In 2018, Texas A&M and LSU played a famous seven-overtime shootout that resulted in 146 points of offense. It’s the most points scored in a (modern) college football game.
Texas A&M ultimately won 74-72. Soon after, the NCAA changed the college football overtime rules so that each team didn’t have to keep playing a full offensive possession from the 25-yard line.
Have there been higher-scoring games over the past 175 years? Sure. Who could forget Harvard’s famous 158-0 win over Phillips Exeter in 1886?
However, the 2018 SEC game is the highest-scoring game in living memory. It might never be topped.
Here in 2024, James Madison and North Carolina combined for 120 points of offense in a wild shootout in Week 4.
That will surely prove one of the highest-scoring games of the 2024 season, but it doesn’t quite crack the list of the highest-scoring college football games of all time. The prevalence of the modern spread offense has produced some truly cracked results.
Highest-Scoring College Football Games (Modern Era)
| Total Points | Game Score | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 146 | Texas A&M 74, LSU 72 (7OT) | 2018 |
| 140 | SMU 77, Houston 63 | 2022 |
| 139 | Western Michigan 71, Buffalo 68 (7OT) | 2017 |
| 137 | Pittsburgh 76, Syracuse 61 | 2016 |
| 136 | Boise State 69, Nevada 67 | 2007 |
| 136 | Navy 74, North Texas 62 | 2007 |
| 135 | UNLV 69, Wyoming 66 (3OT) | 2016 |
| 134 | Arkansas 71, Kentucky 63 (7OT) | 2003 |
| 133 | Western Kentucky 67, Marshall 66 (OT) | 2014 |
| 133 | West Virginia 70, Baylor 63 | 2012 |
| 133 | San Jose State 70, Rice 63 | 2004 |
| 133 | Middle Tennessee 77, Florida Atlantic 56 | 2016 |
| 132 | Michigan 67, Illinois 65 (3OT) | 2010 |
| 130 | UCLA 67, Washington State 63 | 2019 |
| 129 | Toledo 66, Western Michigan 63 | 2011 |
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