The NCAA record book contains myriad references, many of them quite obscure, concerning superlatives achieved by individuals and teams over the long history of college football.
There are so many different sorts of records that it is easy to find a particular institution mentioned often within the volume.Even so, the number of listings to which the University of Houston is attached is remarkable. The Cougars have probably set a record for records.
By actual count, the Houston Cougars and various individual players associated with the school now hold or share an even 100 NCAA football records.
That is what has been wrought by the run-and-shoot.
The run-and-shoot, of course, is the latest offensive trend to overtake the football world. Well, perhaps it hasn't exactly overtaken it but it has certainly made some inroads.
The Hofstra Flying Dutchman used the system to reach the championship game in Division III last season. The University of Pacific has decided to try the run-and-shoot and word filtering through the sport is that Idaho, Utah State, Purdue, Texas-El Paso and Hawaii will also try at least some form of the offense this season.
But it is in the Southwest Conference, where the Houston Cougars have created a monster, that the run-and-shoot has truly taken root.
The run-and-shoot is the name given to an offense designed to allow teams with very average talent to have a chance against very good teams. It is also designed to allow good teams to crush teams that aren't so good.
In its pure form, the run-and-shoot calls for four wide receivers and one running back, bringing about a myriad of pass route combinations for the opposition to defense. There are 135 players, counting walk-ons, listed on the Houston roster. And not one of them is a tight end.
Using this formation, Houston quarterbacks Andre Ware and David Klingler have re-written the NCAA record book.
Houston now holds the record for most yards in a game (1,021), most passes attempted and completed in a game, most touchdown passes in a season and many more.
Considering all that, the question of how to defend the run-and-shoot becomes paramount.
"And there has been a tremendous amount of discussion about that," said Baylor Coach Grant Teaff, who in addition to facing Houston each year now must contend with run-and-shoot advocates Texas Christian and Southern Methodist.
"A lot of us are looking at the pros because the pros are beginning to face this offense. We look at what they do, but, in all honesty, a lot of it has to do with personnel.
"If you have cornerbacks with speed where you can cover their guys step for step, then it becomes relatively simple. Where you have a problem is where your cornerbacks can't stay with them deep and then you have to have schemes that keep your guys deep and also deal with underneath coverage.
"It has really become a skill game. It's little on little instead of big on big. You have to have the burners on defense who can cover the burners on offense.
"I think there are aspects of the run-and-shoot that will last a long, long time. But I can tell you, without question, we at Baylor have been innundated from high schools and colleges around the country wanting to come in and try to learn and understand the veer offense that we run."
Like Teaff, Texas A&M Coach R.C. Slocum prefers the old-school approach to football and it is Slocum who has had as much success against the run-and-shoot as anybody. In the same year (1989) the Cougars scored 55 points or more in six of their games, they managed only 13 in losing to the Aggies.
"I think the game changed when they allowed linemen to use their hands more," Slocum said. "They encouraged teams to throw the ball more. But you look at the top 10 rushing teams each year, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Texas A&M and whoever. Everyone of those teams will go to a bowl game.
"You look at the top 10 passing teams in the country and two or three of them will go to a bowl game and two or three will fire the coach. It's that way every year. BYU is the exception and now Houston. But you take success over the last five years and decide which category you want to be in.
"Look at pro football. They are throwing the ball more and more. But you look at the 49ers and Redskins and Giants. They are all built around sound defense and an excellent running game."
Despite the traditionalists, however, teams hoping for a quick fix are trying the run-and-shoot. The TCU Horned Frogs are one and they had success last year, winning five games in a row. When TCU played Houston, the teams combined for 1,563 yards (an NCAA record) in a game that took four and a half hours to play. Houston won, 56-35.
"I looked at Houston and saw them going wild and we thought if they were doing that we should try it," said TCU Coach Jim Wacker. "We had good results last year. It gives anybody a chance to win on a given Saturday. If our quarterback is hot we can win, no matter how good their defense is."
Just how long the run-and-shoot lasts depends on how good teams are able to defense it. And if the defense continues to lag behind, the space age offense will likely gain more and more advocates.
That, in turn, will bring more four hour games, which will make the offense less than popular with television executives trying to fit those games into a neat, three-hour time slot. Those executives might eventually choose not to show run-and-shoot teams for just that reason.
It will be ironic, indeed, if the only defense capable of shutting down the run-and-shoot comes not from football coaches, but from the men in the network towers who write the checks.