Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon's didn't pass Barry Sanders as college football's all-time single-season leading rusher on Thursday in the Outback Bowl.
Gordon did make it interesting. Gordon needed 292 yards to catch Sanders, who rushed for 2,628 yards in 1988. Gordon finished with 2,587 yards after rushing for 251 yards and three TDs in a 34-31 win against Auburn.
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Gordon also left an impression on the NCAA record book. Here are five amazing stats:
1. Gordon is just the third running back to rush for 2,500 yards in a season. Sanders and UCF's Kevin Smith (2,567) are the others.
2. Gordon set the NCAA record with his sixth game with 200 yards rushing or more in a single season, the highlight a then-NCAA record 408 yards against Nebraska on Nov. 15. Oklahoma's Samaje Perine broke that record the following week with 427 yards against Kansas.
3. Gordon, who is leaving the NFL, shattered the NCAA record for yards per carry with 7.8 for his career. Mike Rozier held the previous record at 7.1. Gordon averaged 7.5 yards per carry this season, which is short of the record Sanders set with 7.6 in 1988 for backs with at least 280 carries.
4. Gordon set the Big Ten single-season rushing record. Wisconsin's Ron Dayne previously held the record with 2,109 yards. Where does this put Gordon among the all-time Badgers?
5. Gordon scored 29 rushing TDs this season. Gordon is just the seventh player to score that many rushing TDs, a list that includes Sanders (37), Wisconsin's Montee Ball (33), Colorado State's Kapri Bibbs (31), Navy's Keenan Reynolds (31), Smith (29) and Rozier (29).
