BOISE, Idaho — This Day In Sports…November 26, 2016:
Pittsburgh and Syracuse produce the highest-scoring non-overtime game in major college football history (at the time) as the Panthers win 76-61 at Heinz Field. The total of 137 points eclipsed the 74-62 win by Navy over North Texas in 2007. Pitt and the Orange combined for 20 touchdowns in the donnybrook. For the Panthers, the 76 points were more than they had scored in any of their three men’s basketball games against Syracuse the previous season. Orange quarterback Zach Mahoney threw for five touchdowns, with all of them going to wide receiver Amba Etta-Tawo. But it wasn’t enough.
That game was the highest-scoring FBS contest of any kind (regulation or overtime) until Texas A&M edged LSU 74-72 in a record-tying seven OTs in 2018. That one was tied 31-31 at the end of regulation, which means the Aggies outscored the Tigers 43-41 in the overtimes. LSU’s Joe Burrow, with three touchdown passes and three more rushing scores, was outdueled by Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond, who tossed for six TDs and added another on the ground. This is considered to be the game that spurred the NCAA to change its overtime rules, with competition after the second OT to consist solely of to-point conversions.
But today’s FBS regulation record, just two years old, was recorded when SMU outlasted Houston 77-63 in Dallas in 2022. Mustangs quarterback Tanner Mordecai set school and AAC records with nine touchdown passes. Seven of them came in the first half, tying an NCAA mark. SMU scored TDs on its first nine possessions.
The FCS record for most points scored in a regulation game came in a 2007 Big Sky contest, as Weber State beat Portland State 73-68. Vikings quarterback Drew Hubel, who had just burned his redshirt year, was 35 of 56 for 485 yards with no interceptions and nine touchdowns, tying the FCS TD record set by Mississippi Valley State’s Willie Totten in the Jerry Rice days in 1984. The top-scoring NCAA game at any level is 161 points set in Abilene Christian’s Division II victory over West Texas A&M in 2008. The score: 93-68.
The highest-scoring overtime game in FBS history is the 139-pointer between Western Michigan and Buffalo in 2017. The MAC version of the Broncos beat the Bulls 71-68 in seven OTs. That game broke the previous overtime mark set in the 2007 four-overtime classic on the blue turf—Boise State’s 69-67 triumph over Nevada in which the Broncos survived a dazzling first career start from the Wolf Pack’s Colin Kaepernick. Former Bishop Kelly star Tim Brady will forever be the answer to a trivia question: which Boise State linebacker ended the donnybrook with a sack of Kaepernick in the fourth OT?
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
