Comrades,

In the comments section of the Wisconsin edition of my Almanack of Broken Records, Comrades Raoul and BigHouseInmate pointed out that Denard may have broken the single-season Michigan record for all-purpose touchdowns with 30 (16 passing, 14 rushing). Michigan does not actually track this particular statistic; instead, M tracks touchdowns scored (i.e., who actually carried the ball into the endzone). That record is held by Al Herrnstein, who scored 26 touchdowns in 1902.

So I had to go back and look at individual season statistics to compile the data. I actually went through the game-by-game accounts of the 1901-1905 seasons from the Michigan Alumnus in order to get accurate information about touchdown statistics in the Fielding Yost Point-A-Minute era, and reviewed old NCAA research on pre-1937 touchdown statistics. It's possible that there are other pre-WWII players that I've missed.

According to the stats I've been able to find, Robinson is indeed out front with 30 all-purpose touchdowns. On a per-game basis, Denard at 2.73 per game is second only to Tom Harmon, who scored 23 touchdowns (including a kickoff return and an interception return) over 8 games in 1940, for an average of 2.88.

It is unusual to be able to compile all-time records for a particular category, because modern football statistics only really came into being in the 1940s. But TDs and scoring are two of the few categories that we can measure from the pre-modern era, making Denard's achievement all the more impressive.

Here is the table, sorted by touchdowns per game, with a cutoff of 1.60. Remarkably, the 1901 team had three separate players score at that pace:

Name	Yr.	Pass TD	Rush TD	Rec TD	Kick TD	Int TD	TD	G	TD/G
Tom Harmon, LHB	1940	7	14	0	1	1	23	8	2.88
Denard Robinson, QB	2010	16	14	0	0	0	30	11	2.73
Tom Harmon, RHB	1939	6	13	0	0	1	20	8	2.50
Rick Leach, QB	1978	17	12	0	0	0	29	12	2.42
Al Herrnstein, RHB	1902	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	26	11	2.36
Steve Smith, QB	1981	15	12	0	0	0	27	12	2.25
Chad Henne, QB	2004	25	2	0	0	0	27	12	2.25
Willie Heston, LHB	1904	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	20	9	2.22
Drew Henson, QB	2000	18	2	0	0	0	20	9	2.22
Ron Johnson, RHB	1968	0	19	0	0	0	19	9	2.11
Steve Smith, QB	1983	13	10	0	0	0	23	11	2.09
Elvis Grbac, QB	1991	25	0	0	0	0	25	12	2.08
Chad Henne, QB	2005	23	1	0	0	0	24	12	2.00
John Navarre, QB	2003	24	0	1	0	0	25	13	1.92
Rick Leach, QB	1976	13	10	0	0	0	23	12	1.92
Steve Smith, QB	1982	14	9	0	0	0	23	12	1.92
Desmond Howard, SE	1991	0	2	19	2	0	23	12	1.92
Willie Heston, LHB	1901	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	20	11	1.82
Bob Chappuis, LHB	1947	15	5	0	0	0	20	11	1.82
John Navarre, QB	2002	21	2	0	0	0	23	13	1.77
Elvis Grbac, QB	1990	21	0	0	0	0	21	12	1.75
Tom Brady, QB	1999	20	1	0	0	0	21	12	1.75
Neil Snow, FB	1901	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	19	11	1.73
Bruce Shorts, RT	1901	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17	10	1.70
Chad Henne, QB	2006	22	0	0	0	0	22	13	1.69
Willie Heston, LHB	1902	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	15	9	1.67

(EDIT: I added Bob Chappuis' 1947, Ron Johnson's 1968, and Bruce Shorts' 1901 seasons to the list, and added the offensive positions that each player filled. Note that Shorts scored 17 TDs as an offensive lineman: now those were the days!)

The NCAA FBS (I-A) single-season record is 63 touchdowns, by Colt Brennan of Hawaii in 2006 (58 passing, 5 rushing). The per-game record is 5.0 in 1990, by David Klingler of Houston (55 TDs in 11 games).

The FBS single-season record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback is 27, by Ricky Dobbs of Navy in 2009 (in 14 games). The season record for most touchdowns scored (i.e., excluding TD passes thrown) is 39, by Barry Sanders in 1988 over 11 games.

Tim Tebow is the only player to have both thrown and run for 20 touchdowns: in 2007, he threw for 32 and ran for 23. (Dan LeFevour of Central Michigan threw for 27, ran for 19, and caught 1 in 2007.) Cameron Newton may join this 20/20 club in 2010; he has thrown for 21 TDs and run for 17, with three games left.

The Michigan career record for most touchdowns scored is held by Yost-era legend Willie Heston, with 69 from 1901-1904 (the Michigan record book lists Heston at 72 TDs, which is incorrect according to my game-by-game tally). The record for most all-purpose touchdowns is held by Chad Henne, who threw for 87 and ran for 3 (for a total of 90) from 2004-2007. If Denard plays through his senior season, there is a realistic chance that he could break Henne's record. (EDIT: I changed this from the previous version, which incorrectly cited Heston as the all-purpose career leader.)

Here is the team photo of the all-time great team of 1901, courtesy of the Bentley Historical Library. Al Herrnstein is the right-most player in the front row. Neil Snow is the second from the left in the middle row. Willie Heston is right-most in the middle row. Fielding Yost is in the center of the back row. The "501-0" football that captain Hugh White is holding reflects the fact that this picture was taken before the team beat Stanford 49-0 in the inaugural Rose Bowl game of 1902. The lopsided score so disappointed Rose Bowl officials that they didn't hold a second Rose Bowl game until 1916.