Two Barry Sanders Records Chuba Hubbard Could Actually Break

Let’s be real here, Chuba ain’t touching 2,850. He ain’t touching 44 TDs. He’s not getting to any of the spaces reserved only for No. 21, the best running back to ever play this sport.

He’s not winning the Heisman, and he’s not usurping the GOAT off his GOAT-shaped throne any time in the near future. He’s the Canadian GOAT and potentially (?) the second- or third-best RB in school history, which in and of itself is an astonishing sentence.

However, there are two Barry records that are potentially within reach for Chuba. Let’s take a look at them as we head into what will likely end up being the final four or five games of his amazing (but far too short!) career.

Yards Per Rush (Career)

I’m actually stunned at some of these numbers. I would have thought Barry was lighting Chuba on fire, but the reality is that he’s only about a half yard ahead of him. That’s a lot, but Chuba could also make it up. Let’s say Chuba really goes nuts the last five games and carries it 110 times for 940 yards. That’s 188 a game, which is slightly ahead of his current pace but not outlandish (especially with Kansas and WVU on the slate).

His career average at that point would be 6.80. Again, this is probably out of his reach given that you normally don’t get better as the season wears on like Barry did in 1988, but it’s not like we can completely rule it out.

Rush Yards per Game (Career)

This is the one that really shocked me. The four guys who have averaged a hundy a game in school history are Barry, Thurman Thomas and Terry Miller. Some of this is a freshman problem where if you play a handful of games as a freshman but aren’t a real contributor yet, you get a little docked. Chuba didn’t really have that because he redshirted (? Gundy).

Anyway, to catch Barry Chuba would have to average 195 a game over the last five. Again, difficult but not absurd. To catch Thurman, he would only have to average 132 a game for the next five. An aside: Chuba has been the starting running back at OSU for exactly eight games. Feels like that’s worth mentioning!

So yeah, these are highly unlikely to come to fruition, but they’re far more likely than Chuba dropping 1,500 over the final five to catch Barry’s single-season total yards mark. And with Tylan out, Gundy will ride Chuba like he’s Secretariat because I think given everything that’s transpired this year and how 30 has looked throughout … maybe he is.