Still think Barry Sanders is greatest of all time.
Well, in the opinion of ESPN columnist Jeff Merron, he had the greatest statistical season (1988) of any player in the history of college football. Consider the following:
Sanders rushed for 2,628 yards, an NCAA record.
He had 3,249 total yards, an NCAA record.
Sanders scored 39 TDs (37 rushing, 1 kick return, 1 punt return), an NCAA record.
He averaged 7.6 yards per carry.
He rushed for 300+ yards in four games.
That was during the 11-game regular season. In the Holiday Bowl against Wyoming, he ran for 222 yards and 5 TDs. In three quarters. He sat out the fourth, as OSU won 62-14.
Sanders had replaced Thurman Thomas at Oklahoma State, and nobody expected that kind of season from the junior, who had rushed for 603 yards the year before (
ESPN.com - Page2 - Best individual college football seasons ).
Of course, what Merron left unsaid was that Sanders accomplished all of that at Oklahoma State, not Oklahoma. Although State finished 10-2 in 88, it goes without saying that their history and, as a general rule, supporting cast paled by comparison to what Oklahoma running backs typically enjoyed. The only drawback, in critiquing Sanders career as a collegiate, is the fact that he only had one year as a starter (1988), since he entered the NFL draft in 1989.
