Melvin Gordon named Heisman Trophy finalist
December 08, 2014 | Football
Dec. 8, 2014
MADISON, Wis. -- The nation's best running back is a finalist for college sports' most prestigious award.
Wisconsin junior Melvin Gordon was named Monday as one of three finalists for the Heisman Memorial Trophy, which will be presented Saturday in New York. Gordon joins Oregon QB Marcus Mariota and Alabama WR Amari Cooper as a finalist.
The Heisman Trophy winner will be announced live on ESPN in a 7 p.m. (CT) ceremony at the Best Buy Theater.
The nation's leading rusher with 2,336 yards and leading scorer with 29 touchdowns, Gordon has put together one of the greatest seasons ever recorded by a running back in college football. His rushing total ranks No. 4 all-time on the single-season list, while his TD total ranks as the second-highest in Big Ten history.
Gordon becomes Wisconsin's fourth finalist for the Heisman Trophy, all of which have played running back for the Badgers. Alan Ameche (1954) and Ron Dayne (1999) won the award, while Montee Ball (2011) finished fourth in the final balloting.
Only Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders, who had 2,628 rushing yards in 1988, UCF's Kevin Smith, who tallied 2,567 in 2007, and USC's Marcus Allen, who had 2,342 in 1981, have rushed for more yards in a season than Gordon.
He became the fastest player to reach 2,000 yards in a season by hitting the threshold on his 241st carry of the season.
Gordon's next touchdown would make him just the eighth player in FBS history to score 30 touchdowns in a season. He would also join Sanders and Smith as the only players in FBS history with at least 2,000 rushing yards and 30 TDs in a season.
Like Ameche, Gordon is a native of Kenosha, Wisconsin, and has led his home-state team to a 10-3 record that includes the inaugural Big Ten West Division championship.
For his efforts, Gordon was named both the Graham-George Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year and the Ameche-Dayne Big Ten Running Back of the Year.
During the Big Ten season, Gordon ran for a conference-record 1,648 yards. His average of 206.0 rushing yards per game bettered Damian Anderson's former league record of 193.6 set in 2000 by the Northwestern back.
Gordon rushed for at least 120 yards in all eight of Wisconsin's Big Ten games this season, including four 200-yard efforts. That includes a 408-yard performance against No. 11 Nebraska that broke the FBS single-game rushing mark.
As the Badgers entered the final stretch of the regular season knowing they needed to win out to earn a spot in the Big Ten Championship Game, Gordon was at his best. He rushed for 1,092 yards in November, more than all but 17 of the other 124 FBS teams. The junior also got stronger as the game went on, averaging an astounding 9.31 yards per carry in the second half.
Gordon is also a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, presented to the nation's top running back, and the Maxwell Award, given to the nation's most outstanding player. Both will be presented Thursday at The Home Depot College Football Awards Show in Orlando, Florida.
