PAT’s Weekly Stat (you likely won’t see anywhere else—and probably for good reason)
This past Saturday in the press box at Georgia Tech, I was thumbing through the Yellow Jackets’ media guide and came across an intriguing set of top-10 rankings—the program’s Top Single-Season Rushing Trios. Later realizing during the game Sony Michel surpassed the 900-yard rushing mark for the season, D’Andre Swift eclipsed 500 rushing yards, and Nick Chubb had gained more rushing yards than either of the two, it dawned on me the three backs assuredly had to be one of the top single-season rushing trios in Georgia football history.
Knowing, unfortunately, UGA doesn’t figure/keep such intricate statistics/milestones, I decided to uncover the Bulldogs’ all-time rushing trios myself.
Fellow UGASports stat guy Dave McMahon and I are often proponents of per-game averages over season/career statistics considering 10 or 11-game totals were recognized up until 2002, whereby 13 or 14-game totals have been in place ever since. In other words, how objective is it to compare a player’s season totals from 1969 (when, at most, 10 regular-season games are recognized) to that of 2002 (14 games)? Not very.
Therefore, from 1942 to the present, the following is Georgia’s all-time Top Single-Season Rushing Trios according to rushing yards per game (besides per-game averages, notice the last column where I’ve also included the combined rushing yards and their rankings based on sheer totals):
Ranking seventh in school history, the Chubb-Michel-Swift trio would have to run wild over the final two, or three, games of this season—like combine to total 350-400 yards per game—to propel itself to the top of the list above.
However, currently ranking third in regards to sheer total, the trio is certainly within grasp—like, only 259 yards shy—of becoming, albeit seemingly unofficial in the eyes of the program, the greatest Top Single-Season Rushing Trio in the annals of Georgia football.
