Clemson Tigers Star Running Back Ranks Among Best in College Football

The Clemson Tigers offensive attack has been a balanced one, with their star running back doing his part of the heavy lifting.

Melina Myers-Imagn Images

The Clemson Tigers have put it all together for the 2024 season under veteran head coach Dabo Swinney.

Despite losing their first game of the year to the Georgia Bulldogs in dominating fashion, the Tigers have still combined to score 246 points in six games, a 41-point-per-game average, while allowing only 130 points, or 21.67 points per game.

The nearly 20-point difference between their scoring and the points they have allowed has been the product of a balanced attack on both sides of the ball.

The defense has smothered opposing offenses, holding their last three opponents entering Saturday to 14 or fewer points each.

The offense has been led by junior quarterback Cade Klubnik, who is sure to garner some Heisman votes if he can continue the pace that he has been on to start the year, but he is not the only offensive weapon Clemson has at its disposal.

Senior running back Phil Mafah has done his share of the work offensively this year, too, entering Saturday with 604 rushing yards on 87 attempts with four touchdowns.

His season has been so good, that it has seen his stock rise in the eyes of the nation, with Blake Brockermeyer of CBS Sports ranking the running back 64th in his top 100 college players of the year rankings for the midway point after having Mafah in 109th entering the year.

"He has 17 explosive runs," writes Brockermeyer, "and is averaging nearly seven yards per touch with four touchdowns."

Again, all of his stats have come in just six games.

That means that the running back has averaged 100.67 yards per game on 14.5 attempts with 0.67 touchdowns.

At this rate, Mafah is on pace for 1,208 yards on 174 attempts with eight touchdowns, which would give him a new career high in yards, but not attempts (179) or touchdowns (13), marks he set last year.

The running back is currently tied for 22nd in college football for yards this year, though only one running back (Ashton Jeanty) has more than 1,000 yards on the season already.

Mafah enters Saturday with four games of 100+ yards on the ground, coming against the Appalachian State Mountaineers, the NC State Wolfpack, the Florida State Seminoles, and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and that has helped the team remain dominant in the early stages of their conference schedule.

Behind the ever-churning legs of Phil Mafah, the Tigers' offense is sure to continue its dominance for weeks to come, and could even see games in the latter weeks of January.