Season Statistical Benchmarks and question

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Throughout NFL and college football, the number 1,000 has been the benchmark of a successful season in both rushing and receiving, without most fans thinking about the difference in amount of games played in a season and other things.

The NFL season went to 14 games from 12 in 1961 and to 16 in 1978...The college game has expanded from 11-to 12 in 2006 with some teams playing as many as 14 in a season...and yet the mark has stayed the same...1000 yards.

I know its a nice easy number to remember but its not as impressive as it once was..It no longer holds its "in awe" value that it once did, and it sheds a light on how impressive some of the all time greats were back in the day..

For instance, take a look at the career of Jim Brown in the NFL...JB played in 4 12 games seasons and 5 14 game seasons....a total of 118 games. If you want to have some fun and put his 9 year career into a 16 game season, he played:

7 seasons, 6 games...in this 16 game formula

He averaged around 1600 yards per season
He averaged around 14 TDs per season
He averaged over 300 carries per season

pretty impressive...Something to think about when comparing him to greats of today...Heck, all a NFL back has to do is hit 62.5 yards per to hit that mark of 1000...

But what I really want to get to is the college game, especially comparing current players to the past...or considering a players status as a great or not.

In 2009, 53 players rushed for 1000 yards...Nevada had 3, yes 3, 1000 yard rushers in 2009...a record of course. Of the 53 1000 yard rushers, 23 averaged 100 yards per game, which means 30 averaged 99 or under and accomplished the feat.

In 1999, 32 players rushed for 1000 yards...Of the 32 1000 yard rushers, 28 of them averaged over 100 yards per game.. quite a difference.

I've got a lot more into this but won't divulge it all at once...I also recognize the other variables that fall into this as amounts of carries, etc...10 runners out of the top 50 under 5 yards per carry in 2009..14 of the top in 1999..So you can tell me something else to consider into the stats, but believe me, I have and I am..I'm not through with this.

So with all that, I'll ask this:

Is 1000 yards in a season still the benchmark of being a great player or having a great year? If not, what should the number be?

[soonerborn30]

2000.

Why not?

[stoops the eternal pimp]

So anybody below 2000 would not be having a great year?

[NormanPride]

I'd say 1500 is a great year in college. 1200 for receiving, since there are a lot more targets now than there were when 2 WRs was a deep team. :D

[texaspokieokie]

100 ypg

[texaspokieokie]

Pruitt gained almost 1700 yds in 1971,in only 11 games. only 178 (approx)
carries.

pat sullivan won the heisman,& what had he done???

Barry Sanders in 1988 averaged about 238 ypg for 11 games.

if he hadn't won the heisman, it would have lost all credibility.

[texaspokieokie]

if i remember correctly, brown & sanders are the only backs to avg 5 ypc for entire career.

[Collier11]

Id say anyone regular back who has 1300 or more is having a great year, 1000-1299 is a good year, below that is average

Something like that, but then you could look at if they had 1000 yards but avg 5.5 per and had 600 receiving, that would be a great year. Give me some examples and I will give you my opinion on great or good


In college id say 1500 or more is a great year, 1000+ is a good solid year, something like that

[Collier11]

100 ypg

100 ypg in the NFL rarely happens, that isnt a good year, that is a all time year

[texaspokieokie]

yep, i agree.

i should've specified "college".

it happens in pros, there have been a few 2000 yd seasons in pros.

[Collier11]

Oh yea, in college you need a 100ypg back to be great unless he is giving you a ton receiving and returning as well

[Collier11]

yep, i agree.

i should've specified "college".

it happens in pros, there have been a few 2000 yd seasons in pros.

Oh I know but not many, you dont see a ton of players with 1600 or more yards in a season

[texaspokieokie]

stoops the pimp said "great".

[Eielson]

I think 1,000 yards is the minimum for a great season. It depends on a lot of factors, but it's almost impossible to have a great season with any significant amount less than that. After that it gets complicated. If it were only to look at yards and nothing else, I'd say around 1500 yards is about right. Let's look at last season's running backs that got around 1500.

1. Toby Gerhardt (1,871) - Best RB in the country. Most deserving offensive player in the country for the Heisman.
2. Ryan Mathews (1,808) - Even with lower level competition, still a great season.
3. Dion Lewis (1,799) - Can't believe this guy was a freshman...
4. Mark Ingram (1,658) - Don't feel he earned it, but he did win a Heisman, which unquestionably makes it a great season.
5. Ryan Williams (1,655) - This is a no-brainer as a great season. Only one game that could be considered bad, and his team still won.
6. Donald Buckrum (1,594) - Lower level competition makes it tricky, but he had some incredible games (back-to-back 230+ yard games against Rice and SMU) and a great season.
7. Lamichael James (1,546) - 8 straight games of over 6 YPC. Only one game below 5 YPC, and that was 4.7 against Ohio State. What is with all these freshmen?
8. John Clay (1,517)- Had a couple bad games, but he certainly wasn't somebody any defense was looking forward to face. Wisconsin definitely wouldn't have won their bowl game without him.
9. Noel Devine (1,465) - Six games below 100 yards, and this is the first season I wouldn't consider great. It also happens to be the first guy under 1500 yards. Still really good, but not great.
10. Montel Harris (1,457) - Kinda questionable here. He had some really good (27 carries for 264 yards against NC State) and some really bad (22 carries for 38 yards against Notre Dame). Only one so far with YPC below 5, but he was a real workhorse at times. I'm not sure on him. NC State on (minus Notre Dame game) was definitely great.
11. Jacquizz Rogers (1,440) - Another guy with 6 games under 100 yards. He did have over 500 yards receiving, though. Just looking at the running I'd say really good but not great, but the receiving might have put him over the top.

I don't think 1,500 will work as perfectly in other years, but I think it's a pretty good number. There are obviously other factors that would allow somebody under 1,500 to have a great season, but strictly from a rushing yardage standpoint, that's the number.

[goingoneight]

If we get a 1500-yard rusher, I'd say we're gonna be pretty damn good with The Stache, Broyles's many talents and this defense.

[ndpruitt03]

We've only had 2 1500+ yard rushers since Billy Sims. And we've had a bunch of really good backs. Dupree, Tillman, Gaddis, Parker just to name a few. 1500 yards is an amazing season especially when our recent trend has been splitting carries between backs since AD was gone.

[My Opinion Matters]

100 ypg in the NFL rarely happens, that isnt a good year, that is a all time year

You're saying 1600 yard seasons from an NFL back rarely happen?

[My Opinion Matters]

Cumulative stats are a lot less meaningful in the college game compared to the NFL. There's just so many more variables to the college game.

[Collier11]

You're saying 1600 yard seasons from an NFL back rarely happen?


Well, this is just the last twenty years but in that time frame there were 29 running backs that ran for 1600 or more yards, thats 1.45 per season. There were 7 full seasons in those 20 years with NO 1600 yard backs. So to answer your question, YES, I am saying that a 1600 yard back in the NFL rarely happens


2009- One 1600 yard back

2008- Two 1600 yard backs

2007- Zero 1600 yard backs

2006- Four 1600 yard backs

2005- Three 1600 yard backs

2004- Three 1600 yard backs

2003- Four 1600 yard backs

2002- Three 1600 yard backs

2001- Zero 1600 yard backs

2000- One 1600 yard back

1999- Zero 1600 yard backs

1998- Two 1600 yard backs

1997- Three 1600 yard backs

1996- Zero 1600 yard backs

1995- One 1600 yard back

1994- One 1600 yard back

1993- Zero 1600 yard backs

1992- Two 1600 yard backs

1991- Zero 1600 yard backs

1990- Zero 1600 yard backs

[AlbqSooner]

Pruitt gained almost 1700 yds in 1971,in only 11 games. only 178 (approx)
carries.

pat sullivan won the heisman,& what had he done???

Pat Sullivan got his *** kicked in the Sugar Bowl by OU that year. That's what he did.:D

OU finished #2 in the nation behind # 1 Nebraska and ahead of #3 Colorado. A pretty good year for the Big 8 all in all.

[Eielson]

Demarco is going to have 1800 yards rushing next year. Okay, maybe not, but I hope Stoops was right with that comment he made. In all honesty, 1800 yards rushing is doable if Murray stays healthy. He combined with Brown for over 2,200 yards two seasons ago. The question is if Murray can stay healthy, though. He's had a tough enough time staying healthy while splitting carries, so I don't know if he could take all the carries and play for very long.