Can Mizzou football's Tyler Badie win the Doak Walker Award? Here's a breakdown of the finalists
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Tyler Badie has collected an impressive list of postseason accolades after his record-breaking 2021 season.
Badie's total of 1,604 rushing yards broke the Missouri single-season mark. Add in 14 touchdowns to make him one of the most decorated players in the Southeastern Conference in 2021.
Arguably the biggest piece to add to his trophy case of the season will be handed out Thursday night: the Doak Walker Award.
Named after the Southern Methodist running back who won the 1948 Heisman Trophy, the Doak Walker Award is given annually to the best running back in college football.
Badie is the first MU player to be a finalist for the award. The winner will be announced as part of ESPN's college football awards presentation starting at 6 p.m. local time.
Here's a breakdown of each of the finalists and their chances to win the award.
Kenneth Walker III, Michigan State
The Spartans' junior burst onto the scene this season in the Big Ten Conference, leading Michigan State to be ranked as high as No. 3 in the College Football Playoff at the beginning of November.
Walker gained exactly 579 rushing yards, respectively, during both his freshman and sophomore seasons at Wake Forest.
One major difference between his first and second seasons as a Demon Deacon were the four touchdowns he scored in 2019. Last year, that increased to 13 touchdowns.
The Spartans' workhorse heavily elevated his productivity in 2021. His 263 rush attempts have gained 1,636 yards and 18 touchdowns. That's 6.2 yards per carry.
Walker is second in the country in total yards behind Central Michigan's Lew Nichols. Among running backs with at least 200 carries this season, Walker is first in yards per rush and is No. 8 in rushing touchdowns.
He only fumbled the ball once this season and had under 100 rushing yards in four games.
Walker had the momentum to be a Heisman Trophy finalist for much of the season but did not make the final-four cut. No running back did. Michigan's Aidan Hutchinson was the only non-quarterback to be a finalist.
The Spartans' standout is the favorite to lift the trophy because of his national standing and big-game performances.
Walker's five-touchdown performance against Michigan prompted many claims to be the best running back in the country.
Breece Hall, Iowa State
Hall is a back-to-back Doak Walker Award finalist. He fell just short of winning the honor in 2020 to Alabama's Najee Harris. Clemson's Travis Etienne rounded out last year's finalists.
Etienne and Harris both were selected in the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft and Hall again presents a strong case to Doak Walker Award voters.
The Cyclones' junior had 253 rush attempts for 1,472 yards and 20 touchdowns. Hall's touchdown total is tied for first in the FBS.
Hall hasn't had a bad game in 2021 with his lowest rushing total coming on Nov. 13, gaining 51 yards against Texas Tech. Hall also only eclipsed the 200-yard single-game mark once, in his most recent game against TCU.
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Counting Hall's bowl stats from a season ago, he finished with 1,572 rushing yards. That's a mark he's likely to break in the Cheez-It Bowl against Clemson.
His season rushing yards are the least among the finalists by more than 125 yards, but he did find the end zone six more times than Badie.
What metrics matter most to voters is an unknown. Hall does have an outside shot to win the award but is also the easiest to rule out on his season-long-yardage total alone.
Tyler Badie, Missouri
Badie had to wait until his 36th college football game to start to kick off his fourth year in Columbia and never previously rushed for more than 15 carries in a single college game before 2021.
His explosion onto the college football scene took Badie from doubted by some Tiger fans as to his ability to be a No. 1 running back in the SEC to a sure-fire NFL Draft selection next year.
Badie has been more hit-and-miss than the other two finalists. Part of that is playing in a deeper conference where 13 out of the 14 SEC teams are bowl eligible. Another drawback is not playing long portions of blowouts to save him for closer games.
There's one game this season where Badie didn't rush for under 100 yards or more than 200 yards. That was his 146-yard performance against Florida.
Badie has five 200-yard performances this season, four of which came since October after a four-game stretch without eclipsing the 100-yard mark from Week 2 through 5.
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At 268 rush attempts in 2021, Badie has the most carries of the three finalists and is No. 3 in the FBS in rushing yards behind Walker and Nichols.
Badie likely enters Thursday night as not the favorite or the long shot to win the Doak Walker Award.
Contact Eric Blum at eblum@columbiatribune.com. Follow @ByEricBlum on Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: What are Tyler Badie's chances of winning the Doak Walker Award?
