WVU Football Records That May Never Be Broken
There have been countless starring performances in West Virginia history and school records are inherently a part of the program. Along the way, there have been some performances that are absolutely astounding and have little chance of being overtaken any time soon.
These are six West Virginia football records that may never be broken.
Career Rushing Attempts-Avon Cobourne (1999-2002)
The all-time leading rusher at West Virginia, Cobourne's four years as the starter make it extremely difficult for any of his records to be broken. His four consecutive thousand yard seasons were helped, in part, by the record number of touches he received.
The Mountaineers had to lean on Cobourne hard in his first three seasons with Marc Bulger missing several games in 1999 and the offense turning to a heavy rushing attack with Brad Lewis under center in 2000 and 2001. For his senior season in 2002, he was paired with the dynamic Rasheed Marshall in Rich Rodriguez's spread option offense and posted a career year with 1,765 yards.
Because of the reliance the team's offense had on Cobourne in his four seasons, he finished each of his seasons with better than 200 carries. Adding it all up, he capped off his career with a school-record 1,050 rushing attempts.
The number of touches Avon Cobourne received shows how important he was during his tenure in gold and blue and is a total unlikely to be topped.
Career Passing Yards-Geno Smith (2009-13)
The early days of Dana Holgorsen's tenure at West Virginia were wild times on the offensive side of the ball. The biggest beneficiary of this was Geno Smith.
A three-year starter, the Floridian gunslinger was dropped into one of the most pure Air Raid offenses in the country and thrived. Averaging a ridiculous 36 passing attempts per game in his final three seasons, he put up 11,662 passing yards over his career.
For reference, Marc Bulger is second all-time with 8,153. That shakes out to a difference of 3,509 yards between first and second place.
It's unlikely that West Virginia will ever see a quarterback rack up these types of numbers or an offense that would even allow them to.
Single-Season Punt Return Yards-Vaughn Rivers (2007)
One of the most underrated parts of the mid-2000s golden era of Mountaineer football was its special teams. One of the biggest cogs in that machine was Vaughn Rivers.
Bouncing back and forth between offense and defense, Rivers was a strong contributor throughout his career, but his ability to return punts was his most notable skill. The peak of that came with his 2007 season when he racked up 479 yards worth of punt returns.
That is, of course, the best number in school history and is by far the highest total recorded since the year 2000. In fact, Rivers is one of only two players to put up even 300 yards in a season in that time.
With elite returners like Tavon Austin not even coming close enough to challenge this record, Vaughn Rivers looks to be at the top of this leaderboard for quite a while.
Single-Season Sacks-Canute Curtis (1996)
One of the greatest success stories of the late Mountaineer football assistant coach Donnie Young, Canute Curtis is one of the most dominating pass rushers West Virginia has ever seen. Nicknamed "the Amityville Horror," after his hometown and the famous film, Curtis became an elite talent at chasing down quarterbacks by the end of his career.
In his final season, he made a final mark on the gold and blue record books with 17 sacks, shattering Mike Fox's then-record of 10. The only challenger Curtis has seen since then was Bruce Irvin, who tallied 14 in 2010.
With the length of time that West Virginia used the 3-3-5 stack defense, not many pass rushers were able to rack up a lot of sacks as pressure on the quarterback was not the focus of the scheme. With Vic Koenning in place as defensive coordinator, that may come to change.
However, with the record standing this long, and there being just 12 games in a season, Canute Curtis single-season sacks record is in a position to never be broken.
Single-Game Points-Ira Errett Rodgers (vs. Ohio Wesleyan, Nov. 22, 1919)
Ira Errett Rodgers was one of the first great athletes at West Virginia, earning consensus All-American honors in 1919. The highlight of that season was his performance against Ohio Wesleyan on November 22.
Both throwing and rushing for over 100 yards, it was not his yardage that set records but his point totals. Playing quarterback and returning kicks, he rushed for four touchdowns and brought a punt back for a fifth.
The difference maker was the fact that he was West Virginia's kicker.
With 30 points coming from his personal scoring and seven more on extra points, he put together a school record of 37 points that still stands today. With the rise of specialized kickers, it does not look likely that this record will ever be broken.
Single-Game Made Extra Points-Shocky Van Horn (vs. Geneva, Oct. 20, 1951)
It's not often that college teams put up 80 points in a game, but that's what happened in 1951 when West Virginia blew out now-Division III Geneva by a score of 89-0. In that record-setting performance, one of the biggest beneficiaries was kicker Shocky Van Horn.
In his only season on the team, the native of Weston, West Virginia nailed 11 out of 13 extra point attempts, the most in a single game ever for the Mountaineers. Even more interestingly, that game accounted for 11 of Van Horn's career 16 points.
Playing in just five career games, he never kicked a field goal, collecting those solely on extra points. In one of strangest games in West Virginia football history, Shocky Van Horn set one of the strangest records that is not likely to be broken any time soon.
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