By Matt Rogers

If by the off-chance you were a fan of college football and did not know of Melvin Gordon, before this past Saturday, you do now. Gordon, the all-everything running back of Wisconsin, broke the FBS record for rushing yards in a single game. Heading into the game the record stood at 406 yards, held by former TCU and NFL great, LaDainian Tomlinson. Gordon ended Saturday’s game against Nebraska with 408 yards. What was most impressive about Gordon’s accomplishment was that all of his yards came in the first three quarters. That’s right, he did not even play in the fourth quarter because the Wisconsin Badgers were blowing the Nebraska Cornhuskers out.

It should come as no surprise that it was Melvin Gordon who broke the record though, after the success that he has been enjoying this season. He was already the leading FBS in rushing yards heading into the game, averaging over eight yards per carry. With this game, Gordon now has a total of 1,909 yards on the season. Being that Wisconsin is in the driver’s seat to represent the West division in the Big Ten title game, the team has at least four more games this season. If Gordon were to play as well as he has through the first ten games, he has an outside shot at breaking the single season record for rushing yards, 2,628 held by NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders.

Not that he needed this performance to justify his status as a Heisman Memorial Trophy front-runner, but Gordon has all but punched his ticket to New York City in December as one of the finalists for the award.

Gordon has been receiving massive amounts of praise from various media outlets from the beginning of the season because he returned to Wisconsin for another season, after most draft experts considered him one of the very best running backs in last year’s draft class. The buzz about him as grown immensely as the season has progressed because of his unbelievable play on the field for the Badgers. Matt Miller, head NFL draft scout for Bleacher Report, has been evaluating Gordon’s play throughout the season, assessing him a second round grade (2nd overall among running backs) for the upcoming 2015 NFL Draft.

What Gordon has done to this point in the 2014 season has been nothing short of spectacular. It is very hard to believe that he is not done. It should be fun to see what sort of tricks Gordon has left up the sleeve of his #25 Wisconsin Badgers’ jersey for the last part of the season. Stay tuned.