Navy's Keenan Reynolds rushed for three touchdowns Saturday in a 42-40 victory over host South Alabama, setting an FBS career record for rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.
Reynolds, a junior, has rushed for 20 touchdowns this season and has 61 for his career; the old record of 59 had been held by Nebraska's Eric Crouch and Nevada's Colin Kaepernick.
Reynolds also has a legitimate shot at the FBS career record for rushing touchdowns. Former Wisconsin tailback Montee Ball has the record of 77. Reynolds has two more games left this season -- a regular-season contest against Army and a bowl appearance -- and all of next season. He has run for 12 TDs in the past four games.
Last season, Reynolds rushed for 31 touchdowns, the most ever by a quarterback. He also became one of just four players in FBS history with 30 rushing touchdowns in a season. Ball (33 in 2011), Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders (37 in 1987) and Colorado State's Kapri Bibbs (31 last season) are the others.
Saturday's win made Navy bowl-eligible and will send them to the Poinsettia Bowl to play a Mountain West team.
Navy completed one pass in beating the Jaguars (6-6), who already had qualified for bowl eligibility. South Alabama scored a TD with 39 seconds left to cut Navy's lead to 42-40. The Jaguars went for two points and made it but were penalized 5 yards for an ineligible receiver downfield. Brandon Bridge then scored on an 8-yard quarterback keeper, but South Alabama was penalized again, this time for a hold. The Jaguars were unable to convert on their third try.
Mike Huguenin can be reached at mike.huguenin@nfl.com. You also can follow him on Twitter @MikeHuguenin.
