Gordon Named Doak Walker Semifinalist, Here Is How He Stacks Up to Others

In what shouldn’t be a surprise to anybody, Ollie Gordon was named a Doak Walker Award semifinalist on Tuesday.

Gordon shares the nation’s lead in rushing with North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton at 1,414 yards. Those two were among the 10 finalists for the award heading into the final week of the regular season. The Doak Walker is given to the best running back in college football. It has been handed out since 1990, and no Oklahoma State player has won it. Three finalists for the award will be selected next week, and the hardware will be given out at the college football awards show on Dec. 8.

Here are the 10 finalists and their stats, sorted by rushing yards:

It’s the year of the running back in the Big 12, as four Big 12 tailbacks made the semifinalist list. The only other conference with multiple semifinalist is *doublechecks notes* the Sun Belt with Troy’s Kimani Vidal and Georgia State’s Marcus Carroll.

As if his three weekly Doak Walker honors didn’t make it evident, Gordon ought to be a favorite for the yearly award with how he compares statistically to the rest of the field. Among the semifinalists, he is tied for first in rushing yards, tied for second in rushing touchdowns, first in yards per carry and tied for first in yards per game.

So the only thing he isn’t leading in is rushing touchdowns. That goes to Michigan’s Blake Corum who has a ridiculous 20 on the year, but Corum is the only semifinalist who hasn’t yet rushed for 1,000 yards on the season, and Corum also ranks last among finalists in yards per carry and yards per game. Corum has just two games of at least 100 rushing yards this season; Gordon has two games of at least 270 rushing yards.

With all-important regular season finales and conference championship games to be played, it would be tough to say that anyone has the Doak Walker locked up at this point, but Gordon should be the favorite.