mark is likely to stand atop the SEC record book for a while, and certainly atop the Gators record book. The next-closest UF QB was Larry Libertore with 786 yards from 1960-62. It will take a three-year QB to average about 1,000 rushing yards per season or a four-year QB like Tebow to average about 750 yards per season. As a bonus, another unbreakable record is John Reaves’ 9-interception game against Auburn in 1969. That performance has stood as an NCAA record since then.
GEORGIA
No load too big for Herschel Walker
The Georgia legend was a thoroughbred and a workhorse in one. He carried the rock a whopping 994 times in his three-year career at Georgia from 1980-82. That’s gone unmatched in the NCAA record book for 30 years. Walker is the only player in SEC history to average 30 carries in a single season, and he did it twice in 1981 (35.0) and 1982 (30.4) until the Bulldogs decided to give him a little more of a break the following season. Only one other SEC player has managed to get 900-plus carries, and that’s Mississippi State’s Anthony Dixon, whose 910 carries came in four seasons. Another way to show Walker’s workload is career rushes per game. He averaged an SEC-record 30.1 per game, and second on the list is Florida legend Emmitt Smith at 22.5.
KENTUCKY
Dewalt’s kick-blocking bonanza
It’ll be surprising if any player comes along and blocks seven field goals in a season. Former Kentucky WR Lonnell Dewalt specialized in that area, blocking six field goals and an extra point in 2004. Dewalt blocked field goal attempts by Louisville, Florida, Alabama, Ohio, Vanderbilt and Tennessee, while also getting a piece of a PAT against the Vols. It’ll be hard enough for anyone to even approach this record during the course of a career, so in a single season? Forget about it. His six blocked field goals are an NCAA single-season record.
LSU
Josh Reed’s single-game high receptions mark
You got to hand it to Vanderbilt’s Trent Sherfield for his 16-catch performance last season against Austin Peay, but it’ll take a little more than that to beat LSU WR Josh Reed’s record. The 2001 Biletnikoff Award winner hauled in an SEC single-game record of 19 against Alabama that year. The two best marks after Reed’s total are 17 by Auburn’s Willie Gosha in 1995 and Vanderbilt’s Keith Edwards in 1983. Other than Sherfield, the closest SEC wideout to come to Reed’s record is another Commodore, Earl Bennett, also with 16 catches against South Carolina in 2005.
MISSISSIPPI STATE
Dak loved touchdowns
Dak Prescott left so many indelible marks at Mississippi State. Picking one is difficult, so let’s just go with his frequent trips to the end zone. Prescott finished his career with 114 career TDs responsible for. That total is double that of Don Smith’s 52, and then some. The Bulldogs will be hard-pressed to find another player that can top that. The 114 TDs responsible for (passing, rushing and receiving) is fourth in SEC history behind only Tim Tebow (145), Aaron Murray (137) and Danny Wuerffel (122).
MISSOURI
One shy of the century mark
We’ve all heard the phrase running the ball down a team’s throat. Well, Missouri took that to a whole different level back in 1968. That’s when Mizzou ran it a school-record 99 times in a 27-14 win over Colorado. With that many carries, you figure the Tigers would’ve piled up more than 421 rushing yards. The closest SEC team to 99 carries since the turn of the century was Arkansas, which pounded it 80 times against Ole Miss, but that came in a 58-56 seven-overtime victory.
OLE MISS
The book of Eli
Chad Kelly had a phenomenal year that set numerous single-season records at Ole Miss. However, Eli Manning’s career record for passing yards at 10,119 is perfectly safe, and it could be for a long time. Manning is one of only eight SEC quarterbacks to post 10,000-plus career passing yards, along with his big brother Peyton. To his credit, Kelly became just the third SEC quarterback to hit 4,000 yards in a single season with 4,042 in 2015, joining Tim Couch in 1998 (4,275) and Johnny Manziel in 2013 (4,114). Still, it will take three seasons like that or a steady four-year starter to top Eli.
SOUTH CAROLINA
George Rogers ran wild
This 1980 Heisman winner’s 5,204 career rushing yards would be second on the SEC all-time rushing list, but he did it at South Carolina from 1977-80 when the school was an independent. Only two other Gamecocks running backs have even managed to top the 3,000-yard mark, and that pair barely hit that threshold. That was Brandon Bennett from 1991-94 (3,055) and Harold Green from 1986-89 (3,055). Barring an incredible talent arriving in Columbia, and likely staying four years, Rogers is untouchable in this respect.
TENNESSEE
17 straight shutouts
Seventy-one quarters. That’s how long Tennessee blanked its opponents under Robert Neyland in a stretch that technically touched three years. The incredible streak started in the second quarter against LSU on Oct. 29, 1938, and continued until the second quarter of the Rose Bowl against USC the following season on Jan. 1, 1940. In terms of shutouts in regular-season games, the Vols dealt 17 straight starting after that game vs. LSU all the way until the fourth game of the 1940 season vs. Alabama. Mustering back-to-back shutouts is a tall task these days, so doing it in 17 straight games, regular season or not, just isn’t happening.
TEXAS A&M
Johnny Football dazzles
Johnny Manziel got some company at the top of the record books in 2015 when it comes to total offense in a single season, but neither Chad Kelly’s 4,542 yards or Dak Prescott’s 4,381 yards were good enough to top his marks from 2012 (5,116) or 2013 (4,873). Manziel’s ’12 performance landed him a Heisman Trophy, and it’ll take a Heisman-worthy effort to best that number. Even if someone does surpass it, chances are they won’t do it as a freshman like Manziel did.
VANDERBILT
Chris Gaines the tackling machine
Former Commodores LB Chris Gaines had one of those are-you-kidding-me kind of seasons in 1987. Vandy moved the Nashville product from fullback to linebacker after he redshirted his first season. That switch saw incredible results, namely in his senior season. That year, Gaines set a Vanderbilt record with 214 tackles, and that came in just 11 games. On Oct. 3, he had an unbelievable 37 tackles in a 27-17 loss to Tulane. He earned All-America honors. The NCAA record book only goes back to 2000 when it comes to tackles in a season, but just to highlight how unattainable this record is, no player has hit 200 tackles since the turn of the century. The closest to come to it was Texas Tech’s Lawrence Flugence with 193 in 2002.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
