Tag: Ron Dayne

Wisconsin football to honor a Badger icon during Saturday’s game vs. Alabama

Wisconsin football to honor a Badger icon during Saturday’s game vs. Alabama

Wisconsin Athletics will celebrate the 25th anniversary of running back Ron Dayne’s Heisman Trophy-winning season this Saturday.

The celebration will take place during Wisconsin’s Week 3 contest against the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide, UW’s first marquee matchup of the 2024 slate. Several members of the Heisman Trophy Trust will be present in Madison for the commemoration as well.

Not only did Dayne pocket the 1999 Heisman, college football’s most prestigious honor, but he also set the NCAA Division I rushing record in a home game against Iowa at Camp Randall. His 216-yard output brought his career total to 6,288 rushing yards, breaking Texas’ running back Ricky Williams’ previous record.

Currently, the NCAA considers former San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey as the career leader in rushing yards with 6,405. That number fails to consider Dayne’s rushing explosions in bowl games during the late ’90s. If those performances were taken into account, as they are for Pumphrey, Dayne actually boasts a remarkable 7,125 yards on the ground during his collegiate tenure. That would be good for the highest total in the sport’s history.

In addition to the Heisman Trophy, Dayne also owns 1999’s Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award and Doak Walker Award.

The New Jersey native helped guide UW to consecutive Rose Bowl victories in 1999 and 2000. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

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“That was one of the great years in the history of both our football program and athletic department,” UW’s Athletic Director McIntosh told UWBadgers.com. “Ron [Dayne] was a unique combination of size, speed and power and he epitomized the blue-collar, hard-nosed style of football our team played…Ron is college football’s career rushing leader and no debate over whether his bowl game statistics count changes that.”

Chris McIntosh alluded to the celebration during Wisconsin’s appearance at July’s Big Ten media days. Nonetheless, the honor is unique to Dayne and encapsulates UW’s storied history in fielding running back talent. That talent is quite extensive.

While Wisconsin has welcomed Jonathan Taylor, Melvin Gordon, James White and Montee Ball at Camp Randall, Dayne is inarguably the greatest running back to lace up for the Badgers in the backfield.

ProFootballFocus perpetuates untruth that Wisconsin RB Ron Dayne is not NCAA’s all-time leading rusher

Badgers fans were not happy to see this on Sunday:

ProFootballFocus is in the midst of perpetuating one of the worst untruths in the college football world — that former Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne is not the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher.

The service put out a graphic titled ‘college football all-time rushing leaders’ on Sunday. At No. 1: San Diego State’s Donnel Pumphrey with 6,405 yards. No. 2, as listed, is Dayne with 6,397 yards. Then comes Texas great Ricky Williams with 6,279 and Badger great Jonathan Taylor with 6,174.

Related: Position battles to follow as Wisconsin Badgers begin 2024 fall training camp

Wisconsin fans should be well aware of why PFF’s list — which is actually just an aggregation of the official NCAA rushing leaderboard — is contradictory. The NCAA includes Pumphrey’s bowl statistics in his 6,405 yards but omits Dayne’s. That is because the NCAA, for some reason, does not count bowl statistics before 2002.

So it ignores Dayne’s 728 rushing yards from bowl games, but includes Pumprey’s 328.

Simple logic would urge the NCAA to either include all bowl statistics, or include none. ProFootballFocus, instead, has shared one of the NCAA’s biggest ongoing mistakes.

If all rushing yards in every game played were considered, as they should be, here is what the NCAA’s all-time leaderboard would look like:

Wisconsin athletic director believes former Badger RB should be NCAA all-time leading rusher

Wisconsin athletic director believes former Badger RB should be all-time leading rusher

Wisconsin athletic director Chris McIntosh strongly believes Badger legend Ron Dayne should be the NCAA’s all-time rushing leader. He explained his thinking in a recent appearance on WOZN’s Zach Heilprin’s podcast “The Camp.”

The NCAA considers former San Diego State running back Donnel Pumphrey as the career leader in rushing yards with 6,405. The kicker: Dayne’s spectacular outputs in bowl games are not recognized by the NCAA.

The NCAA first recognized bowl statistics in 2002, three years after Dayne departed Madison. If college football’s governing organization were to take this into account, Dayne would have 7,125 yards, more than 500 ahead of Texas’ Ricky Williams.

At 6,397 yards, Dayne lands second on the current list. Williams, UW’s Jonathan Taylor and Pittsburgh’s Tony Dorsett round out the top five.

McIntosh, who was named Wisconsin’s athletic director in July of 2021, started every game of Ron Dayne’s career at left tackle.

Here’s his take on Dayne’s situation:

“I don’t understand the methodology or thinking behind it. The statistics are available to adjust those numbers. Until that were to happen, I think it’s a fair thing for our program to take the position that he’s the all-time NCAA rushing leader.”

Nov. 13 will be the 25th anniversary of Dayne setting the NCAA Division I career rushing record against Iowa.

McIntosh also noted on “The Camp” that Wisconsin will honor his record-breaking achievement this fall.

Wisconsin tied for all-time lead in Doak Walker Award winners

More proof that Wisconsin is “Running Back University”

The Doak Walker Award is given to the top running back in college football each season and the Wisconsin Badgers football program is tied for the all-time lead in athletes receiving the award.

Entering the 2023-2024 season, Wisconsin has had four different athletes win the award for a total of five winners in the program’s history. Ron Dayne became the first Badger to win the Doak Walker in 1999. During that season, Dayne rushed for 1,834 yards and 19 touchdowns on the ground, winning the Heisman Trophy as well as the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year.

The next Badger to win the award was Montee Ball, who did so after the 2012 campaign. The running back churned out 1,830 yards and 22 scores as a runner. Although it was his second-best season as a member of Wisconsin’s roster, it was his only time winning the Doak Walker.

Just two years later, Melvin Gordon became the third Badgers running back to be selected as the best in the nation. In 2014, Gordon rushed for 2,587 yards and 29 touchdowns while adding 19 catches for 153 yards and three scores.

Finally, Jonathan Taylor won the Doak Walker Award in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019. Over those two campaigns, the running back had 4,197 combined rushing yards and 37 total rushing touchdowns. He was just the third player ever to win consecutive Doak Walker Awards.

Texas is tied with Wisconsin for the most Doak Walker Award winners with five, but they also had four players tally those wins. Ricky Williams (1997-1998),  Cedric Benson (2003), D’Onta Foreman (2016) and Bijan Robinson (2022) have won as members of the Longhorns.

Alabama (3) sits at third all-time while Arkansas, Iowa, Stanford and Texas Tech are all tied for fifth with two Doak Walker Awards per program.

Wisconsin football’s all-time leading rushers

Which Badgers RB was the program’s best of all time?

If the Wisconsin football program is known for one thing, it’s running backs. The program boasts some of the best in college football history and has sent stars at the position on to have massive success in the NFL.

Related: Way-too-early record predictions for every Big Ten football team in 2024

When Melvin Gordon, Montee Ball, Jonathan Taylor or Braelon Allen leave the program, the question is always ‘who’s next.’ It’s a line of star talent that seems to never end.

Next up for the Badgers this year is Chez Mellusi and Oklahoma transfer Tawee Walker. Mellusi has shown the talent during his time at Wisconsin, yet has struggled to stay healthy. The 1-2 punch of him and Walker should work well in year two of Phil Longo’s offense.

Related: Wisconsin football 2024 depth chart projection 1.0: Offense

As we enter this season and a new crop of running back talent emerges behind the top two starters, it’s time to look back at the program’s all-time leaders in rushing yards. Plus, there is a new entry to the list since this piece was done a few years ago.

It’s quite the list:

WATCH: Ron Dayne explains how Barry Alvarez recruited him

Barry’s best recruit ever

HThe Badgers football program changed when Barry Alvarez arrived as head coach in 1990 and one of his best recruiting success stories is running back Ron Dayne.

Dayne is Wisconsin’s all-time leading rusher, producing 7,125 over his four campaigns in Madison from 1996-1999, also adding 71 touchdowns on the ground (2nd all-time behind Montee Ball).

The running back went on Jim Rome’s show this past week, explaining how Alvarez came and met him in person in New Jersey. Dayne tells Rome how even though he was 295 pounds, he informed Alvarez that he “wanted to run the ball”.

In the end, he was certainly allowed to run the ball in Madison!

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Badger Countdown: Wideout records 3(46) all-purpose yards in Rose Bowl

The 2023 CFB season is on the horizon and Luke Fickell and his Badgers are now 46 days away from their opener versus Buffalo on Sept. 2.

The 2023 college football season is on the horizon and Luke Fickell and his Badgers are now 46 days away from their opener versus Buffalo on Sept. 2. As we count down, former Wisconsin wide receiver Jared Abbrederis gives the number 46 a special meaning.

During his second season with the Badgers, Abbrederis became a household name in Madison and across the state of Wisconsin, recording 55 catches for 933 yards and eight scores over 14 games in 2011.

The final contest of the year is where he put on a show, compiling 346 all-purpose yards in the Badgers’ 45-38 loss to the Oregon Ducks in the 2012 Rose Bowl.

Abbrederis caught four passes for 119 yards and a touchdown, but his special-teams production was just as impressive. He returned a total of six kickoffs for 201 yards, including a 60-yarder, which good for an average of 25.1 yards per attempt. He also added 26 more yards on three punt returns.

At the time, the 346 yards were second only to Ron Dayne’s 347 he produced against Hawaii in 1996 and it currently stands as the third highest total in program history with Melvin Gordon’s 408-yard performance versus Nebraska (2014) on top.

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WATCH: Former Badger linebacker not concerned about in-state recruiting

Many skeptics have pointed out the team’s lack of success with recruiting Wisconsin athletes, but former linebacker Chris Orr isn’t worried.

The 2023 Badger football season is one that fans are eagerly awaiting because of all the changes under head coach Luke Fickell. Many skeptics have pointed out the team’s lack of success with recruiting Wisconsin athletes, but former Badger linebacker Chris Orr isn’t worried.

Orr was a member of Wisconsin’s defense from 2015-2019, racking up 188 total tackles, including 15 sacks, over 41 contests. As seen below, he says that T.J. Watt (Pewaukee, WI) was the only Badger State player that was the best Wisconsin football player for any of the seasons during Orr’s time in Madison.

The linebacker goes on to state that even the best players in program history aren’t from Wisconsin (Jonathan Taylor, Ron Dayne, etc). In the end, Orr understands the program better than almost anyone and what he has to say makes a lot of sense.

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Badger Countdown: Legendary RB finishes UW career with 71 TDs

The return of college football is on the horizon and the Wisconsin squad is now 71 days away from their season opener vs Buffalo on Sept. 2.

The return of college football is on the horizon and the Wisconsin squad is now 71 days away from their season opener against Buffalo on Sept. 2. An instant star for the Badgers, running back Ron Dayne finished his career with a program-high 71 rushing touchdowns.

Dayne burst onto the scene with Wisconsin in 1996, producing 2,109 rushing yards and 21 scores on the ground, both of which were program records. He only became a bigger star as time went on, rushing for over 1,400 yards while scoring at least 15 times in each of his four seasons with the team.

In total, he finished his career with 7,125 yards and 71 rushing TDs, both of which were all-time highs for a Badger at the time of his departure. The yards record still stands while Montee Ball (77) has passed him in touchdowns.

Dayne went on to help the Badgers win the Rose Bowl in both 1999 and 2000 while winning the 1999 Heisman Trophy. His stellar career in Madison led to him being selected 11th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft by the New York Giants.

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Badger Countdown: Star running back bursts onto scene in ’96

As we continue our countdown to the beginning of the Badger football season, the 1996 season was a momentous one for a freshman ball-carrier.

There is now 96 days until the start of the Wisconsin football season on Sept. 2 versus Buffalo. As we continue our countdown, the 1996 season was a momentous one for a freshman ball-carrier.

In his first season with the Badgers, New Jersey native Ron Dayne became an instant star. The freshman running back burst onto the scene, producing 2,109 rushing yards and 21 scores on the ground, both of which were program records.

The 5-foot-10, 240-pound athlete was the focal point in offensive coordinator Brad Childress’ “Smashmouth” offense, churning out 6.5 yards per carry over 325 chances in 13 games with Wisconsin.

Dayne went on to compile three more successful campaigns with the Badgers, finishing his career with 7,125 rushing yards and 71 touchdowns over his four seasons, which were both program records as well.

The bruising back finished off his time with Wisconsin on a high note, helping head coach Barry Alvarez and the Badgers win their second straight Rose Bowl in January 2000, while also winning the 1999 Heisman Trophy that season. Dayne rushed for 2,034 yards and 20 touchdowns in his final year, ultimately being selected 11th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft by the New York Giants.