Wisconsin Badgers tailback supreme Montee Ball has done it! With a 3 yard touchdown run in the 2nd quarter of the Rose Bowl, Ball etched his name into the record books; tying a milestone that stood for over 20 years: Barry Sanders of Oklahoma State 39 TDs in1988.
Sure, the 4 TDs he Sanders scored in the bowl game didn’t count towards his total. (Rule change means Ball’s TDs do count). And with that Ball got 3 extra games on Sanders to reach the record.
But if you look at total touches, it’s a totally different story.
Sanders had 344 rushes, 19 receptions, 21 kickoff returns and 10 punt returns in ’88 (394 touches) and scored a TD every 10.10 times he touched the ball.
Entering the Rose Bowl, Ball had 295 touches on the season (275 rushes and 20 receptions) and has scored a TD every 7.76 times he touched the ball.
Ball also had just 41 4th quarter carries on the season. Given how badly the Badgers blew out most of their opponents, he had had zero carries in 6/13 games this season.
Seems a lot more fair now doesn’t it?
Upon tying the record, just a little bit over a quarter into the game, Ball already had 88 yards rushing on 13 carries.
And how fitting that a great college football record like this falls in the GrandDaddy of them all?
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker, and Fox Sports
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