ESPN: 100 best running backs of the past 60 years

#76
#76
BowlBrother85 said:
I don't care if he won the Heisman twice. Archie Griffin was not a better college RB than Herschel Walker.

... and Travis Henry should be on that list somewhere ... admittedly near the bottom, but good lord, he had a better career than DeAngelo Williams of Memphis who they have at #62! Travis Henry carried an offense to the National Championship. I would have him in the 80's.
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Williams is 6th all time in yards.........he's was really good and had a better career than Henry.
 
#77
#77
peaygolf said:
Williams is 6th all time in yards.........he's was really good and had a better career than Henry.
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I disagree.

Memphis played in Conference USA at the time... and those defenses were so soft that they make the modern day Big 12 look like some combination of the '85 Bears and '00 Ravens. Sure, he was good ... and he had a good NFL career, but his college stats were bloated by weak competition.

Henry had the more memorable and more nationally impactful career. Can you name a single ranked opponent that Memphis beat from 2002-2005? I can't either.
 
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#80
#80
05_never_again said:
Every Wisconsin football highlight I've ever seen is one of their RBs taking a handoff, there being a huge hole, and running 70 yards for a TD. I've never been wowed by their backs...it seems like they always have an awesome offensive line.
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And? You can’t hold that against a RB. That’s like saying Emmit Smith wasn’t that good in the NFL because he had one of, if not the greatest OL in NFL history blocking for him.
 
#81
#81
BigOrangeTrain said:
And? You can’t hold that against a RB. That’s like saying Emmit Smith wasn’t that good in the NFL because he had one of, if not the greatest OL in NFL history blocking for him.
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You can when you're deciding who the greatest college RBs of all time are. We aren't deciding who is good and who isn't; it's who the GOATs are.

If a guy rushed for 4,000 career yards, 6 YPC in college with gaping holes on most runs and another guy has similar stats but routinely turned 1 yard gains into 8 yard gains, I know which one I would think was better. Even if the stats were very similar. IMO that is why it is so hard to rank them purely on stats alone because you really need to have watched all of these guys play to make a determination.
 
#82
#82
05_never_again said:
You can when you're deciding who the greatest college RBs of all time are. We aren't deciding who is good and who isn't; it's who the GOATs are.

If a guy rushed for 4,000 career yards, 6 YPC in college with gaping holes on most runs and another guy has similar stats but routinely turned 1 yard gains into 8 yard gains, I know which one I would think was better. Even if the stats were very similar. IMO that is why it is so hard to rank them purely on stats alone because you really need to have watched all of these guys play to make a determination.
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Agree to disagree. Wisconsin has had some great RBs. Regardless of their OLs, they were still talented. All of Bamas RBs have had elite OLs. Yet very few knock their RBs. Guys like Barry Sanders are just a complete anomaly. They come along once in a blue moon. Most of the great RBs had very good OLs.
 
#83
#83
BigOrangeTrain said:
Agree to disagree. Wisconsin has had some great RBs. Regardless of their OLs, they were still talented. All of Bamas RBs have had elite OLs. Yet very few knock their RBs. Guys like Barry Sanders are just a complete anomaly. They come along once in a blue moon. Most of the great RBs had very good OLs.
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Of course most great RBs have at least good OLs. It's just that when you're deciding who the GOATs are you try and look for the component of their production the RB got largely on their own. Did they frequently make something out of nothing? Did they have speed or elusiveness that turned 15-yard rushes into 75-yard TD rushes? Did they have power that allowed them to frequently break tackles entirely on their own effort? That kind of thing. It is hard to tell that purely from numbers.

I'm not saying those Wisconsin RBs aren't good - I'm just saying that relative to most of the others on this list that I've seen play, they don't really seem to do special things.
 
#87
#87
List overall sucks ! They got a few right here and there, but no ...

Amos Lawrence ?
Ricky Bell ?
Bobby Humphrey ?
Jamal Lewis ?
Charlie Garner ?
Chuck Webb ?

and any list that doesn’t have Earl Campbell and Eric Dickerson in it’s top 5 is just plain bogus.
 
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#90
#90
JOEY’S ALL VOL !!! said:
List overall sucks ! They got a few right here and there, but no ...

Amos Lawrence ?
Ricky Bell ?
Bobby Humphrey ?
Jamal Lewis ?
Charlie Garner ?
Chuck Webb ?

and any list that doesn’t have Earl Campbell and Eric Dickerson in it’s top 5 is just plain bogus.
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There is also no mention of Craig James and the 5 hookers he killed . Bogus list.
 
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#91
#91
BowlBrother85 said:
I disagree.

Memphis played in Conference USA at the time... and those defenses were so soft that they make the modern day Big 12 look like some combination of the '85 Bears and '00 Ravens. Sure, he was good ... and he had a good NFL career, but his college stats were bloated by weak competition.

Henry had the more memorable and more nationally impactful career. Can you name a single ranked opponent that Memphis beat from 2002-2005? I can't either.
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They beat Ole Miss and Eli in 2003, a team that went 10-3 and was a step out of bounds from being the only Ole Miss team to go to Atlanta.

In 2004, they lost, but Deangelo had 200 yards at 7.7 per carry against a Louisville team that went 11-1. Bobby Petrino’s first term, and they ended up in top ten.

I saw Deangelo play, and he was an awesome college RB. Could have played at almost any school. They played in CUSA with Louisville, Cincinnati, and in those years, Southern Miss had a good program.
 
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#93
#93
05_never_again said:
Of course most great RBs have at least good OLs. It's just that when you're deciding who the GOATs are you try and look for the component of their production the RB got largely on their own. Did they frequently make something out of nothing? Did they have speed or elusiveness that turned 15-yard rushes into 75-yard TD rushes? Did they have power that allowed them to frequently break tackles entirely on their own effort? That kind of thing. It is hard to tell that purely from numbers.

I'm not saying those Wisconsin RBs aren't good - I'm just saying that relative to most of the others on this list that I've seen play, they don't really seem to do special things.
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Melvin Gordon was not in the same mold as the other Wisconsin RB’s. If you watch his highlights, you see why he made it in the NFL. Sure, he had some that were blocked well, but he was fast and elusive. As you suggest, he took some routine 15 yard gains and turned them into long TD’s.
 
#99
#99
BigOrangeTrain said:
Pro career has nothing to do with it.
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I very clearly stated that Barry Sanders is clearly #1 based on his college career.

Barry Sanders' 1988 season at Oklahoma State was the best season by a running back in NCAA history. Herschel Walker was incredible. He was no Barry Sanders. Barry had 2,628 yards rushing in 1988 versus Herschel's best year of 1,891 yards rushing in 1981. Barry had 37 rushing TD's versus 18 for Herschel. Barry did that on 41 fewer carries than Herschel had. Barry also returned both a punt and a kickoff for TD's that year.

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