The greatest record chase of the 2023 season came to a successful close on Monday as Iowa‘s Tory Taylor broke the single-season punt yardage record against Tennessee in the Cheez-It Bowl.
Taylor, this year’s Ray Guy Award winner as the nation’s best punter, had 4,119 punt yards in the regular season. Needing just 20 yards in Monday’s game to set the record, on Iowa’s opening possession, he boomed a 62-yarder to set the record emphatically.
The record, previously set by Michigan State‘s Johnny Pingel at 4,138 yards, had stood since 1938. Pingel needed 99 punts in his record-setting season. Taylor broke the record on his 90th punt of the year.
History made as Tory Taylor breaks the single-season punting record (set in 1938) with a 63-yarder. Iowa crowd loves it but for some reason they didn’t stop the game to honor the moment pic.twitter.com/PEXdNu0Ief
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) January 1, 2024
No other punter surpassed 3,600 punting yards this season. Taylor’s 47.9-yard average over the regular season was the third-best in the country despite the fact that he booted six more punts than any other player in the FBS. He averaged 6.6 punts per game in Iowa’s first 13 contests.
His most outstanding game came against Wisconsin when he kicked 10 punts for a total of 506 yards. Iowa won that game 15-6.