Top Five Oklahoma Sooner Running Backs of the BCS Era
By Joe Buettner
3. Quentin Griffin (1999-2002)
Stats: 3,796 rushing yards, 713 carries, 44 rushing touchdowns, 1,240 receiving yards, six receiving touchdowns
Accomplishments: 2000 National Champion, 2002 Rose Bowl Champion, 2000 and 2002 Big 12 Champion, 2002 First Team All-Big 12
The beginning of a long decade of superb running backs started with Quentin Griffin. A product of Houston, Texas, Griffin’s sophomore year put him in the spotlight, leading the team in rushing yards. On Oklahoma’s path to a seventh National Championship, Griffin accumulated 823 yards on the ground and found the end zone 17 times. Griffin’s final touchdown of his sophomore campaign came against the Florida State Seminoles in the fourth quarter of the 2001 Orange Bowl that secured the victory and a crystal ball for the University of Oklahoma.
Griffin stayed consistent with his on-the-field production in 2001, but a year later, no. 22 really filled up the stat sheet with 1,884 rushing yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground. Griffin ran for 144 yards in a 34-14 beat-down of the Washington State Cougars in the 2003 Rose Bowl. Griffin ranked first in rushing yards in the Big 12 and third in the country his senior year. Worth noting, he finished tenth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 2002, the most votes Griffin ever received.
He was a special back that helped Oklahoma reclaim its dominance on the national stage, not to mention the Big 12 Conference.