Miami football fifth best RB U in BCS/CFP era is fair placement
The running back room for the Miami football program in the early 2000s is unmatched in the history of college football. Based primarily on that, Miami was named the fifth-best school for RBs in the BCS/College Football Playoff era.
A tweet posted by ESPN on Saturday ranked the 10 best schools for quarterbacks and running backs in the Bowl Championship Series and College Football Playoff eras. The BCS began in 1998 and College Football Playoff in 2014. The Miami football program was named the fifth-best for running backs.
The rankings for each team at QB and RB listed three players for each school. Two of the three Miami RBs listed were all teammates on the 2001 National Championship team. Frank Gore and Willis McGahee gave Miami a RB unit that is unmatched in the history of college football. Clinton Portis who started wasn’t mentioned.
Portis ran for 1,200 yards and 10 touchdowns, Gore 562 yards and five TDs while averaging 9.1 yards per carry and McGahee ran for 314 yards and three TDs. Eleven Miami RBs have been drafted during the BCS/CFP era. That includes Portis, McGahee and Gore, plus recently named Hall of Famer Edgerrin James.
Not many programs would had a 1,200-yard rusher who started ahead of two all-time Duke Johnson who currently plays with the Houston Texans and is the all-time leading rusher in Miami history also contributed to the Hurricanes’ greats at RB.
Amazingly Miami went from 2005-2012 without a RB drafted. Gore was a third-round pick of the San Francisco 49ers in 2005 and Lamar Miller who is Johnson’s teammate in Houston was a fourth-round pick of the Dolphins in 2012.
Gore has gone on to have a Hall of Fame career. Entering his 16th season in 2020, Gore is third all-time in the NFL in rushing. James is the 13th leading rushing in NFL history. He also holds the top two performances running the football in Miami program history.
James set the record with 271 rushing yards against Boston College in 1997 and broke his own record a year later with 299 yards against then top-ranked UCLA. Nine of the top 10 single-game rushing performances in Miami football history have been since the beginning of the BCS era.
McGahee, Johnson, James and Miller hold the top four single-season rushing yards records for Miami and Portis’ 2001 season ranks sixth. Nine of the top 10 career rushers for Miami played in the BCS and/or College Football Playoff era.