How sweet it is: Roberts sets NCAA records with 409-yard, five-touchdown game

Junior running back Charles Roberts darts past Idaho State linebackers Austin Shawver and Jason Meador during Saturday’s 41-20 Hornet win.

In the span of exactly three hours and 20 minutes, Charles Roberts did the unthinkable. One hundred yards? Respectable. Two hundred yards? Admirable. Three hundred? Incredible. Four hundred? Virtually impossible — until now.

In the Hornet’s 41-20 win over Idaho State, Roberts — the most dominant athlete to ever don a Sac State jersey — rushed for 409 yards on 39 carries. The performance has been topped by only four men in college football history.

“I am real proud of the 400 yards,” Roberts said. “It just really came out today and all I had to do was run.”

The morning after a legendary day, even the man himself recollected in disbelief.

“I woke up this morning and 400 yards was the first thing that came to mind,” said Roberts, a little big man who stands 5’6” and weighs 175 pounds. “My Dad said how that’s four football fields and I got to thinking that even for just one sprint, that’s a long way.

The excitement of the moment stayed with the junior running back.

“I couldn’t sleep at all last night, I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “I kept thinking about the runs, because the one thing I haven’t been able to do consistently was take a run and put it away. I was so happy I put those runs away last night.”

For the record, Roberts rushed for more yards than any Division I-A, I-AA or Division II back ever has. He became the Big Sky career rushing leader with his 4,814 total yards, had his 11th career 200-yard game which sets a new Big Sky mark and he broke the Sac State, single-game touchdown record with five scores.

Just before kickoff Saturday, there was a moment of silence in remembrance of the late Walter Payton, who left a legacy not only in the National Football League but also the Division I-AA, as a running back for Jackson State. By game’s end, Robert’s would dazzle the 7,432 in attendance with a performance reminiscent of the great Chicago runner. He shot through the holes with awesome quickness, but Roberts has always done that. On this day, he would finish the runs he started, at least five of them anyway. Roberts said his studying of the man they called “Sweetness” set the tone for the special day.

“Me and (Bob) Visger (running back coach) watched a five-minute highlight reel of Payton twice on Thursday,” Roberts said. “We looked and appreciated what kind of runner he really was. He would just take the ball and keep going until the whole team brought him down. Last night, I got hit on the two-yard line and as soon as I got hit, I started thinking about Walter and his relentlessness.”

Always humble, Roberts said Idaho State’s defense put up a good fight.

“They did a pretty good job containing me, even though I had 180 yards at halftime,” he said. “I still had to work for those yards and bust a couple of 20s and 30s to get it up that high.”

And it couldn’t have come at a better time. Saturday marked the last home game for 16 seniors, four of which are “Hammerheads”, the self-proclaimed name for the Hornets’ heralded offensive line. This unit has been the lifeblood of Robert’s success. So as he dashed around left end and dove in the endzone for a 59-yard touchdown score, or scampered 69-yards to the goal in the season’s longest run, Roberts was not alone. This day also belonged to the behemoth men up front.

“Everything that Charles gets, we feel like we’re a part of so it makes you feel good as an offensive lineman,” senior left tackle Tim Conley said. “I’m going to remember this forever; it’s a real emotional time for us all since most of the ‘heads’ are seniors. Today felt like a playoff game for me and a lot of guys.”

Senior Jon Osterhout, who anchors the Hammerhead line, said the crew came out on a mission.

A record day Most rushing yards in single game: 409 Divisions I-A, I-AA and II Most career 200-yard rushing games: 11 Division I-AA Most career rushing yards: 4,814 Big Sky Conference Touchdowns in a single game: 5 Sac State

“It was great to prove all the critics wrong that maybe last year was a fluke,” said Osterhout, referring to Roberts’ 1998 season in which he ran for 2,260 yards. “It proves that he is a legitimate running back in Division I football and we’re a great football team.”

But on his own, Roberts had plenty to overcome. In the beginning of October, he fractured his ribs, and Saturday’s contest was the first in which he did not wear a protective flak jacket. Then came the “turf toe.” For four weeks, painkiller shots kept him running despite the injury, until Oct. 30 in a game at Eastern Washington. In that contest, the shots were not administered and Roberts gained only 75 yards on 19 carries on a toe that was in worse shape than anyone knew.

“We thought it was turf toe but then three weeks later after the Portland State game we found out that it was broken,” said Roberts, who did not receive any shots against Idaho State. “The thing that helped it was I didn’t get the shot (at Eastern Washington) and I was in so much pain that I wasn’t able to play that much. By Wednesday and Thursday, I was running like I was used to.”

Roberts was back and healthy, and the “Big Cat,” head coach John Volek, awaited his return. He would not be disappointed.

“It was just amazing to go through something like that,” Volek said on Sunday morning. “I don’t think I knew as much as the fans knew or the media (during the game) because with my headset on, I am more focused on what’s going on the field. So today is really a day to reflect on ... wow.

“If you were here in 1998-99, you’re gonna say, ‘I went to school with Charles Roberts.’ He brings that excitement and national exposure to the program.”