Top-five running back performances since Ryan Day became head coach
The summer offseason is in full swing, and Lettermen Row is trying to survive it with our annual Position Week breakdowns. By the time all nine units and coaching staff at Ohio State have been covered, training camp and media days will nearly have arrived, and the return of football in the Horseshoe will be just around the corner. We’re continuing our positional weeks with a group that’s full of talent and potential: running back.
COLUMBUS — Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is synonymous with elite Buckeyes quarterback play. The last three starters under center wearing scarlet and gray have been Heisman Trophy finalists and top-15 picks in the NFL Draft.
But, since Day became full-time head coach in 2019, there have been quite a few impressive running back performances as well. Ohio State has ranked fifth (2019), eighth (2020), 47th (2021) and 32nd (2022) in rushing offense over the last four years.
In that span, single-game records have been tied and broken. J.K. Dobbins eclipsed the 2,000-yard mark in 2019, Trey Sermon ran like his hair was on fire in the 2020 postseason and Miyan Williams matched a program mark last year that hadn’t been touched since 1984.
Without further ado, Lettermen Row is diving into the top-five running back performances of the Day era.
1. Trey Sermon breaks single-game Ohio State record with 331 yards on the ground in Big Ten Championship (2020)
The transfer portal era is young, but Sermon proved to be one of the Buckeyes’ best acquisitions so far. He came over from Oklahoma and super charged Ohio State’s rushing attack when it mattered most. Sermon took over the 2020 Big Ten Championship with a record-breaking 331-yard earthquake versus Northwestern. Not only were his 331 yards a Big Ten title game record, but they also were good for the most by an Ohio State running back in a single game, as Sermon surpassed Eddie George’s mark of 314 rushing yards that he set back in 1995. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound Sermon averaged a whopping 11.4 yards per tote against a Wildcats rushing defense that had allowed only 121.9 yards per game and 3.8 yards per carry the first seven outings of the COVID-19-shortened season. Sermon was the Big Ten Championship MVP after willing the Buckeyes to a 22-10 victory with two second-half touchdowns. He stepped up while quarterback Justin Fields was dealing with a thumb injury, then-starting running back Master Teague III left the game early with an injury of his own and wideout Chris Olave was inactive.
2. J.K. Dobbins cruises for 211 yards, 4 scores in rout of Michigan (2019)
Dobbins set the single-season Ohio State rushing record with 2,003 yards in 2019. No other Buckeyes back has reached or eclipsed the 2K mark. George actually averaged more than yards per game (148.2) in 1995 than Dobbins did in 2019 (143.1), but Dobbins achieved the feat with 27 fewer carries that season than George had 24 years earlier. En route to becoming a second-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Dobbins’ best performance was a 211-yard, four-touchdown clinic during the Buckeyes’ 56-27 rout of Michigan in The Big House. Dobbins averaged 6.8 yards per carry, in addition to tacking on two receptions for 49 more yards. His four touchdowns went for five yards, six yards, five yards and — last, but certainly not least — 33 yards. Dobbins’ final score was the nail in the coffin for Michigan.
3. Miyan Williams ties single-game Buckeyes record with 5 touchdowns vs. Rutgers (2022)
Buckeyes blowout wins over Rutgers can blur together. After all, Ohio State has beaten the Scarlet Knights by a combined score of 477-98 in the teams’ nine meetings. But last year’s stands out because of the magnetic pull drawing Williams to the end zone. With starting running back TreVeyon Henderson sidelined, Williams scored five times while rushing for a career-high 189 yards. Only two other Ohio State running backs have logged five touchdowns in one game: Pete Johnson against North Carolina in 1975 and Keith Byars against Illinois in 1984. Of Williams’ five scores, his 70-yard breakaway touchdown turned the most heads. Williams forced eight missed tackles, picked up 13 first downs and notched a season-high six runs of 10-plus yards, according to Pro Football Focus.
4. Dallan Hayden bulldozes for 143 yards, 3 scores in second-half comeback at Maryland (2022)
If it wasn’t for Dallan Hayden‘s heroics at Maryland last season, the Buckeyes might not have escaped College Park with a win. And, unless they found a way to beat Michigan in that alternate timeline, they would have missed out on the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row. Hayden — who joined the program in June with limited prospects of immediate playing time — wound up fueling a Buckeyes second-half comeback against the Terrapins and, eventually, making his first career start in the Peach Bowl CFP semifinals versus Georgia. At Maryland, the true freshman took over for a clearly hampered Henderson and rushed for 143 yards and three touchdowns in the final two quarters to preserve Ohio State’s undefeated start to the season. Hayden finished the year third on the team in rushing, but 26.4% of his yards came in the triumph over the Terps.
5. TreVeyon Henderson breaks out with 270 yards, 3 touchdowns against Tulsa (2021)
Williams started the 2021 season as the Buckeyes’ lead running back. It wasn’t long before Henderson took the wheel, though. Henderson — the top-rated running back in the 2021 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking — broke out against Tulsa with 270 rushing yards and three touchdowns. His 270 yards on the ground reset two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin’s single-game freshman record that had stood for 49 years. Henderson forced 10 missed tackles and averaged 8.39 yards per carry after contact, per PFF. Ohio State needed every bit of Henderson’s prolific day, too. The Buckeyes allowed 428 yards through the air, and it was a one-score game well into the fourth quarter. Quarterback C.J. Stroud, dealing with a separated AC joint in his shoulder, struggled. Henderson’s emergence, which included 48-yard and 52-yard scores, came at the right time.
Honorable Mention: Trey Sermon encore performance vs. Clemson in Sugar Bowl to the tune of 193 yards, 1 touchdown (2020)
We have to throw in Sermon’s Sugar Bowl CFP semifinal game from the 2020 season. Fields was the star of Ohio State’s 49-28 win over Clemson, but Sermon chipped in a cool 193 rushing yards, plus a 32-yard touchdown run in the first quarter that got the gears churning for the Buckeyes. Sermon helped avenge Ohio State’s CFP semifinal defeat to Clemson from the previous year while averaging 6.2 yards per carry and continuing his late-season surge. Unfortunately for Ohio State and Sermon, he suffered a collarbone injury the first series against Alabama, which cost him the rest of that year’s national title game.
