American Pharoah will look to end a decades-long drought and become the 12th Triple Crown winner in horse-racing history on 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 2015.
The Triple Crown:Passing yards, passing touchdowns, passing efficiency
The skinny:Western Kentucky's Brandon Doughty finished in the top three of each category last season and was the only one who seemed to come close to accomplishing the impressive task (Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota was top three in just two categories). Most of the contenders for this Triple Crown come from an Air Raid system due to the emphasis on racking up passing yardage. Leading in passing efficiency is the tough part of accomplishing this feat and makes it very similar to the Belmont in the horse-racing Triple Crown.
The contenders:Brandon Doughty (Western Kentucky), Jared Goff (California), Blake Frohnapfel (UMass), Luke Falk (Washington State), Davis Webb (Texas Tech)
The Triple Crown:Rushing yards, rushing yards per game, rushing touchdowns
The skinny:Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon actually captured this Triple Crown in 2014 with his amazing season for the Badgers. His departure to the San Diego Chargers in the 2015 NFL Draft leaves a big hole to fill, and contenders will have their work cut out for them to keep such a remarkable pace.
The contenders:Samaje Perine (Oklahoma), Kareem Hunt (Toledo), Donnel Pumphrey (San Diego State), Devon Johnson (Marshall), Keenan Reynolds (Navy), Jarvion Franklin (Western Michigan), Ezekiel Elliott (Ohio State).
The Triple Crown:Receiving yards per game, receiving touchdowns, receptions per game
The skinny:Amari Cooper came the closest to hitting all three marks last year on his way to becoming a top five pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. The tricky part seems to be the receptions per game stat, as that means you need a ton of targets in addition to racking up the production associated with this feat.
The contenders:Rashard Higgins (Colorado State), Corey Davis (Western Michigan), Nelson Spruce (Colorado), Will Fuller (Notre Dame), Josh Doctson (TCU), KD Cannon (Baylor)
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. The passing touchdowns is the hardest of the three legs to accomplish. Washington State's Connor Halliday came close the past two years, but couldn't hit the trifecta on the final leg.
The contenders:Brandon Doughty (Western Kentucky), Jared Goff (California), Blake Frohnapfel (UMass), Luke Falk (Washington State), Sefo Liufau (Colorado), Trevone Boykin (TCU), Seth Russell (Baylor)
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, while also terrorizing opponents as a kick/punt returner. It's pretty difficult 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:Ryan Switzer (UNC), De'Mornay Pierson-El (Nebraska), Trevor Davis (California), Alex Ross (Oklahoma), Adoree' Jackson (USC)
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 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:Scooby Wright III (Arizona), Myles Jack (UCLA), Nick Vigil (Utah State), Zeek Bigger (East Carolina)
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 (Florida State), Brad Craddock (Maryland), Josh Lambert (West Virginia), Chris Callahan (Baylor), Zane Gonzalez (Arizona State), Andy Phillips (Utah)
The Triple Crown:Heisman Trophy, conference title, national championship
The skinny:This has been done a few times before, and Jameis Winston was the last to do it in 2013 when he accomplished all three feats. As Marcus Mariota proved last season, the third thing is often the hardest to accomplish.
The contenders:Braxton Miller/J.T. Barrett/Cardale Jones (Ohio State), Trevone Boykin (TCU), Cody Kessler (USC), Seth Russell (Baylor), Vernon Adams (Oregon), Connor Cook (Michigan State)
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,Oregon, Ohio State, TCU, Western Kentucky, Auburn, USC
The Triple Crown:Total defense, scoring defense, passing-efficiency defense
The skinny: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 quite an accomplishment for a great defense.
The contenders:Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Alabama, LSU, Ole Miss, TCU, Stanford, USC
Follow Bryan Fischer on Twitter @BryanDFischer.
