Western Carolina quarterback Taron Dickens made NCAA history in the Catamounts’ 23-21 win over Wofford on Saturday when he completed his first 46 pass attempts of the game. His effort set a new record across all NCAA divisions for the most consecutive completions in a game, breaking the previous mark of 29 that Princeton’s Quinn Epperly set in a 2013 outing.
Dickens’ outing Saturday also shattered the NCAA record for most completions in a row for a single season; East Carolina’s Dominique Davis strung together 36 across two games in 2011. Dickens completed his final four passes against Campbell last week before going for 46 straight on Saturday, so he ended up completing 50 consecutive passes.
The disparity between competition levels creates a near apples-to-oranges comparison, but for reference, the NFL record for consecutive completions is 25.
Dickens finished the day at 53 for 56 for 378 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran 19 times for an additional 44 yards. Not only were his overall numbers astonishing, but Dickens also delivered in crunch time as he led the Catamounts 51 yards down the field to set up a go-ahead field goal late in the fourth quarter, which proved to be the difference in the game.
Efficiency has always been a hallmark of Dickens’ profile. Entering Saturday’s contest, he carried a career completion rate of 72.7% across 11 games. With the historic effort added to the equation, he is suddenly up to 76.5% for his career. The third-year sophomore is remarkably accurate and is now up to 26 career touchdowns to just three interceptions.
Dickens is off to a monstrous start to the season. Following a three-game suspension for an academic violation, he debuted on Sept. 20 with 582 passing yards and six touchdowns and followed up that performance with 427 yards and four scores the next week.
Dickens made quite the impression down the stretch of the 2024 season when he started the final four games. He completed 73.8% of his throws across seven total appearances on the year and was essentially unstoppable in a pair of dominant efforts against Chattanooga and Samford when he passed for 431 yards and 408 yards in those matchups, respectively.
The fantastic conclusion to last season earned Dickens all kinds of preseason accolades. He was named the SoCon Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and picked up Preseason All-American honors despite holding just four games of starting experience.
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