Barry Sanders' records still within reach for Ashton Jeanty

Jeanty has 1,525 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns this season

Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty has run for 1,525 yards and 20 touchdowns on 190 carries this season. / Brian Losness-Imagn Images

Eight games into the 2024 regular season, Boise State junior Ashton Jeanty remains on track to challenge multiple records. 

Jeanty, one of the four favorites to lift the Heisman Trophy, has run for 1,525 yards and 20 touchdowns on 190 carries this fall. 

Barry Sanders owns the NCAA Division I single-season rushing record. In 1988, Sanders ran for 2,628 yards and 37 touchdowns in just 11 games (the NCAA didn’t begin including bowl game statistics until 2002) en route to the Heisman Trophy. 

To catch Sanders, Jeanty will need multiple big games down the stretch, including Saturday’s 6 p.m. Mountain time showdown with Nevada at Albertsons Stadium. 

“Ashton Jeanty is the best football player in the country,” Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson said during his weekly press conference. “He preps like it, he trains like it, and we’re a really good football team.”

After running for 217 yards at Hawaii, Jeanty has been “held” to 128 and 149 yards, respectively, in Boise State’s recent wins over UNLV and San Diego State. 

Danielson said teams have been using different strategies to limit Jeanty’s production. 

“They’ve got a lot of games to look at now,” Danielson said. “As you get longer into the season, as a coach you’ve got even more film to see what other teams have done to try to stop the run game or the pass game or certain situational areas of the field that we’ve attacked defenses. 

“We know early on in a game that we’re going to see their best run defenses. That could be pressures, it could be base defenses, it could be whatever their DNA is. And then it’s our job to have answers and it’s our job to make sure we capitalize.”

Jeanty is on pace to run for 2,288 yards and 30 touchdowns during the regular season. Boise State is in good position to qualify for the Mountain West Football Championship and the College Football Playoff, which would give Jeanty at least two extra games to catch Sanders. 

Here are five of the best rushing seasons in FBS history:

1. Barry Sanders, Oklahoma State, 1988

Oklahoma State Cowboys running back Barry Sanders. / Malcolm Emmons-Imagn Images

Including the bowl game victory over Wyoming, Sanders ran for 2,850 yards and 42 touchdowns. His worst game of the season was a 25-carry, 154-yard effort against Missouri that included two touchdowns. Sanders bounced back the following game to run for 320 yards and three TDs against Kansas State. 

2. Ricky Williams, Texas, 1998

Ricky Williams. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Williams had 391 carries for 2,327 yards and 29 touchdowns to close his prolific four-year career with the Longhorns. 

3. Marcus Allen, USC, 1981

USC running back Marcus Allen. / Long Photography-Imagn Images

Allen topped the 200-yard mark eight times and ran for 2,342 yards and 22 touchdowns on 403 carries. 

4. Derrick Henry, Alabama, 2015

Alabama running back Derrick Henry. / Mickey Welsh

In his only season as the lead back, Henry had 395 carries for 2,219 yards and 28 touchdowns.

5. Melvin Gordon, Wisconsin, 2014

Wisconsin Badgers running back Melvin Gordon. / Rick Wood / USA TODAY NETWORK

Gordon was a beast in his final season with the Badgers, carrying it 343 times for 2,587 yards and 29 touchdowns. 

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