Last season there was a quiet little move made in the dusty confines of the NCAA. The stat collectors up and decided to start counting statistics from the bowl games in a player’s career stats.
It’s been bad enough watching career records fall due to the extra game for conference championships, but last season, not only did teams get an extra twelfth game; their bowl games were counted as well. Long-time records of football’s greatest began to come down last season and the trickle will rise to a flash flood in the next two seasons.
A good example of how this threatens the books is in Knoxville at UT. Last season Casey Clausen moved from fifth to second in UT’s record book for all-time passing yards. Clausen has 6,739 career yards after throwing for 242 in the Peach Bowl loss.
The old number two, now number three, is Andy Kelly who had 6,397 career passing yards. However if you factor in Kelly’s 150 yards in the Cotton Bowl against Arkansas, his 273 passing yards against Virginia in the 1991 Sugar Bowl and another 273 for his Fiesta Bowl performance, Kelly would have 7,093 all time passing yards and Clausen would be number three going into this season.
And that’s the catch. While bowl games count for current players, old records are not going to be updated to reflect past players bowl performance. Its already an unlevel comparison for past players’ stats to present when you consider Kelly played in 11 games that counted for stats in ‘89 and ‘91, the 1990 season Tennessee had an exemption and played in the Pigskin Classic against Colorado for a twelfth game.
Clausen meanwhile had twelve games count in 2001 due to the conference championship and had thirteen games count last season. He could have fourteen games count for stats this season if UT does make it to the SEC championship game and a bowl game.
Most of the NCAA’s individual records have been set in the last twenty-five years and it would not be that difficult to update those records to include bowl games. I’m fairly sure Bud Ford and Haywood Harris have all of those stats in their office right now, since they appear in special box scores under the summaries of UT’s bowl games.
Then there’s also this to consider about the change in policy at the old NCAA stat office. Clausen doesn’t get to count his Cotton and Citrus Bowl performances, but he does get last year’s Peach Bowl and any bowl game stats from this season. Adding the 120 yards against Kansas State and 393 against Michigan back in for Casey, his career stats are now 7,252 yards, which would put him back in second place over Andy Kelly.
Then you also have to consider what a retro-active records upgrade would do for Tennessee legend Peyton Manning. Manning has 11,201 career passing yards on the books as they are now. If you add in his bowl performances, Manning would have 12,114 career passing yards. The old records don’t stand a chance with the NCAA reversal of field on bowl statistics.
I have a slight tinge about the extra games skewing the records, but it’s a price I’ll pay for an extra week of college football and conference championship games.
Why is it football is so different? The transition for basketball from regular season to March Madness is seamless in this area, the numbers have always counted. So two teams have six extra games in basketball.
I won’t argue that bowls shouldn’t count record wise, all I would ask is why can’t the old numbers be updated to reflect players bowl performances?

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