Some records are meant to be broken. Others seem almost impossible to touch. Oklahoma’s single-game rushing record of 768 yards falls firmly into the second category.
Nearly four decades after the Sooners ran over and around Kansas State in a 70-24 victory, that mind-boggling total still stands as a testament to just how unstoppable Barry Switzer’s wishbone offense could be when everything clicked.
On Oct. 15, 1988, Oklahoma’s relentless ground game — 72 of the Sooners’ 86 offensive plays were runs — left the Wildcats chasing shadows.
Halfback Eric Mitchel ran 161 yards and two touchdowns on six carries, an average of 26.8 yards per attempt.
Quarterback Charles Thompson ran 10 times for 123 yards and three touchdowns.
What’s more, the Sooners averaged a ridiculous 10.7 yards per carry and used 14 different ball carriers as fresh legs attacked Kansas State all afternoon.
The exclamation point came late in the fourth quarter, when walk-on halfback Joe Muti ripped off a 34-yard touchdown run to put the finishing touch on the record-breaking performance.
“We were told late in the fourth quarter that if we got another possession we had a chance to break the record,” Barry Switzer said. “That’s why we ran two options there at the end.”
When it was over, Oklahoma had 829 yards of offense.
In today’s game, dominated by spread formations, RPOs and high-powered passing attacks, it’s worth remembering what an old-school wishbone offense could do when it was clicking.
A single-game record 768 rushing yards (the Sooners also held the previous record of 758 yards, set against Colorado in 1980). Fourteen different ball carriers. Seventy points.
The closest any team has come in the 2000s? Rice, with 672 rushing yards against Louisiana Tech in 2003.
Oklahoma didn’t just run the ball well that day nearly 40 years ago against Kansas State.
It ran straight into college football history.
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Mike Garbett is a content specialist working with McClatchy’s Content Innovation Lab.