Melvin Gordon set an FSB record
408 yards rushing on just 25 carries—in just three quarters of play—in
Wisconsin’s 59-24 destruction of Nebraska on Saturday, putting the Badgers in
the “driver’s seat” for a spot in the Big Ten championship game. Gordon—who
rushed for 140 yards on just 16 carries in the season opener against LSU, when
Wisconsin blew a 24-7 third quarter lead—has been one of the most elusive backs
that no one knows about, or at least not until recently. After his performance
against the Cornhuskers, Gordon—who already led the FSB in rushing yards going
in—now has 1909 yards on 223 carries through 10 games, an 8.6 yards-per-carry
average. With at least two games remaining in the Big Ten regular season and a
possible berth in the Big Ten championship game. Gordon should easily break Ron
Dayne’s conference season record of 2,109 yards.
This kind of play did not appear
out of the blue. In 2012 playing behind Montee Ball and James White, Gordon
gained 621 yards on 62 carries—an average of 10 yards-per-game. In 2013, again
sharing the load with White, Gordon rushed for 1609 yards on just 206 carries, for
an FSB-leading 7.8 yards-per-attempt average. His current career average is 8.3
yards-per-carry. It is numbers like this for a team in a power conference that
finally has observers talking a possible Heisman Trophy win.'
People will say that Gordon is no
different from other Badger running backs of the past, who put up impressive
numbers, but did little in the NFL. Ron Dayne still holds the FSB record for
career rushing yards and is a Heisman Trophy winner, but only on rare
occasions—mostly during his brief stint with Denver after being dumped by the
New York Giants—did he show anything approaching capable productivity on the
NFL level. Dayne was seen as a “patient” runner—meaning he “waited” to see
where holes would open. But while this might have been an effective strategy
behind Wisconsin’s big lineman, in the NFL, where speed and thinking “on the
fly” was paramount, Dayne simply did not cut it; rather than “patient,” he just
seemed slow.
Ball is the FSB record holder for
career touchdowns, but his career with Denver has also been a letdown. He got
his chance this season to start, but an early season injury, a meager 3.1
yards-per-rush average and Ronnie Hillman’s effective play (relative to Ball’s)
seems to indicate that Ball may not be long for the NFL, or linger for a few
years as a backup.
There are others who suggest that
Gordon has the skills that past Wisconsin running backs lacked, and whose
failings were less apparent running behind some of the best offensive lines in
college. His former coach who recruited him, Bret Bielema, called Gordon a
“freak” of a player with “great speed,” “athletic and powerful” and will “test
out of this world” at the draft combines. Others speak of his “explosive
shiftiness,” his “fantastic acceleration” and his ability to run through
tackles and the smallest gap. Gordon’s one possible hiccup is his lack of pass
receptions, but the Badgers have historically seldom used their running backs
as passing threats.
With a record-breaking
performance against a top-tier team, Gordon seems a good bet to win the
Heisman, especially if he eclipses the Big Ten season rushing record, which
could happen next week against Iowa. From there, Gordon’s superior skills
should make him a “safer” bet to succeed than previous Badger running backs.
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