With his 211-yard performance against Purdue this Saturday, Shonn Greene moved ahead of Michigan State's Javon Ringer and is now the nation's leading rusher. Greene has rushed for more yards on almost 100 less carries than Ringer and is averaging nearly 2 yards more per rush attempt (6.2 YPC to 4.4 YPC for Ringer).
| Rank |
Player
| This week | Att-Yards | Diff |
|---|
| 1 | Shonn Greene - Iowa | 211 | 256-1,585 | -- |
| 2 | Javon Ringer - Michigan State | -- | 353-1,548 | 37 |
| 3 | Donald Brown - UConn | 136 | 276-1,542 | 43 |
| 4 | Kendall Hunter - Okla State | 136 | 210-1,468 | 117 |
| 5 | Vai Taua - Nevada | 125 | 177-1,284 | 301 |
| 6 | MiQuale Lewis - Ball State | 165 | 216-1,273 | 312 |
Shonn is also now ranked #2 on Iowa's All-Time Single Season rusher list. Only Tavian Banks has rushed for more yards in one season as a Hawkeye. Greene is only 106 yards away from passing Banks and becoming Iowa's best single season rusher. With two games remaining (@ Minnesota and a bowl game), Greene should easily end the season as Iowa's single season leader.
| Player |
Att-Yards
| Avg | TDs | Year |
|---|
| 1. Tavian Banks | 260-1,691 | 6.5 | 17 | 1997 |
| 2. Shonn Greene | 256-1,585 | 6.2 | 15 | 2008 |
| 3. Sedrick Shaw | 316-1,477 | 4.7 | 15 | 1995 |
| 4. Fred Russell | 282-1,355 | 4.8 | 7 | 2003 |
| 5. Albert Young | 249-1,334 | 5.4 | 8 | 2005 |
| 6. Dennis Mosley | 270-1,267 | 4.7 | 12 | 1979 |
| 7. Fred Russell | 220-1,264 | 5.7 | 9 | 2002 |
| 8. Ronnie Harmon | 223-1,116 | 5.2 | 9 | 1985 |
| 9. Rick Bayless | 216-1,150 | 5.3 | 10 | 1986 |
| 10. Sedrick Shaw | 224-1,116 | 5.0 | 9 | 1996 |
(Banks only had 11 games count towards his statistics in 1997 before the NCAA started counting bowl game stats in their records. Greene's 11 game total has fallen just short of Tavian's 1997 total, but is the most of any Iowa back besides Banks.)
Shonn also passed Nick Bell on Saturday to move into 12th on Iowa's All-Time Career Rushing list with 1,752 career yards. Shonn needs 381 yards in his final 2 games to pass Levi Mitchell and Dennis Mosley to move into the Top 10 of the All-Time Career list.
What we have seen so far this season from Shonn Greene should certainly be enough to warrant an invitation to the Heisman Trophy Award Ceremony this December. With a 100-yard rushing performance on Saturday at Minnesota, Greene will have rushed for 100+ yards in all 12 games this season. He is on pace to end the year as the nation's leading rusher and rack up more yards in a single season than any Hawkeye running back in school history. Iowa fans probably have only two more opporunities to enjoy Greene's domination on the field before he most likely declares early for the NFL Draft. Enjoy these last 2 games. Hawkeye fans haven't seen anyone in the backfield this good in a long while, if ever. |
