Broken records highlight Fitzgerald’s season

The regular season is over for Pitt, but Larry Fitzgerald is still receiving – awards that… The regular season is over for Pitt, but Larry Fitzgerald is still receiving – awards that is. They are raining down on him like touchdown passes from quarterback Rod Rutherford.

The Panther wide receiver’s latest accomplishment is The Pitt News Male Athlete of the Fall award, selected by the paper’s Sports staff.

It’s no Heisman Trophy, but you cannot deny that he deserves this honor. His 22 touchdown catches and 1,595 receiving yards lead the country and overshadow all other performances by Pitt athletes this fall.

He also leads the country in yards per game (132.9) and he is third in the nation in points scored per game (11.0).

Need another reason for why he was named Male Athlete of the Fall? How about the fact he kept the NCAA and the Big East buying more bottles of Wite-Out by rewriting the record books during almost every game.

Hey, NCAA – get out your erasers. The record for receiving touchdowns in consecutive games is now 18 and counting, and the record for total touchdowns scored by a player during freshman and sophomore seasons is now 34 – all thanks to the man wearing the number 1 on his jersey. Kind of appropriate, isn’t it?

He also tied the NCAA record for catching a touchdown in all 12 games this season, and can find his name next to his good pal Randy Moss, who scored in all 12 games with Marshall.

Fitzgerald now holds six Big East records. His single-season touchdown and career-receiving touchdown marks are both Big East records. His 87 catches this season are a new Big East best, along with his 1,595 yards. His 14 100-yard receiving games and his two 1,000-yard seasons are also Big East records.

But all these records and awards mean little to Fitzgerald, and he’s let that be known throughout the entire season.

“Honestly, I’m just trying to go out there and win,” Fitzgerald said after the game against Syracuse earlier this season. “But records are meant to be broken, and who’s to say somebody doesn’t come by and break my record.”