Keith Elias - College Career

College Career

Sophomore season (1991)

Elias debuted for the for Princeton on the opening day of the 1991 season, which was September 21 for Princeton, with 110 yards on 18 carries. His performance was part of a shutout of the heavily favored Cornell Big Red 18–0. He earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors on September 23. Two weeks later on October 5, he recorded his first 200-yard game and his first three-touchdown effort in a 30–21 victory over the Colgate Red Raiders. This earned him his first Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week award. On October 19, he helped Princeton reach a 5–0 record with well over 100 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns. He had just 67 yards rushing but had three receptions for 62 yards on one 76-yard scoring drive alone. On November 16, he had 142 yards rushing and two touchdowns in spite of two fumbles and a wrist injury against Yale to help Princeton reach a 5–1 Ivy League record as it headed towards a season-ending showdown with 5–0–1 Dartmouth. This earned him his second Ivy League Rookie of the Week award. The Tigers were defeated by a Jay Fiedler-led Dartmouth team for the Ivy League Championship the following week however. He earned second team All-Ivy League recognition.

Junior season (1992)

Following their 1991 performance, the 1992 Tigers were Ivy League favorites. In a game that was believed to be a deciding factor in the conference championship outcome, Elias had 114 yards on opening day against Cornell in a 22–20 victory on September 19. The following week on September 26, Elias established the Princeton single-game rushing record with a 299-yard four-touchdown effort in a 38–35 victory against the Lehigh, surpassing Homer Smith's 40-year-old 273-yard record. Elias received his second Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week award after the match. Then on October 3, he rushed for 273 yards in a 44–33 victory over Lafayette. In the game, he became the first Princeton runner to post back-to-back 200-yard games and the first Princeton runner to post three career 200-yard games. He repeated as Ivy League Offensive Player of the week. After three games he led all NCAA divisions in rushing with a 228.7 yards per game average, while Marshall Faulk led Division I-A, now known as Football Bowl Subdivision, with a 209.3 average. The total of 572 yards in back-to-back games established an NCAA Division I-AA record. By rushing for 139 in the subsequent game against Brown on October 10, he tied the I-AA three-game rushing yard record of 711 yards. However, he injured his ankle and the subsequent week, he only rushed three times for two yards as Princeton fell to 4–1 by losing to Holy Cross on October 17. He was expected to be sidelined due to the injury when Princeton faced Harvard on October 24, but he rushed for 155 yards and two touchdowns, leading Princeton to a 21–6 victory and a 3–0 conference record. On October 31, he rushed for 115 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries against Columbia. That week he surpassed Heisman Trophy-winner Dick Kazmaier for fourth place on the all-time Princeton career rushing yards list. On November 7, he rushed for 131 yards against Penn as Princeton eliminated one of its one-loss conference foes from contention. He tallied 140 yards on 20 carries as Princeton clinched a share of the Ivy League title by moving to 6–0 with a victory over Yale. In the game, he moved inherited the school single-season rushing yards record by moving his total to 1368, ahead of Judd Garrett's 1347. Despite a 207-yard two-touchdown rushing effort by Elias, Fiedler once again led Dartmouth to a season-ending victory over Princeton, this time for a share of the Ivy League championship.

Although Fiedler was named Ivy League Player of the Year, Elias was one of six other unanimous 1992 first-team All-Ivy League selections. Elias, however, was a I-AA All-American selection by organizations such as Kodak (selected by the American Football Coaches Association) and the Associated Press. His 157.5 yards per game earned him the 1992 NCAA I-AA statistical championship. Elias nicknamed his offensive line "The Beast" and called fullback Peter Bailey and tight end Chris Beiswenger, "the Killer B's". In the offense, he usually was the tailback in the I formation.

Senior season (1993)

As a senior, Elias was elected co-captain and was considered the biggest media sensation on the campus in the past several years. Princeton enjoyed a third straight season-opening victory over Cornell Big Red on September 18. After falling behind 12–0 Elias contributed a 72-yard rushing touchdown and a 67-yard receiving touchdown as part of a 188-yard rushing day (259 all purpose yards). Elias earned Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week. The following week Elias added 132 rushing yards and three touchdowns as Princeton defeated Lafayette 21–7. On October 2, Elias scored touchdowns on Princeton's first four possessions, which helped Princeton build a 31–0 lead over Holy Cross. The final score was 38–0 as Elias tallied 185 yards on 29 carries. Elias again earned Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week. On October 9, Elias broke Garrett's Princeton career rushing yard record of 3109 and his career touchdown record of 40 on a day when he rushed for 206 yards and scored two touchdowns in a 34–16 victory over Brown. On October 16, despite missing the first two offensive series due to a hip pointer injury, Elias posted his tenth consecutive 100-yard game with a 160-yard one-touchdown effort in a 31–23 victory over Lehigh, who established a Princeton opponent record by passing for 403 yards. At the midpoint of Princeton's 10-game schedule, Elias led the I-AA in rushing with a 172 yards per game average. On October 23 against Harvard, Elias rushed for 201 yards on 33 carries and ran for two touchdowns in a 21–110 victory for the undefeated Tigers. Despite his efforts he lost the I-AA rushing lead to Tony Vinson by a 177–176.7 margin. Elias responded with a 226-yard effort on October 30 against Columbia as Princeton moved to 7–0 and 4–0 in conference. The effort earned Elias his sixth and final career Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week award. The game set up a November battle of unbeatens against Penn on November 6. In the contest, Penn held Elias to just 59 yards on 15 carries, as Penn took over the Ivy League lead with a 30–14 victory. On November 13, as Princeton clung to hopes of at least a share of the Ivy League title, Elias rushed for 198 yards and three touchdowns on 39 carries in a 28–7 victory over Yale. Elias broke Garrett's 4,510-yard school career all-purpose yards record with a 4,529 total and extended his own single-season touchdowns (19) and points (116) records. On November 20, Elias rushed for 188 yards to help Princeton build a 22–8 fourth quarter lead that did not stand up to Fiedler who led Dartmouth to its third consecutive season-ending victory over Princeton. That November, Vinson set the current I-AA record for yards gained in two consecutive games (691), a record Elias had set the prior season. Vinson set the single-game and single-season rushing yards record and won the season statistical championship over Elias. Elias finished second in single-season yards per game to Vinson.

Elias beat out Fiedler and Jim McGeehan (quarterback of the undefeated Penn team) for the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Player of the Year. He also repeated as an All-American selection. He was recognized as one of fifteen scholar athletes by the National Football Foundation, earning an $18,000 ($28,959 today) postgraduate scholarship. Elias retired as the NCAA FCS career recordholder in rushing yards per game (140.3) and points per game (10.7), having surpassed Mike Clark of Akron (133, 1984–86) and Joel Sigel of Portland State (9.3, 1978–80). His yardage record was surpassed in 1995 by Arnold Mickens of Butler who is the current recordholder with 190.7 yards per game. His points record was eclipsed in 1998 by Aaron Stecker, Western Illinois with an 11.7 average.

Upon the completion of his career, his name was listed atop many All-time lists in the Ivy League record book. He also retired second to Ed Marinaro in numerous categories (Career rushing yards, Ivy career rushing yards, single-season rushing yards, Single-Ivy season rushing yards, career 200-yard games, single-season 200-yard games, career rushing touchdowns, Ivy career rushing touchdowns, single-season rushing touchdowns, Ivy career points, single-season points, single Ivy season points, Ivy career touchdowns, single-season touchdowns, single-Ivy season touchdowns, career all-purpose yards). However, many of his and Marinaro's records have been surpassed. Elias surpassed Marinaro for career points and tied with him for touchdowns, but both records were bettered by Nick Hartigan. He also passed Marinaro in single-season all-purpose yards in 1993 by a 1939–1932 margin but was surpassed by Johnathan Reese in 2000. He continues to be the only Ivy Leaguer to have two 1500-yard seasons. He retired with 4 I-AA records and 21 school records including rushing (4,208 yards), rushing touchdowns (49), yards rushing per game (140.3), carries (736), carries per game (24.5), yards per carry (5.72), all-purpose yards (4,739), overall touchdowns (52) and points (320). He also retired with 21 100-yard rushing games and seven 200-yards games.