Those poor Kentucky Wildcat footballers don’t have much to cheer about these days. Once again a promising early season turned ugly when they ran into the Georgia Bulldogs.
That’s why when their talented junior running back Benny Snell topped the thousand yard mark, a feat no SEC back other than Herschel Walker had accomplished (with at least twelve touchdowns per season), the Cats lit up social media.
But if you look closely, young Mister Snell’s stats pale in comparison to Walker’s. A back could put together three 1700 yard seasons and score at least 17 touchdowns each year and still not equal Walker’s marks.
Snell’s 3629 yards are almost two thousand yards fewer than Herschel’s 5595. Walker has ten more touchdowns than Benny. And Herschel’s marks were achieved in one fewer game.
.G.yards.L..TD..year
13 1091 48 13 2016
13 1333 71 19 2017
11 1205 52 12 2018
37 3629 71 44 Snell
12 1766 76 17 1980
12 1975 32 20 1981
12 1854 59 17 1982
36 5595 76 54 Walker
While the stats of today’s players include bowl games and conference championship games, back in Herschel’s time bowl game stats were not. Though Herschel’s stats already dwarfed Snell’s, for fun I added Walker’s rarely referenced bowl stats to the numbers above. They are:
year.att.yds.TD
1980 36 150 2
1981 25 084 2 + 3 rec for 53 yds
1982 28 102 1 + 15 yd reception
Back in Herschel’s time few teams passed nearly as much as teams do these days. Yet Walker’s receiving stats also exceed those of Snell’s.
rec.yds.avg.TD
29 216 07.4 0 BS
30 311 10.4 3 HW
People should hesitate before comparing anyone to Herschel Walker, in college or even pro. But UGA’s young D’Andre Swift recently equaled another Walker mark, becoming the first Bulldog with multiple touchdown runs of 75 yards or longer in a season since Walker in 1980.
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