29 Days Until FSU Football: Dale McCullers Records 29 Tackles in 1968 Win Over Texas A&M

There are 29 days left until Florida State football starts the 2018 season. As part of the offseason, we’re highlighting players, games, and specific moments from FSU football history.

On Saturday, it was the Seminoles’ 30-26 comeback win at Miami in 2014.

Today, it’s linebacker Dale McCullers’ school-record 29 tackles in a 20-14 win over Texas A&M on Oct. 5, 1968.

Before Ron Simmons made the jersey No. 50 legendary, Dale McCullers, a native of not-too-distant Live Oak, was a tackling machine. Never was that more evident than when No. 17 Texas A&M visited Tallahassee to kick off October of McCullers’ senior year.

For the day, the Aggies ran 72 plays. Among those, 24 were passes, but only six resulted in completions. In other words, in 54 plays where there was a tackle to be made, McCullers made one on 29 — or 54 percent — of them.

Dale McCullers earned All-American honors as a senior in 1968. (Photo provided by Garnet and Great, FSU Archivist)

McCullers was among many defensive standouts that day as FSU held the Aggies to 340 yards and came up with five forced turnovers. John Crowe came away with two interceptions for the Seminoles in the win while Chuck Eason and Walt Sumner each added one.

FSU actually trailed midway through the second quarter after consecutive rushing touchdowns by A&M made it 14-10. Bill Cappleman’s second of two touchdown passes — this one to Billy Cox — with 3:08 to play in the first half put the Seminoles head for good. Grant Guthrie’s 40-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to double FSU’s lead accounted for all the second half scoring.

As for McCullers, he would record 343 total tackles over his final two seasons, including 163 as a senior in 1968. The 29 tackles against Texas A&M beat his own record of 26 set against rival Florida the week before.

McCullers would earn first-team All-American honors from the Newspaper Enterprises Association and third-team honors from the Associated Press in 1968. McCullers spent just one season with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins before being inducted into the FSU Hall of Fame in 1984. 50 years later and his single-game tackles record remains intact at FSU and that isn’t like to change anytime soon.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson