Three-point stance: ND-OU, top RBs, more
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OK, let's play one of my favorite games -- Who Am I?
I play running back for one of the top football programs in the country. I have 44 less carries than Leonard Fournette, 50 less carries than Ezekiel Elliott and 70 carries less than Derrick Henry, but I'm just about 100 yards shy (or less) of each of them when it comes to yardage on the season. My 8.1 yards-per-carry average is better than all of them and I am only five rushing touchdowns shy of the leader of the above group, Henry, even though I've pretty much missed the sum total of two games with nagging injuries.
My yards-per-carry average is better than anyone else with more than 100 carries in the Power Five, my offensive line is weak and my team's offense is inept without me. I also have more receiving yards than the big three above and I am the only running back of the four to score a touchdown through the air. I also just set his team's single-season rushing record previously held by a school legend.
And yet, despite all of this, I get much less national attention than the rest and the guy who writes this column, a guy who ranked me as a five-star in high school, ranked me fourth last week amongst college running backs behind Fournette, Elliott and Nick Chubb, who is injured and has less than 100 carries.
And if you still can't figure it out, I just referred to myself in the first person this weekend saying 'I just feel like I just run the ball how I run the ball, and if I keep doing me, I'm Dalvin. I feel like I'm one of the great running backs in collegiate football.'
Yep, you figured it out and it wasn't a difficult one like most of these, because despite some disrespect nationally, Dalvin Cook's accomplishments are well known by most and he should be in New York when they hand out the Heisman despite his team's two losses. So did another impressive performance change my mind about him being fourth behind Fournette, Elliott and Chubb? A little bit, as I'd probably push him above Chubb if I were re-writing the column, but this could be one of the greatest groups of running backs we will ever see at the same time in college football and that's no exaggeration. And Cook, because he plays in the ACC and not for the defending national champs, doesn't get enough attention.
3. Quick hitters
Dear Indiana, if you fire Kevin Wilson (above), you are foolish. Despite the winless Big Ten season, football won't get more competitive for the Hoosiers than it is right now.
Dear Iowa State, if you fire Paul Rhoads, you are foolish. No offense to the Cyclones football history, but the last coach with a winning record coached in the 1970's. Rhoads has this team competitive and will take them to a bowl game here and there. You can't ask for much more than that.
Marquise Williams has been amazing for North Carolina, but those awful mistakes against South Carolina must be killing him. An undefeated North Carolina team would be in the playoff discussion regardless of how horrible the ACC Coastal is.
How about Evan Berry at Tennessee? It's not easy to live up to the Berry name in Knoxville as one of the twin younger brothers of legend Eric Berry, but he's doing it with an average 40.6 yards-per-kickoff return with three touchdowns. Hard to say anyone saw this explosive potential as a return man, but we should have known. After all, he's a Berry.
Mike Farrell
National Recruiting Director