NORMAN, Okla. — As Samaje Perine churned up the yards, the rain-soaked crowd at half-filled Memorial Stadium chanted his name.
The Oklahoma true freshman rewarded those who braved the elements with history. He set a major college record by running for 427 yards, scoring five touchdowns to lead the No. 23 Sooners over Kansas 44-7 Saturday.
“It’s still surreal,” Perine said. “I just looked at it as doing what I had to do to help my team. I’m not really feeling special in any type of way.”
A week after Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon set the mark by rushing for 408 yards against Nebraska, Perine ran past him. He broke the 7-day-old record on his 34th and final carry, a 42-yard run with 12:16 left in the fourth quarter.
After his final run, his teammates hoisted him on their shoulders, one of the few times he was controlled by anyone all day. The way his teammates mobbed him offers a glimpse into Perine’s character.
“This is really awesome that he goes down in the record books,” Oklahoma center Ty Darlington said. “He’s such a team player. What people won’t see is he’s covering kickoffs, he’s blocking for other guys who don’t have the ball. He plays so hard every play, and he’s such a humble guy.”
The 5-foot-11, 243-pound bulldozer often bounced off would-be tacklers like a pingpong ball, then accelerated and used surprising breakaway speed to finish runs. He got off a fast start, running for a 49-yard TD on his first carry. He added TD runs of 33 and 34 yards in the second quarter and scored on runs of 66 and 27 yards in the third.
Perine’s first-half total of 222 yards was the best half by any player in Oklahoma history, and his second-half tally of 205 yards was the fourth-best.
In a game that started 90 minutes late because of lightning, Perine shattered the school rushing record of 294 yards set by Greg Pruitt in 1971.
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said there was no way the Sooners were going to pull Perine once they became aware that he was closing in on records.
“The guy is just so exceptional in everything that he does,” Stoops said. “We were thinking about resting him, and then someone said he only needs 35 more yards, and you know, that’s just too close not to do it, and there’s too much time left in the game.”