You have to admire the willingness of Ohio State running back Mike Weber for issuing a challenge to two of the best running backs in the nation coming into 2017. Sure, Weber will be among the best as well, but he is ready to drop the gloves in a friendly dinner bet with Penn State’s Saquon Barkley and LSU’s Derrius Guice.
Weber challenged Barkley and Guice to a little bet based on total rushing yards in the 2017 season. The premise is simple enough, with the player with the fewest rushing yards buying the other two a dinner at a time to be determined.
Weber took to Twitter to issue the challenge to Barkley and Guice...
Barkley replied with some confidence...
Guice also accepted the challenge...
Barkley finished the 2016 season with 1,496 rushing yards in 14 games, including the Big Ten championship game and Rose Bowl. Barkley actually finished the year second in rushing yards behind Northwestern’s Justin Jackson, so perhaps Jackson may want to see if he can get in on this fun. Weber was the Big Ten’s sixth-leading rusher with 1,096 yards in 13 games and 182 rushing attempts (Barkley had 272 attempts). Guice was the SEC’s leading rusher with 1,387 yards on 183 rushing attempts in 12 games. These stats did not go without mention by the running backs.
(As mentioned above, Guice actually had one more rushing attempt than Weber last season.)
The fun continued when the Buckeyes running back responded to Barkley with a reason
The challenge has been set. Let’s see how it all plays out (and if the NCAA comes cracking down on it as this is technically against the NCAA rules regarding gambling).