After losing to the No. 6 Penn State Nittany Lions 31-14 in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Eve, Ashton Jeanty and the No. 3 Boise State Broncos were eliminated from the College Football Playoff.
Jeanty entered the game just 131 yards short of surpassing former Oklahoma State running back Barry Sanders for the single-season rushing yards record. Jeanty recently lost the Heisman Trophy to Travis Hunter.
However, the Jacksonville, Florida, junior had his poorest game of the season, finishing short of the record with 30 carries for 104 yards.
However, the Boise State standout passed Melvin Gordon (Wisconsin) and Kevin Smith (UCF) to take second place on the single-season rushing yards leaderboard.
The offense chose to run the ball five times with Jeanty on the Broncos' last drive of the game, trailing 17 points, rather than throw it, which is the more typical course of action for teams in this type of circumstance.
Many college football fans took to social media to express their disapproval at Boise State's performance in such a crucial game, accusing them of stat-padding in order to give Jeanty the record.
Jeanty had 374 carries for 2,601 yards and 29 touchdowns at the end of the season. He was only 27 yards short of Sanders' mark. Even though Jeanty didn't shatter the record or win the Heisman, his 2024 season will be remembered as one of the greatest in college football history.