Writer's note: All of the following is contingent on Fresno State running back Ryan Mathews staying healthy this autumn. He is, as has been previously stated, a running back, and running backs get injured a lot. This is thought to be because large men jump on them repeatedly. Mathews has shown great potential -- of all the running backs currently playing in Division I football, he has gained more yards per carry than all but two of them -- but he has missed a good portion of the last two seasons with injuries. Again, the Large Man Theory. You may now continue to your regularly scheduled blog.
Ryan Mathews is the Heisman Trophy front-runner. Why? Because I said so. Do I have that sort of authority? Hard to say. Allegedly, the award goes to the best player in Division I football, so I present the following video as Exhibit A ...
Those were your SportsCenter highlights of last Friday's Fresno State vs. Boise State game, and that's good publicity right there, having the anchors, Robert Flores and John Anderson, gush about your strength and speed on national television. Mathews really is an amazing combination of skills. The Broncos might have won, but Mathews was no doubt the talk afterward.
What can you say? He's been spectacular. Unstoppable. In three games, he has four runs of at least 60 yards. He has four touchdowns. He leads the nation in rushing yards, and has fewer carries than anyone else in the top 19. And, he did it against two good defenses. The Boise State defense, in fact, had held Oregon and Miami (Ohio) to 8 total points. Mathews scored 21 against it by himself. Here are the top 10 rushers in Division I football through Week 3 ...
Rushing yards
1. Ryan Mathews, Fresno State 447
2. Ralph Bolden, Purdue 421
3. Jahvid Best, California 412
4. Nic Grigsby, Arizona 400
5. Dion Lewis, Pittsburgh 398
6. Roy Helu Jr., Nebraska 381
7. Joe Webb, UAB 367
8. Ben Tate, Aurburn 349
9. Montario Hardesty, Tennessee 345
10. Damion Fletcher, USM 344
If he was at Tennessee or Ohio State, he would surely be at the top Heisman watch list next to Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow, but his name has not been mentioned in the so-called mainstream media. I blame everyone but this blog. Seriously, though, I think Ryan Mathews will lead the nation in rushing, possibly even go for 2,000 yards if he gets enough carries. No Fresno State running back has ever approached 2,000 yards. Rodney Davis got the closest in 2002, when he went for 1,586. Mathews will break that record, and he'll break the single-season rushing touchdown record, which Aaron Craver set in 1990 with 17 and Anthony Daigle tied in 1992.
What I'm saying is, Mathews will bring peace to the Middle East. He'll remind the world what is possible. He will inspire doctors and world leaders and your Aunt Lois. I don't think it's overstating it to say that Ryan Mathews is the single most important person on the planet. What? Too much? Look, we here at the blog are the only one hyping this Mathews-for-Heisman campaign. We're going to have to go a little over-the-top.
You want more stats? Here are the nation's top 10 rushers, as measured by yards per carry ...
Yards per carry
1. Patrick Mealy, Army 10.7
2. Robert Turbin, Utah State 10.3
3. Chris Rainey, Florida 10.2
4. Jay Finley, Baylor 9.6
5. Ryan Mathews, Fresno State 9.1
6. Carlos Brown, Michigan 8.8
7. Joseph Turner, TCU 8.5
8. Nic Grigsby, Arizona 8.2
9. Jacob Ramsey, Cincinnati 8.1
10. Reggie Arnold, Arizona St. 8.0
How about more stats? The nation's rushing touchdown leaders ...
Rushing touchdowns
1. Jahvid Best, California 8
T-2. Chad Spann, Northern Illinois 6
Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech 6
T-4. Reggie Arnold, Arkansas St. 5
Noel Devine, West Virginia 5
Ricky Dobbs, Navy 5
Jacquizz Rodgers, Oregen State 5
Toben Opurum, Kansas 5
Dion Lewis, Pittsburgh 5
T-10. Ryan Mathews 4
Obviously, he's tied with quite a few people with four touchdowns, but we conveniently left those off for space purposes. It's the internet, you know. It could fill up if we go listing everyone and their cousin with four rushing touchdowns. I realize it's only three games into the season, but considering the weak defenses that await on the Fresno State schedule, it's not completely ridiculous to project Mathews' stats for this season. He is on pace for this kind of season ...
2009 projections after three games
Ryan Mathews: 1,937 yards and 17 TDs.
But even those numbers would not necessarily vault Mathews into the Heisman running. The last four years, the nation's leading Div. I rusher* was from a non-BCS school*, and none finished in the Top 5 in the Heisman voting. Here's a quick list of the leading rusher each year this decade, their total number of yards, and where they finished in the Heisman final vote ...
*I still haven't been able to determine if Donald Brown got any Heisman votes last year at UConn. I know for certain that he didn't finish in the top 10. You might have noticed I'm super-heavy on lists today. Not sure what that's about, but again I think we've proven that no other blog in the world delivers this amount of useless information.
2008 - Donald Brown, Connecticut (2,083) Out of top 10
2007 - Kevin Smith, Central Florida (2,567) 8th
2006 - Garrett Wolfe, Northern Illinois (1,928) 11th
2005 - DeAngelo Williams, Memphis (1,964) 7th
2004 - J.J. Arrington, California (2,018) 8th
2003 - Darren Sproles, Kansas State (1,986) 5th
2002 - Larry Johnson, Penn State (2,087) 3rd
2001 - Chance Kretschmer, Nevada (1,732) Out of top 10
2000 - LaDainian Tomlinson, TCU (2,158) 4th
Looking back at that list, I'm also not sure if Chance Kretschmer actually received any votes in 2001, the year Fresno State's David Carr finished fifth for the Heisman. I suspect Chance didn't because Nevada was even more off the radar then than they are now, and he was a walk-on freshman who came out of nowhere. A freshman has never won the Heisman and they never do well in the voting, especially from a non-BCS school.
What hurts Mathews, of course, is that he shares carries with at least four other backs, including Lonyae Miller is 12th on the career yards-per-carry list of current running backs. So far Miller hasn't gotten many carries, partly due to the emergence of freshman back Robbie Rouse and the option game of quarterback Ebahn Feathers. I feel bad for Miller. He's put in his time, but you only get so many plays per game. And because I haven't given you quite enough stats yet, here are the career numbers of Mathews and Miller.
Ryan Mathews, JR, 22 games, 307 carries, 1,919 yards, 6.25 yards per carry
Lonyae Miller, SR, 35 games, 318 carries, 1,768 yards, 5.56 yards per carry
OK, I'll stop now. The Bulldogs go to Cincinnati this week, another ranked team and another solid defense. Look for next week's blog update on your Ryan Mathews, 2009 Heisman Trophy candidate. The bandwagon is forming and our standards for membership are loose.
Save me a seat on the bandwagon. West High Vikings all the way!
Speed - check
Power - check
Balance - check
Elusiveness- check
And that's why he's considered NFL material.
Matt....nice words for Ryan, hope he stays healthy. Loved your closer, "standards for membership are loose". That lets me in, I hope. I've noticed that this year Daniel and Bryant-Jon have failed to produce their annual "BCS" and "undefeated" columns ad infinitum. You think they finally realized we cheer for Fresno State, not Penn State, Boise State, Florida State, Oregon State, or Whatever State? Are those guys really, really young or just drunk all the time? Fresno State will never make BCS status and talking about it is moronic. Like your columns, the other two guys need to get a grip on reality.
Gary Giese
I don't have an Aunt Lois.
I am with Amanda, and I already have a seat on the band wagon, and I will save you a seat! this kid is going to do just fine! he has what it take's, and he is quite the gentleman too, Go Tomahawks ! Ryan's youth football team in Tehachapi.