Ollie Gordon Is Primed to Leave His Name All over the OSU Record Books

Of the several reasons to be optimistic about the Cowboys’ offense this fall, No. 0 has to be No. 1.

Ollie Gordon — the nation’s leading rusher in 2023 — is back, and that gives the Pokes a game-changer and a chance against anyone they play. So, since it’s the #OFFszn ahead of what very well may be Gordon’s final year in Stillwater, let’s take a look at what’s on the line for him as far as his legacy at Oklahoma State.

After his explosive 2023 season, Gordon’s return campaign is as highly anticipated as any running back under Mike Gundy, but he’s also poised to etch his name all over the record books in Stillwater. Last year he became the first Cowboy since Chuba Hubbard to lead the nation in rushing. This year he could become the first since Justice Hill to reach 1,000 rushing yards in consecutive seasons. And a landing spot among the Top-10 career rushers is almost an afterthought if he remains healthy.

Let’s take a look at some of those career marks that are well within Gordon’s reach.

Career Rushing

First off, the aforementioned career rushing list. At 2,040, Gordon is 1,045 yards shy of making this list. If he picks up at the pace he left off last year, he could have that by the midway point of the season.

Total Carries

By the start of conference play last year, Gundy and his staff learned that when they fed Gordon, good things happened for OSU. I find it unlikely that they forget that lesson over the summer.

Gordon’s 285 taken handoffs last year was the eighth-highest in OSU history. Thanks to that hefty workload, Gordon needs only 211 to make it into the top 10 of carries in OSU history, which would, ironically, box Barry out of the list.

Rushing Scores

Gordon is also poised to knock another GOAT out of the Top 10. Sitting at 23, he’ll need just six rushing TDs to move to No. 10 for the Pokes, edging Bob Fenimore out. If he replicates last year’s total of 21, he’ll be within reach of the Top 3 ever at OSU — and that would be with less than two full years as the featured back.

Yards Per Carry

Again, when he gets the ball, he tends to make something happen.

Gordon is already in the Top 10 in yards per carry over a career (min. of 200 handoffs). His career average is 5.88, and he sustained a 6.08 mark over 14 games last season. So, there’s reason to believe he’ll remain on this list long after his time at OSU.

A Lighter Load?

Of course, the one thing that could keep a healthy Gordon from graffitiing No. 0 all over OSU’s hall of records is a conservative workload. But I’ll believe that when I see it.

This spring, Gundy stated that he’d like to limit Gordon’s carries this fall to around 20, from the 30 handoffs he alluded to that the nation’s leading rusher took last year. Gordon actually averaged 20.4 carries per game in 2023. To be fair, if you throw out the first three games in which he totaled only 19 carries, Gordon averaged just over 24 carries in Big 12 play. But he reached 30 carries only twice last year — 33 against OU and 34 against BYU.

Either way, in the perfect world according to Gundy, if we project Gordon’s numbers based on 20 carries per game in 2024, at his six yards-per-carry average from last season, that still puts him at 120 yards per game. If we assume he does that over 13 games, that’s 1,560 yards, easily enough to put him on the Cowboys’ Top 10 career rushing list and safely in several sections of the record book.