Well that certainly didn’t take long.
Last week, Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon broke LaDainian Tomlinson‘s single-game record of 406 yards rushing, one that had lasted 15 years, with a 408-yard effort against Nebraska. The new record, as it turned out, lasted exactly seven days.
In the first half of what will be an Oklahoma win over Kansas, Samaje Perine totaled a whopping 222 yards, putting everyone on alert that Gordon’s mark could be in serious jeopardy. Early in the fourth quarter, a 42-yard run pushed the true freshman to 427 yards for the game, shattering Gordon’s week-old standard.
That will likely be Perine’s total for the game as he was taken out prior to the next play and is not expected to return to what’s now a 44-7 game in favor of the Sooners. Perine’s 427 yards also topped the highest total ever for a freshman, breaking the mark of 386 yards of San Diego State’s Marshall Faulk in 1991, as well as the Big 12 record of 378 by Iowa State’s Troy Davis in 1996.
For those who want to compare and/or split hairs, Gordon only needed 25 carries to set his record and averaged 16.3 yards per carry; Perine averaged “only” 12.6 yards on his 34 attempts. Additionally, Gordon accomplished his feat in only three quarters of play, while Perine played into the fourth quarter.
Regardless, it was a stunning performance by one of the most talented young backs in the country. The scariest part of it for the Big 12? He’s only going to get better.