California Chrome will look to end a decades-long drought and become the 12th Triple Crown winner in horse-racing history Saturday at the Belmont Stakes. As Miguel Cabrera proved in 2012 by winning baseball's Triple Crown, just because it has been a while doesn't mean such a task can't be accomplished.
With that in mind, here are 10 college football "Triple Crowns" and a few players, or in some cases teams, that can accomplish them in 2014.
The Triple Crown: Passing yards, passing touchdowns, passing efficiency
The skinny:Oakland Raiders rookie quarterback Derek Carr nearly accomplished this last season when he led the country in passing yards and touchdowns, but was much further down the rankings in terms of efficiency. That ends up being the tough part of accomplishing this feat and makes it very similar to the Belmont in the horse-racing Triple Crown.
The contenders: Jameis Winston (Florida State), Bryce Petty (Baylor), Sean Mannion (Oregon State), Rakeem Cato (Marshall) and Davis Webb (Texas Tech).
The Triple Crown: Rushing yards, rushing yards per game, rushing touchdowns
The skinny: If you look back at these categories from a season ago you would notice that a lot of the players near the top are now embarking on an NFL career. That means it's a wide-open race to see who is the top running back in the country, but there are a ton of contenders for the crown in 2014. Navy's Keenan Reynolds, a quarterback, is the triggerman for the Midshipmen's triple option, so he could make a run at the feat after rushing for 1,346 yards and 31 touchdowns as a sophomore.
The contenders: Reynolds, Melvin Gordon (Wisconsin), Ameer Abdullah (Nebraska), Jay Ajayi (Boise State) and Byron Marshall (Oregon).
The Triple Crown: Receiving yards per game, receiving touchdowns, receptions per game
The skinny: Both Brandin Cooks and Davante Adams came agonizingly close to accomplishing this feat last season, and were basically splitting hairs in all three categories. If you finish first in two of these categories, at least your consolation prize is likely the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in the country.
The contenders: Tyler Lockett (Kansas State), Antwan Goodley (Baylor), Deontay Greenberry (Houston), Nelson Agholor (USC) and Jaelan Strong (Arizona State).
The Triple Crown: Pass completions in a game, passing yards in a game, passing touchdowns in a game
The skinny: This is all about having a phenomenal game through the air and there should be no shortage of contenders, but it will be extremely tough to accomplish given some of the outliers that tend to happen in these types of games. Connor Halliday came close a season ago and could hit the jackpot this year given how much the Cougars throw the ball. You should notice a trend based on the offense most of the contenders run.
The contenders: Connor Halliday (Washington State), Shane Carden (East Carolina), Davis Webb (Texas Tech), Sean Mannion (Oregon State) and Jared Goff (California).
The Triple Crown: Kick- or punt-return touchdowns, kick- or punt-return average, all-purpose yardage
The skinny: This is a tough one because the player has to be a standout offensive player (likely either at receiver or running back) while also terrorizing opponents as a kick/punt returner. It's pretty tough to rack up enough yardage in both phases of the game, but a true standout star can do it if his coach allows him to contribute in both areas.
The contenders: Ty Montgomery (Stanford), Tyler Lockett (Kansas State), Ryan Switzer (UNC), Nelson Agholor (USC) and Khalfani Muhammad (Cal).
The Triple Crown: Tackles, tackles for loss, sacks (on a team)
The skinny: There were only a handful of players in the top 10 in two of these categories last season and the difficulty in doing all three nationally is pretty close to impossible given that pass rushers typically don't rack up the number of tackles needed to crack the first category. That said, there's an outside shot that a few defenders could lead their team in all three statistics, which would be quite the accomplishment.
The contenders: Myles Jack (UCLA), Vic Beasley (Clemson), Ramik Wilson (Georgia), Randy Gregory (Nebraska) and Devonte Fields (TCU).
The Triple Crown: Field-goal percentage, points scored, Lou Groza Award
The skinny: Florida State's Roberto Aguayo came close in 2013 after he won the award and narrowly missed out on leading the country in the other two categories. You have to be a kicker on a team with a high-powered offense while also being close to perfect on your field-goal attempts, which makes it a difficult Triple Crown.
The contenders: Roberto Aguayo (FSU), Zane Gonzalez (Arizona State), Michael Hunnicutt (Oklahoma), Chris Callahan (Baylor) and Matt Wogan (Oregon).
The Triple Crown: Heisman Trophy, conference title, national championship
The skinny: This has been done a few times before, but Jameis Winston became the first freshman to do it last season when he accomplished all three feats. The difficulty in somebody doing it again is ramped up a little bit more with the presence of the new College Football Playoff and an extra game on the way to securing the final pieces of this puzzle.
The contenders: Jameis Winston (FSU), Marcus Mariota (Oregon), Bryce Petty (Baylor), Braxton Miller (Ohio State) and Nick Marshall (Auburn).
The Triple Crown: Total offense, scoring offense, red-zone offense
The skinny: Typically the first two categories have a strong correlation between them, but teams are often tripped up by the third. A program can certainly have an explosive offense, but sometimes that tends to cause people to overlook how well they do once they get inside the 20.
The contenders: Baylor, Florida State, Oregon, Ohio State and Auburn.
The Triple Crown: Total defense, scoring defense, passing-efficiency defense
The skinny: Basically the opposite of the offensive Triple Crown above, this is aimed at finding a truly elite defense. While the three categories are not truly reflective of how dominant a defense can be given some of today's advanced stats, they would represent a tough accomplishment for a great defense.
The contenders: Florida State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Alabama and USC.
*Follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter **@BryanDFischer.*
