TAMPA — Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave knew his go-to running back was having a big game Nov. 15 against Nebraska. But for most of it, Stave admits he didn't realize just how big it was.
The Cornhuskers took a 17-3 lead in the second quarter of the Big Ten game, and Wisconsin had three early turnovers.
But Nebraska's touchdown just seconds into the second quarter would be its last for a long while. From then on, it was the Wisconsin and, specifically, the Melvin Gordon show.
Wisconsin scored the next 56 on the way to a 59-24 win as Gordon rushed for a Division I-A single-game record 408 yards on 24 carries and scored four touchdowns in three quarters, capping his performance with a 26-yard score. The previous record was set in 1999 by TCU's LaDainian Tomlinson.
"I couldn't tell you he was putting up those kinds of yards until they showed on the big screen he had broken the Big Ten single-game record," Stave said. "Then I realized, 'Wow, he's got 340 yards.' Then he ripped off a couple more 20-yarders and that's all it took."
Gordon, whose record was broken one week later by Oklahoma's Samaje Perine, will be the focal point of Wisconsin's offense in Thursday's Outback Bowl against Auburn.
The Heisman Trophy finalist and winner of the Doak Walker Award for the top running back has certainly gotten publicity for his record-breaking season, but he won't be the only elite running back at Raymond James Stadium.
Auburn's Cameron Artis-Payne has rushed for 1,482 yards this season, the fourth best single-season output in school history. The 5-foot-11, 210-pound senior leads the SEC in rushing.
Artis-Payne hasn't garnered the same kind of attention as the running back who will be on the opposite sideline, a feeling that's all too familiar to him.
Artis-Payne transferred to Auburn in 2013 after spending two seasons at Allan Hancock College, a community college in Santa Maria, Calif. He wasn't recruited by NCAA programs coming out of Harrisburg (Pa.) High in 2008 and spent a year at Milton Military Academy in Berlin, N.Y.
His unlikely road to becoming the SEC's best this season gives him all the motivation he needs to excel.
"I wasn't supposed to be here," Artis-Payne said. "For me to be here, I'm driven 24-7. Just having a great running back across from me who's supposed to be the best, I mean, it's icing on the cake. It's the way I'd like to go out."
Artis-Payne's rushing yards this season fall short of Gordon's 2,336, best in Division I-A. The Tiger said he didn't want to discredit Gordon's accomplishment but mentioned he would have loved to have played Big Ten competition like Northwestern, Illinois and Purdue — teams the Badgers played this season.
The comments didn't faze Gordon.
"I can't help that I'm in the Big Ten conference. It is what it is," Gordon said. "But at the end of the day, we're going to compete. I feel like I could do what I do if I was in the SEC conference, whatever conference I was in."
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Explore all your optionsRegardless of who is running the ball Thursday and the attention those players have received, both teams reached the Outback Bowl with the help of potent rushing attacks. Wisconsin is fourth in the nation in rushing offense. Auburn is 12th. Both teams are also known for being explosive on the ground, with the Badgers ranking sixth in rushing plays longer than 10 yards and Auburn ninth.
"We're committed to the run; they're committed to the run. Both defenses … are used to stopping the run," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "I think that'll be a big key to the game. Who can stop the run the best?"