BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin sophomore tailback Jonathan Taylor made some more compelling history Thursday night when he was named winner of the Doak Walker Award for 2018.
Taylor is the fourth different Badgers ball-carrier to be recognized as the best college running back in the nation, joining Ron Dayne in 1999, Montee Ball in 2012 and Melvin Gordon in 2014.
No other Football Bowl Subdivision school has more individual Walker winners. In fact, Wisconsin has as many recipients as the rest of the Big Ten Conference teams combined.
Taylor, a Doak finalist as a true freshman in 2017, leads the Football Bowl Subdivision in rushing with an average of 165.75 yards per game entering the Pinstripe Bowl vs. Miami on Dec. 27 in New York City.
He needs 11 rushing yards against the Hurricanes to reach 2,000 for the season. For reference, only 66 of the 130 FBS teams have reached that plateau in 2018 .
Taylor would be the second back in Wisconsin history to lead the nation in rushing — Gordon did it as a junior in 2014 — and the third Badgers tailback to amass 2,000 yards or more in a season, joining Gordon (2,587 in '14) and Dayne (2,109 as a freshman in 1996 and 2,034 as a senior in '99).
Going into the matchup with Miami, Taylor has gained 100 yards or more in 21 of 26 career outings. If he tops 100 vs. the Hurricanes he will have 12 on the season, tying Gordon's school standard, which was set in 2014.
Taylor is the first back in Wisconsin history to have consecutive 1,900-yard rushing seasons (1,977 in 2017 and 1,989 in '18). He began the year ranked 19th on the all-time program rushing list. He now sits sixth and needs 50 yards to crack the top five thanks in part to a career-best 321 yards vs. Purdue, 253 vs. New Mexico, 221 vs. Nebraska and 208 vs. Rutgers.
Taylor now has seven outings of 200 yards or more in his career, tying him with Gordon and putting Taylor halfway to Dayne's school mark of 14.
According to NCAA and school record books, Taylor would be the 31st back in FBS history to join the 2,000-yard rushing club for one season and the 12th from that list to win the Doak Walker Award.
Taylor, from Salem, New Jersey, is the third sophomore to win the Doak Walker, which was introduced in 1990. The others are LaMichael James of Oregon in 2010 and Darren McFadden of Arkansas, who won the award in 2006 and '07.
Outside of the Wisconsin foursome, the only Big Ten backs to win the Doak Walker are Eddie George of Ohio State in 1995, Larry Johnson of Penn State in 2002, Chris Perry of Michigan in 2003 and Shon Greene of Iowa in 2008.
Schools with multiple Doak Walker winners include Texas (D'Onta Foreman in 2016, Cedric Benson in '04 and Ricky Williams in 1997 and '98); Alabama (Derrick Henry in 2015 and Trent Richardson in '11); Arkansas (McFadden in 2006 and '07); Stanford (Bryce Love in 2017 and Toby Gerhart in '09); and Texas Tech (Byron Hanspard in 1996 and Bam Morris in '93).
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