This was going to be a piece of The Takeaway, but it wasn't going to lead the thing off, so we think it deserves its own post instead.
If Marvin McNutt keeps this pace, he is going to lay waste to Iowa's record book for receiving. Ross talked about this a bit in his recap, and I mentioned it in my Winners/Losers post over at the All-Seeing Eye, but here's the perfect place to flesh it all out. Marvin McNutt already has the Iowa receiving touchdown record by a healthy margin. If this season's production keeps up, he's not just going to be the best statistical receiver Iowa's ever had, he's going to do to Iowa's records what Jerry Rice did to the NFL's (note: this is the only time anybody will ever compare McNutt to Jerry Rice).
Here are McNutt's statistics so far:
2008: 1 catch, 11 yards
2009: 34 catches, 674 yards, 8 TDs
2010: 53 catches, 861 yards, 8 TDs
2011: 41 catches, 757 yards, 8 TDs
Career: 129 catches, 2304 yards, 24 TDs
Right now, McNutt is 7th in total receptions, 2nd in total receiving yards, and obviously tops in touchdowns. If that's not the best receiving performance in Iowa history, we can see that argument, but it's clearly in the top four.
And now let's extrapolate McNutt's production out to a 13-game schedule, and before you automatically call foul on that notion, may we remind you, Minnesota remains on Iowa's schedule, and their DBs come pre-installed with Christmas lights, because they're primed to get LIT UP.
2011 (projected): 76 catches, 1405 yards, 15 TDs
Career (projected): 164 catches, 2952 yards, 31 TDs
If those numbers hold up, McNutt would be second behind Derrell Johnson-Koulianos by nine catches for the career reception mark, he would own the yardage record over DJK by 336 yards, and he would have the touchdown mark by an almost insurmountable 10 TDs.
But the record book is more than career numbers, and if McNutt puts together a season like that this year, that kind of a year would be basically unlike anything Iowa's ever seen. Here are those numbers again, next to the current Iowa single season leaders.
76 catches (Kevin Kasper, 2000, 82)
1405 yards (Keith Chappelle, 1980, 1037)
15 TDs (Maurice Brown, 2002, 11)
Now, here's the most important aspect of these projections: McNutt has not achieved them yet. He actually has to set the records before he deserves the credit for them, so with that we are not going to hail him as the best ever until he makes it happen. The path is there, though, and that is very, very awesome.
(Ed. Note: Iowa's Greatest Wide Receiver and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week; ol' Marvin is just racking up the plaudits this week. -- RB)