RB Respect Month Vol. 2, Day Six: Marcus Allen starts his Heisman campaign against Tennessee (1981)
Maybe the smoothest runner in the history of the game.
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Welcome to day six of Running Back Respect Monthâ„¢! Yesterday, Adrian Peterson (the Georgia Southern one) ran for 247 yards in the 1999 1-AA National Championship. Here's where we're at today, and how the rest of the month looks:
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Today: Marcus Allen vs. Tennessee (1981)
RB Respect Month Vol. 2, Day Six: Marcus Allen starts his Heisman campaign against Tennessee (1981)
I can understand how Marcus Allen could've got lost in the shuffle in 1980 when it came time to discuss the best tailbacks in the country. The USC standout had a phenomenal junior season, totaling 1,563 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns for a quality Trojans team that finished 11th in the final AP Poll. Allen's efforts were good enough to place him fourth on the national rushing list, and earn him Second Team All-American honors. The only problem is that two of the guys ahead of him in both of those categories were at the center of the college football universe.
South Carolina's George Rogers and Georgia's Herschel Walker were a tour de force in 1980. Rogers ran for nation-leading 1,781 yards and 14 TD, capturing the Gamecocks' first (and only) Heisman Trophy. Meanwhile, Walker took the sports world as a whole by storm. The true freshman phenom ran for 1,616 yards and 15 TD on the national title-winning Dawgs. He set the NCAA record for freshman rushing yards, became the first true freshman to be named a First Team All-American, and finished third in Heisman voting - which he probably would've won in an era that wasn't so opposed to giving the award to underclassmen. Easy to see how Marcus Allen could be overlooked, right?
With Rogers off to the NFL, the 1981 Heisman race centered around two backs: Walker and Allen. The latter didn't waste any time making a statement to his Georgia counterpart in USC's season opener vs. Tennessee:
