Seminoles' Cook, others cutting into Fournette rushing lead

By foxsports
Published

LSU's Leonard Fournette continues to set the national pace in rushing, but his lead is shrinking along with his Heisman Trophy hopes.

Fournette is averaging 163.8 yards with games remaining against Mississippi and Texas A&M. He followed his disappointing 31-yard night against Alabama with 91 yards against Arkansas. Those are the only games this season in which he has run for fewer than 150 yards.

Florida State's Dalvin Cook is Fournette's closest competition, averaging 152.1 yards with games left against Chattanooga and Florida. Cook, after running for 194 yards in a loss to Clemson, had 138 in a win over North Carolina State.

If Cook maintains exactly his average, Fournette would need to average 100 yards over the next two games to hold the lead entering the bowl season.

Other running backs are lurking. Indiana's Jordan Howard is third (149.9 ypg), Alabama's Derrick Henry is fourth (145.8), New Mexico State's Larry Rose III is fifth (143.3) and Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott is sixth (142.5).

Some notable statistical feats from this past weekend:

LONG RUN: Josh Adams' 98-yard touchdown run against Wake Forest was the longest play from scrimmage in Notre Dame history and tied for the longest rush by a freshman in NCAA history. It also was the longest run from scrimmage in the country this season.

BOY, OH, BOISE: Boise State posted some of the highest offensive numbers of the season in its 31-24 loss at home to New Mexico. Brett Rypien's 74 pass attempts tied Washington State's Luke Falk, who had the same number against Oregon last month, for most pass attempts in a game. Thomas Sperbeck set national season highs with 20 catches for 281 yards. The Broncos got off 114 plays from scrimmage to tie Colorado, which had 114 against UCLA two weeks ago, for most in a game this season.

PASSING FANCIES: California's Jared Goff, against Oregon State, and Fresno State's Zack Greenlee, against Hawaii, each passed for six touchdowns. Michigan's Jake Rudock also threw six TD passes against Indiana, but two of them came in overtime. Five other QBs have thrown for six TDs this season. Michigan's Jehu Chesson tied three others for the national season high with four touchdown catches, all in regulation.

TOP TACKLER: Linebacker Great Ibe of Eastern Michigan matched his career high and the national season high with 21 tackles against Massachusetts. Tennessee's Jalen Reeves-Maybin also had 21 stops, against Oklahoma in September. Ibe leads the Mid-American Conference and is second in the country with 123 tackles despite missing one game because of injury.

TIGHT END GLORY: Cethan Carter's 32-yard touchdown run to open the scoring in Nebraska's win at Rutgers was the longest run by a tight end in the FBS this season and the first rushing touchdown by a Nebraska tight end since at least 1971. The previous Nebraska tight end to score on a non-passing play was Ben Cotton, who recovered a fumble in the end zone against Louisiana-Lafayette in 2009.

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AP college football website: www.collegefootball.ap.org