College football duos: Ranking the 32 best dynamic duos in modern history

19. Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray, Oklahoma

Sam Bradford is a Heisman winning quarterback and DeMarco Murray made the first-team All-Big 12 twice. These two were great together, helping Oklahoma win two-straight Big 12 Titles and advanced to the BCS Championship Game in 2009. They shared a lot of success on the field while putting together the makings of decent NFL careers (although both had flaws that held them back).

Murray didn’t put up the insane stats that some running backs have in the past, but he was the receiving threat someone with a limited arm like Bradford needed in the backfield. He added close to 400 yards and four touchdowns to Bradford’s Heisman-winning season. That’s on top of breaking the 1,000-yard mark on the ground.

Bradford was on another level in 2008. He had more than 4,700 yards and 50 touchdowns. 50 touchdowns sound like something from Division I-AA. Only four players have ever thrown for more. It would probably make sense to make Bradford and his wide receivers the duo, but Murray was the catalyst to this offense’s engine. He opened the field up for Bradford, even if it came in limited carries. He kept those Big 12 defenses in check.

Things got weird in their last season together. Bradford had to deal with two major shoulder injuries, including one that ended his college career early. Murray was still sharing the backfield with Chris Brown and he ended up being a much bigger receiving threat than usual. Murray showed in his senior season what could have been if Oklahoma would just commit to him (1,800 total yards and 20 total touchdowns), but when he was with Bradford, he helped get the best out of that Oklahoma offense.