Waking up on Saturday morning, I’m sure University of Buffalo running back Jaret Patterson was ready for a big game against 3-0 Kent State. However, I’m not sure that he would’ve had in mind what actually happened–potentially the best running back performance of all-time.
Patterson was handed the ball an astonishing 36 times for 409 yards. Not a typo. Four hundred and nine yards. That just edges out former Wisconsin Badger running back Melvin Gordon, who had 408 on a snowy night against Nebraska in 2014. It does come up short on the single-game record of 427 that Oklahoma back Samaje Perine had a week after Melvin Gordon broke the record.
More Context
The most impressive part of the game might not even be the yards, it’s probably the EIGHT touchdowns that he scored. That doubles his season total. Let’s take a look at his game logs now this season…
| Opponent | Carries | Yards | Yards/Carry | Touchdowns |
| Northern Illinois | 20 | 137 | 6.9 | 2 |
| Miami (OH) | 20 | 73 | 3.7 | 2 |
| Bowling Green | 31 | 301 | 9.7 | 4 |
| Kent State | 36 | 409 | 11.4 | 8 |
| Totals | 107 | 920 | 8.6 | 16 |
Yes, he just did that after running for 300 yards in the previous game. An all-time performance, but how does it stack up against Perine and Gordon?
Best Rushing Performances
Patterson ties the record for rushing touchdowns in a game originally set by Howard Griffith, the Illinois running back who set the mark against Southern Illinois in late September 1990. Griffith saw 21 carries for 208 yards, which doesn’t feel all that dominating. Griffith’s touchdown runs of five, 51, seven, 41, five, 18, five, and three years, I’ll take Patterson’s runs of three, 31, 42, 49, one, seven, 11, and 58. All of those are in order.
So it’s narrowed down to a few options:
- Jaret Patterson
- Melvin Gordon
- Samaje Perine
- LaDainian Tomlinson
LaDainian Tomlinson
In the late 1990s, future first round pick LaDainian Tomlinson absolutely destroyed a UTEP defense with touchdown runs of 70 and 63 in the fourth quarter. Those runs would give him six touchdowns and 406 yards. That would give him the single-game record that would stand for 15 years.
Melvin Gordon
Melvin Gordon broke LT’s record by only 2 yards. He also only scored four touchdowns. So why is he in consideration? His 26-yard scamper that broke LT’s record ended the third quarter and his night. The touchdown gave the Badgers a 45-17 lead over Nebraska, and Gordon didn’t see the field again. His 16.3 yards per carry lead these performances in efficiency by almost five full yards per carry.
Samaje Perine
Just a week after Gordon broke the 15-year-old record, freshman back Samaje Perine would tote the ball 34 times for the current record of 427 rushing yards. That, coupled with five touchdowns, makes a very strong argument here. A 42-yard run on the Kansas defense early in the fourth quarter would set the record and end Perine’s historic night.
Jaret Patterson
Patterson’s case is very interesting. With Buffalo up 56-34 midway through the 4th quarter, Patterson busted a 58-yard touchdown for his eighth score of the day. He fielded a few more carries on their next drive and ended up with 409, the second most rushing yards in a single game ever.
There’s absolutely no way to tell, without much debate, which running back had the best performance of all-time. However, Jaret Patterson’s day went much differently than I’m sure he had anticipated.