Ashton Jeanty is college football’s most unstoppable force. Don’t take my word for it though, just look at the numbers. He’s ran all over college defenses this season and could be in for a historic finish.
Some of what Jeanty is doing with Boise State this season isn’t even achievable in video games, so saying video game numbers might not even do justice to what we’re witnessing. Five games into the season and Jeanty is college football’s leading rusher by a long shot. At this pace, Barry Sanders’ rushing record is in his sights.
Jeanty has 1,031 rushing yards this season and 16 rushing touchdowns. Some players finish a season with those numbers and he’s at that mark nearly halfway through the season. For context, last season he finished with 1,347 yards.
But there’s one stat in particular that is mind-boggling.
No team can stop Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and he’s got the numbers to prove it
According to Alex Kirschner’s story in Opta Analyst, no running back is better against eight-men in the box than Jeanty. He’s averaging 8.9 yards in loaded boxes. The national average? A whopping 3.7 yards. In scenarios when a defender blows through the offensive line, he’s averaging 10.7 yards compared to the national average of 2.2.
That’s quite literally the definition of unstoppable.
He’s also averaging 6.5 yards after contact, nearly three times the national average for running backs with over 50 carries. And the narrative of doing this against “lesser” opponents isn’t valid. Because even against Oregon, he ran for 192 yards and three touchdowns.
His “worst” game of the season was against Portland State when he only rushed for 127 yards and no touchdowns. And that was a game in which he was pulled early since it was so out of reach.
Boise State may be a small school, but they’ve got a monster in the backfield. Jeanty could join some good company if he continues dominating the rest of the season. Most recently, backs like Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor and Melvin Gordon with backs over 2,200 yards – Taylor had 2,194.
And while it would be a tall task, it’s not unrealistic to start thinking Sanders’ rushing record may be attainable. He could even steal the Heisman too.