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Published Nov 2, 2017
Lindsay chasing CU's all-time rushing record in final weeks
Scott Hood  •  CUSportsReport
Staff Writer
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When the 2017 season began, Colorado running back Phillip Lindsay needed 1,708 rushing yards to break the school’s all-time career rushing record of 3,940 yards held for the past 27 years by Eric Bieniemy (1987-90).

Considering only two Buffs running backs had ever surpassed 1,700 rushing yards in a single season (Rashaan Salaam in 1994; Chris Brown in 2002), the thought of Lindsay eclipsing Bieniemy’s record seemed far-fetched at the time.

Not anymore.

With three games remaining in the regular season, Lindsay, already Colorado’s all-time leader in all-purpose yards (5,476), has 3,487 career rushing yards, putting him within 454 rushing yards of Bieniemy’s mark. Thus, he must average 151.33 yards per game against Arizona State, USC and Utah to establish a new school rushing record.

Lindsay has averaged 181.25 rushing yards in the past four games, so reaching Bieniemy is certainly achievable. It could literally come down to his final few carries against Utah in the Nov. 25 season finale at Salt Lake City.

Of course, the more yards Lindsay gets against Arizona State and USC in the next two games, the more wiggle room he will have when the Buffs face the Utes. He has enjoyed considerable success against ASU in his career, gaining 301 yards and scoring 5 touchdowns on 44 carries in three games against the Sun Devils.

That’s an average of 6.84 yards per carry. If Lindsay maintains that average and carries the ball 30 times Saturday night in Tempe (very reasonable in view of the last 4 games and his importance to the CU offense), he could approach or every surpass 200 rushing yards.

Considering Arizona State ranks 10th in the Pac-12 in rushing defense and is allowing 186.9 rushing yards per game, Lindsay could inflict serious damage upon the Sun Devils defense just through running the football. How he does against ASU in the ground game is certainly a major storyline heading into Saturday night’s clash in the desert.

A year ago, Lindsay rushed for a then-career high 219 yards on 26 carries in last year’s 40-16 win over Arizona State, the first 200+ yard rushing game for a Buffaloes player since Brown had 211 at Missouri in 2002.

Over the last four games, Lindsay has 725 rushing yards on 131 carries for an average of 5.53 yards per carry, one of the best four-game stretches ever by a Buffs running back. Last week, he had 161 rushing yards on 33 carries (second highest number of carries this season; third career game with 30+ carries) in the 44-28 victory over Cal at Folsom Field.

It was his fourth game of 150+ rushing yards in 2017, topped, of course, by his 281 yards against Arizona nearly a month ago, and the 11th 100-yard rushing game of his career.

Little wonder Mike MacIntyre hinted after Saturday’s game that he has a “man crush” on Lindsay.

“I just can’t say enough about Phillip,” MacIntyre said. “It sounds like I have a man crush. He’s awesome. He gives his whole heart and soul. He’s the school’s all-purpose yardage leader, which is amazing when you think about all the great players and running backs that have come through here. He’s the only back-to-back 1,000-yard rusher ever. That’s mind boggling to me with all the great players.”

As the calendar turns to November, no major college football team relies more on one running back than Colorado. Lindsay leads all FBS running backs with 240 carries this season (26.7 carries per game), 31 more than any other player in the nation. San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny is second with 209 carries.

The Colorado offense has run 683 total plays in the first nine games (391 rushing, 292 passing), meaning a handoff to Lindsay has been the play call 35.1 percent of the time. Most likely, no other running back in the country comes close to that percentage.

Lindsay’s 1,254 rushing yards in nine games ranks third nationally behind Penny (1,368) and Bryce Love of Stanford (1,387). Lindsay, the first CU running back in history with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons, has six rushes of more than 35 yards this season. Three of CU’s five longest offensive plays from scrimmage this season are Lindsay runs, topped by his 74-yard TD run at Oregon State.

Lindsay’s success running the football on first down is a major reason the Buffs ran the ball 58 percent of the time (174 of 300 plays) on first down in the first nine games of the season.

“He’s just special, and he’ll be special for the rest of his life,” MacIntyre said. “He’s one of those people that come around every once in a while that doesn’t care about peer pressure. They do what they believe is right, they give all they have, they care about others, they’re unselfish, and they motivate through their actions and through their words. Very rarely do you have every one of those qualities in a guy. I give credit to the way his parents raised him.”

Who does Colorado look to when they need a first down? Lindsay has earned 78 first downs this season, 70 by rushing. The Buffs have converted 39 of 60 third downs (65 percent) when they needed four yards or less. Most of the time, Lindsay has gotten the ball in those situations.

“I could talk all night about Phillip Lindsay,” MacIntyre beamed.

PAC-12 WEEK 10 SCHEDULE (Nov. 3-4 )

UCLA at Utah, 8:30 p.m. (FS1)(Fri.)

Stanford at Washington State, 1:30 p.m. (FOX)

Oregon State at California, 3 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)

Colorado at Arizona State, 7 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)

Oregon at Washington, 8 p.m. (FS1)

Arizona at USC, 8:45 p.m. (ESPN)

(All Times Mountain)

PAC-12 SOUTH STANDINGS:

USC 5-1 (7-2)

Arizona 4-1 (6-2)

Arizona State 3-2 (4-4)

UCLA 2-3 (4-4)

Colorado 2-4 (5-4)

Utah 1-4 (4-4)

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