When one star shines as brightly as Christian McCaffrey did during 2015, some of the other bright lights can be obscured, but that shouldn't be the case with the Stanford running backs. After dipping to a decade-low total of just 2,064 yards rushing in 2014, the running game returned with a vengeance this season, and it wasn't all from McCaffrey. With one game still yet to play, Stanford has set a school record with 2,926 rushing yards, and the record for team carries in a single season will fall in the Rose Bowl before the first quarter is half over.
Last year's leading rusher was Remound Wright, whose 601 yards represented the lowest team-leading total since Anthony Kimble ran for 509 yards in Jim Harbaugh's first season as head coach. Wright only managed a third of that total this year, and his yards per carry dipped to a paltry 2.7, but he was one still one of the keys to Stanford's success in 2015. After resorting to a running-back-by-committee approach in 2014, Coach David Shaw was able to establish roles in the backfield this year, and each player thrived in his role.
Wright served as the battering ram, rarely seeing the field except in short yardage situations, and he was phenomenal. Conventional wisdom claims that it's the offensive line that makes the difference at the goal line and in third and short situations, and while the development of Josh Garnett and Kyle Murphy and the rest of the Tunnel Workers Union can't be underestimated, Wright brought a craftsman's mentality to his job. He did much more than simply run through the open hole. Depending on what his linemen created or the defense gave, Wright could leap over the pile, slide through a crack, spin out of a tackle, or pound through an unlucky defender's chest. He accounted for 13 touchdowns this season, ten from the one-yard line, and three from the two, and his 26 career touchdowns put him in tie for tenth on the all-time Stanford list. There is no better sledgehammer in America than the Vulture.
Stanford's second-leading rusher, by just a yard over quarterback Kevin Hogan, was Barry J. Sanders, often the forgotten man in the backfield. Sanders arrived with much fanfare when he signed in 2012, and not just because of his famous father. He got a few touches in 2013, and when he averaged 5.3 yards per carry in 2014 while gaining 315 yards, it seemed like maybe he'd get more opportunities this season. Instead he had a nearly identical campaign, amassing 313 yards while still showing the flashes of brilliance fans have seen throughout his Stanford career. The problem for Sanders, of course, is that he's been surpassed by two players who are younger than he is, so rumors have been swirling that he could earn his diploma in the spring and take advantage of the NCAA's graduate transfer rule to find more carries than he'd get as a fifth-year senior at Stanford. The thought that Sanders could return home to his father's alma mater, Oklahoma State, seems so obvious that OSU coach Mike Gundy even addressed the rumors in a recent press conference, which only served to increase speculation. While that might not be his eventual landing spot, I fear that the Rose Bowl may be his final game in the Cardinal and White.
The player most responsible for pushing Sanders out the door is not McCaffrey, but probably Bryce Love. A true freshman who wasn't necessarily expected to make an impact this season, Love's development in 2015 mirrored McCaffrey's in 2014. Last year McCaffrey finished with 300 yards rushing and 251 receiving; Love enters his final game with 228 and 248, but the similarities go beyond the statistics. In Love the Cardinal has another player who quickens heartbeats in the stands and raises blood pressure in opposing coaching booths. He's a threat to score whenever he touches the ball, making him another weapon that defenses must account for whenever he's on the field. He's assumed the role of the jet sweeper in the wildcat formation, and he often lines up as a wideout in standard sets as well, either as the primary target on a wide receiver screen or as a decoy to open the field for others. The Stanford offense has been more dynamic and creative than ever this season, and that's largely due to Love's speed and versatility. He'll be fun to watch on January 1st, and even more fun for the next three years.
Since this is Stanford, the fullbacks cannot be ignored. Daniel Marx didn't have a single carry and caught only three passes, but his impact on the offense before his season-ending injury was enormous. He was a strong lead blocker and an important extra piece in blitz protection for Kevin Hogan. His replacement, Chris Harrell, has also been effective, and the running game hasn't missed a beat with Harrell leading the way.
All of the running backs excelled in their roles, but none shone as brightly as Christian McCaffrey, who was not just the best player on Stanford's roster but the best player in America, no matter what the Heisman Trust might have you believe. McCaffrey rewrote the Stanford record book in 2015, and by the time the confetti has settled to the turf in Pasadena, he will likely have set a few more records.
Even if we only look at the plays when he took a handoff or a direct snap and ran with the ball, McCaffrey's season was amazing. He currently has 1,847 yards rushing, which puts him only 24 yards shy of Toby Gerhart's single-season record. When you add the 300 yards rushing from his freshman season, McCaffrey already ranks tenth on Stanford's career rushing list. McCaffrey amassed that yardage this season with consistency (he set a Stanford record with nine consecutive 100-yard games) and explosiveness (his 243 yards rushing against UCLA set another Stanford record). Also, in the 65 years that statistics have been kept, there had been ten games in which a Stanford back had topped 200 yards rushing; McCaffrey accomplished that three times this season alone.
But as we know, there's much more to McCaffrey than those eye-popping rushing totals. When his all-purpose yardage is considered, every other player in the nation falls away like dust from the wings of an eagle. McCaffrey broke records that had been set before he was born, starting with Glyn Milburn's mark for yardage in a single game, set against Cal in 1990. McCaffrey topped that one by ten yards when he massed 389, also against Cal, and then he bettered that number two weeks later in the conference championship game against USC when he totaled an unimaginable 461, a Stanford record that will stand until Mr. McCaffrey decides he wants to break it.
Oh, and we should also mention that he topped an NCAA record set by his teammate's father 27 years ago, racking up 3,496 all-purpose yards, including a team-high 540 receiving yards as well as 1,042 yards returning kicks, which is 125 yards short of another Stanford mark.
A quick note about the Heisman Trophy. It's become something of a Stanford tradition to finish second in the Heisman voting, but this year's snub was unconscionable. Cam Newton probably deserved the trophy over Andrew Luck in 2010, but this year's vote is reminiscent of 2009 and 2011 when Toby Gerhart and Luck lost to inferior players. Alabama's Derrick Henry is a great running back who had a great season, but what McCaffrey did was historic. If he and Henry had traded places, with McCaffrey doing what he did for Alabama and Henry for Stanford, McCaffrey would've won in a landslide without discussion. But with this flawed system, we shouldn't be surprised by the result. Sixteen percent of voters cast their ballots before McCaffrey's destruction of USC in the Pac-12 championship game, but more troubling than that is this -- of 926 ballots, 213 (23 percent!) did not include the Stanford star. When there are writers who publicly admit to giving undeserving players first place nods because they want them to have at least one vote, when others leave a player off the ballot to help the player they want to win, and still others admit to not watching the games, something should be done. If the Heisman Trophy is to remain relevant, the Heisman Trust must examine the process. It has become a sham.
But none of that takes anything away from what McCaffrey, Wright, Love, and Sanders accomplished this season. They were all integral parts in what is probably the best offense in the nation, so there can be no doubt about this unit's overall grade.
Overall Grade: A+
