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Tuesday, March 19
The Indiana Daily Student

sports football

Coleman could break even more records this weekend

Football vs MSU

It has gotten to a point where junior running back Tevin Coleman can’t even keep track of the records he is breaking.

This weekend, he’s on the brink of breaking more whether he says he knows it or not.

After Coleman broke Vaughn Dunbar’s IU single-season rushing record with 228 yards against Ohio State last weekend, a reporter let Coleman know.

He said he had no idea. All he could do is smile.

“It’s a blessing,” Coleman said. “But I wouldn’t have got it without my teammates.”

Coleman enters the final week of the season with a number of marks well within reach when he leads IU against Purdue Saturday at noon.

He is 94 yards away from becoming the 18th player in FBS history to rush for 2,000 yards. He needs just seven yards to become the fifth-leading rusher in IU history and is 169 yards away from becoming the fourth-highest rusher in program history.

One more 100-yard rushing game would tie Coleman with Vaughn Dunbar for the most in a season at IU. The only game he was held under 100 yards came Nov. 8 against Penn State when he only managed 71 yards.

He’s 160 all-purpose yards away from recording the third-highest total in a season in IU history and is 347 all-purpose yards away from Anthony Thompson’s single-season record of 2,388.

His current 7.91 yard per carry average is good enough to surpass the all-time FBS record of 7.81, but that may soon fall as Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon’s current average of 8.3 would best Coleman’s current mark.

“For me, (Coleman is) one of the all-time great Hoosiers and one of the all-time great kids I’ve coached, ”Wilson said,” just because of the way he does it every day, not just Saturdays.”

Wilson and Coleman have both downplayed the statistics this season. But just about every stat indicates that Coleman is among the best in the nation.

He’s gotten a number of colleagues, including Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer last week, talking about his NFL potential.

But Wilson said this week, the only thing that matters is beating Purdue and keeping the Old Oaken Bucket that Coleman hoisted at half court in Assembly Hall on Monday.

“We’re not about his stats,” Wilson said, “we’re about what we need to do to get a W against our rivals.”

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