Florida State Rushing Touchdown Records: RB Dalvin Cook Broke a Record Spanning 4 Decades

There were an awful many great offenses at Florida State between the years of 1981 and 2016. Those dates span four decades of proud success in Tallahassee, three national championships, and a vast litany of Atlantic Coast Conference honors. Still, it took 30-plus seasons for FSU running back Dalvin Cook to surpass RB Greg Allen's record for the most career rushing touchdowns in Seminoles history. 

Two of Bobby Bowden's first three bowl wins with the Florida State Seminoles came in seasons of Allen running the ball for the Garnet and Gold. That's not where Allen's story ends, but where it begins. 

First things first - or fastest things first. Greg Allen may be the fastest running back in Florida State history, timing at 4.28 in the 40-yard dash, and becoming a track and football linchpin long before Charlie Ward became the modern era's do-it-all athlete on campus. Allen earned a career starting role with the Seminoles by rushing for 524 combined yards in a pair of starts as a freshman in 1981. 

Did a 5-foot-11 speedster struggle in the red zone? Hardly. Allen became a touchdown machine in the years of 1982 and 1983, leading Florida State to 17 overall wins and victories in the Gator Bowl and Peach Bowl, respectively. The Milton native scored 20 touchdowns as a junior, an FSU record that still stands. Finally slowed by a broken leg in his senior campaign of 1984, Allen's track speed diminished, and he never fulfilled his promise in the NFL. But his record of 44 career TDs stayed on the books for 33 years. 

Warrick Dunn didn't break Allen's touchdown record at Florida State, but he sure had fun trying. Dunn demolished two of Allen's other school records by his senior season of 1996, setting new marks at the time with 3,959 career rush yards and a single-season tally of 1,242 rushing yards as a junior. One year prior, the 5-foot-9 phenom was voted MVP of Florida State's score-settling 1995 Sugar Bowl victory over rival Florida. 

Thanks to his skill, savvy, and stamina as a rusher and receiver, Dunn went on to have one of the best NFL careers of any FSU tailback, streaking for over 10,000 yards and playing in three Pro Bowls. 

Perhaps fans thought Florida State's epic run in the 1990s was the best that the Seminoles could do on offense. Then came the 2010s, and they saw what it looks like when an FSU offense really cooks. 

Dalvin Cook was part of Tallahassee's greatest era of offense to date from 2014 to 2016, arriving in the Seminole backfield one year after 2013's national championship team upped the ante on how many points a Florida State team could score. Cook gave quarterback Jameis Winston the check-down alternative of a lifetime, galloping as a freshman to help outscore head coach Paul Johnson's mighty Georgia Tech offense in the ACC Championship Game, from which Cook was named MVP. As was the case with Allen's career, the touchdowns began piling up once Cook assumed a full-time starting role as a sophomore. 

Cook had a knack for shining in FSU's biggest games. The West Little River product destroyed Florida State's in-state rivals in 2015, chewing up 671 combined yards and seven rushing TDs in three contests against Miami, Florida, and South Florida. Cook was unable to break Allen's record for the most touchdowns in a season, but finished with 19 rushing touchdowns in each of his final two seasons with FSU. Cook went on to surpass Dunn's career yardage total with 4,464 yards, while soaring over Allen's scoring record with 46 TDs. 

Forgoing his senior year to turn pro in 2017, Dalvin Cook turned into one of Tallahassee's best alumni in the National Football League. Cook was the lifeblood of the Minnesota Vikings offense for more than five seasons, posting four consecutive 1,000-plus yard seasons for the Norsemen. Whoever the next rushing hero at Florida State might be, they'll have two of Cook's football careers to live up to instead of one.