The Quest for BYU's Running Back GOAT - Part 1 of 2

-- The examination of running back legacies continues

Note: Last time out we looked at the ten most accomplished running backs in BYU history and trimmed the list to three in contention for GOAT status. Today we begin the journey to crown a king from among the Luke-Jamaal-Harvey triumvirate. 

Welcome to the deep dive! Let’s start by looking at the resumes of the three runners vying for GOATdom. Two reminders: first, scrimmage yards are a combination of rushing and receiving yards and do not include kick or punt return yards (and thus they differ from all-purpose yards). Second, all rankings are BYU team wide, and are not national or running back specific unless directly called out. 

Luke Staley – GOAT Profile

#1 rushing yards in a single season (1,582 yards in 2001)11. Despite gaining the most yards ever, Luke's 2001 season doesn't crack the top-ten for rushing attempts in a single season. This is the first of many, many Luke 2001 stats that are too outrageous to believe.
#1 scrimmage yards in a single season (1,902 yards in 2001)
The only player to eclipse 1,900 scrimmage yards in a season in BYU history 
#1 yards per carry in a career (5.9) 22. Minimum 250 career carries.
#1 yards per carry in a season (8.0 in 20013)
First nationally in yards per carry in 200133. Minimum of 100 attempts.
#1 in TDs scored in a career (48)
#1 in 100-yard rushing games in a season (9 in 2001)
#1 in TDs scored in a single season (28 in 2001)44. For comparison, BYU's offense only scored 25 TDs during the horror show that was the 2017 season.
Led the nation in TDs scored in 2001 

#8 rushing yards in a career (2,493)

#9 in scrimmage yards in a career (3,479)

#2 nationally in rushing and total scrimmage yards in 2001

Tied for 1st in touchdowns in a single BYU game (5 vs USU and CSU)

Drafted 6th overall in the blogger 2020 BYU Fantasy League

My second favorite player of all-time

Consensus All-American junior year

2001 Doak Walker winner

Wildest stat: Luke scored 15.45 points per game in 2001, which is the ninth-best scoring rate in NCAA history. Only eight college football players in the entire annals of the sport have ever scored more per game.

Greatest Moment: Scoring a touchdown, a two-point conversion, and another touchdown versus Utah within a 150 second span to save the 2001 rivalry game.

Harvey Unga – GOAT Profile 
#1 in scrimmage yards in a career (4,540)

#2 in career TDs scored (45)
#2 in career rushing yards per game (91 yards per game)55. My "per game" figures for each of the trio are slightly adjusted. For example, I don't include Harvey's 2006 games in his per game totals. Similarly I don't include Jamaal's 2012 game against Boise or his 2014 UCF game in which he only got one carry.  
#2 in scrimmage yards in a single season (1,882 in 2007)
#11 nationally in scrimmage yards in 2007
#2 in total TDs in a single season (17 TDs in 2007)
Tied for #5 in total TDs in a single season (15 in 2008)

#2 in 100-yard rushing games in a single season (7 in 2007)

#2 in 100-yard rushing games in a career (15)

#2 in career receiving yards per game, among RBs (29 yards per game) 66. Minimum of 1,500 career rush yards.
#2 in career rushing yards (3,455)

Drafted 12th overall in the blogger 2020 BYU Fantasy League  

Wildest stat: scored a TD in 71% of the games he played in. Gained over 100 scrimmage yards in 66% of the games he played in.77. For comparison: Jamaal 50% and 50%; Staley 73% and 57%.

Greatest moment: murdering Robert Johnson.


Jamaal Williams – GOAT Profile
#1 in career rushing yards per game (97 per game) 88. For comparison, 91 per game for Harvey and 86 for Luke. Again this metric is adjusted to not include Harvey's '06 games or Luke's 1 carry game against FSU or Jamaal's 1 carry games against '14 UCF and '12 Boise.  
#1 in 100-yard rushing games in a career (16)
#1 in rushing yards in a career (3,901)
#1 in rushing attempts in a career (726)
#1 in rushing yards in a single game (286 vs Toledo)

Most scrimmage yards gained in a game in BYU history (286 vs Toledo)

#7 in rushing yards in a single game (219 vs Nevada)
Tied for #3 in yards per carry in a career (5.4) 9

9. Minimum 250 career carries.

#3 in rushing yards in a season (1,375 in 2016)

#4 in yards per carry in a season (5.9 in 2016) 1010. Minimum 150 season carries. FYI Jamaal's 2016 was 3rd on the list until Tyler Allgeier's excellent 2020 season generated a 7.5 YPC average.

Tied for 1st in touchdowns in a single BYU game (5 vs Toledo)

All-independent team in 2013 (I jest)

Drafted 11th overall in the BYU fantasy league

Wildest stat: Fumbled once every 131 touches

Greatest moment: Outdueling Kareem Hunt.


In summary, Luke has the nicest looking profile. He was the spearhead of a team that gained the most yards in BYU history, cemented every touchdown stat in a Stockton-like manner, recorded more individual scrimmage yards in a season than any person to wear the BYU uniform, and led his team to more wins in 2001 than either of his peers managed.

Jamaal has the splashy resume, owning 2 of the top 10 single-game rushing performances at BYU, as well as the biggie, the career rushing yards record. He took over five games into his freshman season and waged battle on the BYU histories for the rest of his career.

And then there’s Harvey, the human Panzer who in 2007 was only 20 yards short of matching Luke’s 2001 record for scrimmage yards (albeit in 3 more games). Is this the most underrated season by a BYU player ever?

If Harvey wasn’t such a charitable teammate, giving up TD opportunities to walk-ons,1111. A walk-on who would return Harvey's favor by transferring to the University of Utah. That's like thanking your midwife with an abortion gift card. letting JJ DiLuigi get reps on passing downs, or yielding goal-line carries to Manase Tonga,12                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            12. Tonga vultured 8 TDs from Harvey in 2007. Max Hall and Fui Vakapuna stole another 7 in 2008. he probably would’ve overtaken Luke’s career TD record. Without the honor code knocking out his senior season he undoubtedly owns it and every other record too. It’s weird to wonder “what if” with a career as good as Harvey's yet still I wonder. 

And ... you already knew most of this right?  To find BYU's GOAT we've got to go deeper. This isn't an easy position to name a champion, like receiver (Collie) or defensive line (Buck). The margins between Harvey, Luke, and Jamaal are as thin as office toilet paper. So how does one go deep? With a game of 20 questions! Let’s begin with an easy one. 

Which player was the fastest?
Shall we rely on the 40-yard dash for this one? Here are the times in order of fastest to barely less fast.

Luke ran an official 4.42 (unofficial low of 4.39 and high of 4.55)

Jamaal Williams ran a 4.59 (low of 4.5)

Harvey Ran a 4.65 (low of 4.55, high of 4.76)

I do agree quickness and "game speed" aren't perfectly reflected in 40 times -- see Austin Collie -- but I feel in this case the numbers align with what we saw on the field. Jamaal was faster than Harvey and Luke was faster than Jamaal. Sadly none of the three were as fast as Kyle Whittingham recruiting a felon transfer. 

Who faced the toughest competition?

Over Jamaal's career the rushing defenses he faced ranked 54th on average. Luke's opponents ranked 65th; Harvey's ranked 66th. Case closed; Jamaal faced the toughest battles. 

But not so fast. When we look at average rushing yards allowed instead of national ranking things are a bit closer. Jamaal's opponents allowed an average of 158 rushing yards per game; Harvey's opponents allowed 157; Luke's allowed 162. So Harvey's opponents were actually better at stopping the run ... but is a one-yard difference significant? 

As we get more granular Jamaal's 2012 season sticks out as one of the most challenging years a BYU runner has faced. He saw six top-30 rush defenses (Utah, USU, Oregon State, Notre Dame, San Jose State, and San Diego State) who on average held opponents to 122 rushing yards per game. But Harvey's 2007 competition was almost the same. He faced five top-30 rush defenses (UCLA twice, TCU, New Mexico, Wyoming) who allowed an average of 114 rushing yards per game.  

Here's one last way to look at things. The below chart shows how many top-15, top-25, and top-40 rush defenses each player faced in their career. 

It's close, but when you consider the numbers relative to games played, about 38% of Jamaal's games came against top-40 teams compared to 29% for Harvey. All told that's enough for me to agree with common fan perception that Jamaal had the toughest sledding, though the gap isn't as big as I initially assumed.

But more importantly, who performed well versus tough defenses?

Each player has something to brag about when answering this question. Luke's 169 rushing yards and 2 TDs versus Utah's 24th ranked rush defense in 2001 is the most successful performance BY FAR of our trio against a top rush defense. Harvey's claim to fame is that his best season (2007) came in the same year in which he faced his stiffest slate of run defenses. Luke and Jamaal's best seasons came in the years where they faced their weakest run opposition. That's not a knock on Luke and Jamaal; what they did was normal. It just makes Harvey's abnormal performance all the cooler. 

As for Jamaal, while he only went over 100 yards rushing once against a top-30 defense -- Harvey did it three times and was 5 yards short of a fourth -- he was the most efficient carrier of the three. Jamaal averaged 4.4 yards per carry against top-30 defenses compared to Harvey's 4.3 (we're leaving Luke out at this point of the conversation because apart from his standout Utah game he did little in his other matchups versus top defenses). When you tighten the belt to include only top-15 defenses, Jamaal looks even better at 5.0 YPC versus 4.7 for Harvey. But while Jamaal made the most of his runs, Harvey did more work averaging 73 yards per game when facing top-30 defenses compared to Jamaal's 63.  

So yeah, it's hard to answer this one because we have two players neck and neck. Spoiler alert: we're gonna see close calls quite a bit during this post. This entire GOAT debate is a game of spot the difference. Harvey's best game against a top defense exceeds anything Jamaal did. But Harvey's worst game against a top defense is much worse than anything Jamaal did. Harvey gained more yards; Jamaal gained them more effectively. If you throw receiving yards into the mix Harvey takes a solid lead but this question is intended solely to see who ran better against great run defenses. I think it's a tie but if you forced me to choose I'd take Harvey. 

Who was the most athletic?

How do you measure athleticism? Do athletic feats like catching a ball with one hand while tiptoeing on the sideline count? What about endurance? Or do you simply base it off the NFL combine feats of strength? 

If we use the combine we have comprehensive results for Jamaal's battery of tests, but unfortunately we have less official data on Harvey (who wasn't at the 2010 combine and only had a pro day) and incomplete data on Luke (who missed the combine due to injury and had a pro day of which there is minimal record). Still, after a lot of googling we can get a bit of a window into how our three match up. (FYI the ranges on Jamaal's scores represent pro day and combine results)

There’s another measure of athleticism that’s become somewhat popular around the NFL draft called Speed Score. This metric is based on the idea that smaller backs tend to run faster than larger backs, so we should be more impressed by a 4.5 40-yard dash from a 220-pound back than the same time from a 170-pound back. Basically the speed score rewards backs who are fast, but especially those who are fast and heavier. It's not a foolproof measure, but it has a strong track record of forecasting NFL success. A speed score of 100 is considered average (the higher the score the better).

Here’s how the BYU three stack up.

Staley 1191313. The math for speed score is (weight * 200)/(40 time^4). Also, the highest speed score on record is 126.9 by Keith Marshall in 2016 so a 119 by Luke is solid!

Unga 104

Jamaal 96 1414. Of course the guy with the worst speed score has had the most successful NFL career of the three :|

It's not just the numbers suggesting Luke was the best athlete. LaVell vouched for Luke when he described him as "chiseled from granite" or when he said Luke was "the most perfectly built guy you're ever going to see". Even the new version of Speed Score explained by Football Outsiders here lavishes major praise on Luke. Plays like the clip below stick out as example of what an athlete like Staley could do.

In case you missed it, Luke casually sidesteps a defender at the 19, reverses direction at the 15, is hit from behind by a guy he didn't see at the 10, has his body twisted 360 degrees while being propelled forward by the tackler, is immediately hit by a second tackler while stumbling in the direction of the sideline, and through the whole thing loses his footing for only about one step.  

Most fans wouldn't even catch the pitch.

But I keep coming back to how athleticism is measured. Isn't the ability to get back up after having 300-pounders fall on you an element of athleticism too? Luke famously struggled with injuries. I feel like Harvey and Jamaal deserve a bump in their athletic rating courtesy of their ability to absorb pain and keep on powering through. 

This is my long way of saying I don’t feel there is a major differentiator in athleticism among these three. I don’t even know which attribute of athleticism is most critical: speed, power, balance, agility, endurance, coordination? If you want to say Luke is the most athletic because he jumped an inch higher and ran faster than the others I won't fight you (after all, he was the only one  of the three deemed athletic enough to return the occasional kickoff, if that means anything to you). I'll just wonder if we're undervaluing other elements of athleticism solely because we struggle to measure them. 

Who defended home field? Who excelled on the road? 

Luke was a different animal at home. His yard per carry average in Provo was a good yard better than his career average and two yards better than on the road. His 104 rushing yards per game at home led the trio, he scored more touchdowns at home than his peers, and he scored a shocking 20 more TDs at home than on the road over the course of his career. He obviously averaged more yards per carry at home than Jamaal or Harvey. His fourth quarter heroics against the Utes in 2001 was the embodiment of protecting Provo and reminds me of another famous scene of one man fighting against the world for his home turf.

Of course this image implies we're comparing the Boltons to the Utes and that's just not fair. (to the Boltons)

As for the road, Luke was not as awesome away from friendly confines. Staley averaged a whopping 35 rushing yards fewer per road game than home game. There's some noise in that calculation due to a couple road games in which he only had a few carries, but still! Jamaal suffered on the road too, averaging 20 rushing yards less per game when away from home. 

Harvey meanwhile was nearly identical wherever he played, rushing for 96 yards per game on the road and 92 per game at home. He was better than both Luke and Jamaal in road rushing stats for total yards, touchdowns, yards per carry, yards per game, and their equivalent passing metrics. In fact his road numbers are so good there’s almost no difference between what he did at home versus away. Check out these home/road splits from college football reference. 

Numbers this consistent only make sense if you're a robot.

Who was best on 3rd downs?1515. Tackling this was a journey. Step one: go through all the play-by-play data from Harvey, Luke, and Jamaal’s games.

Step two: track the success or failure of every third down attempt that featured one of the three runners.

Step three: decide if you want to include passes thrown at running backs that were incomplete (I didn't. There's too much unknown as to who was at fault. Did the RB drop the pass? Or was it a bad throw? Was it broken up by the defender?)

Step four: decide if you want to count handoffs or screens on 3rd and long when the offense is clearly surrendering (I didn't. I don't think a running back should be punished for not converting on a delayed handoff on 3rd and 17.)

Answering this question confirmed something I’ve long believed -- that Harvey Unga was one of the most automatic players BYU has ever had on 3rd downs. By my count he converted 78% of the time when BYU gave him the ball on the ground or through the air on third down. Isn’t that nuts? Last year the best team in the country converted 3rd downs 59% of the time. 

Granted a running back's attempts largely come on shorter 3rd down distances, but I remain impressed. Jamaal takes second place in this metric converting 69% of his 3rd down attempts, while Luke earns the bronze medal at a 63% conversion rate. By volume Harvey has the edge here too, converting 65 times to Jamaal's 50.
  

Who was the best at the goal line?
This analysis16                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            16. Performed using the same steps as outlined for 3rd downs, just with different end criteria. also confirmed something I’ve long suspected, that Luke Staley was one of the most automatic players BYU has ever had near the end zone. For this question I charted all plays where the RBs were handed or thrown the ball within the 5-yard line. Before we bow our heads to the greatest touchdown maker in Cougar lore, let’s list Harvey and Jamaal’s numbers for dramatic effect. 

Harvey scored 59% of the time when he was featured within the 5-yard line. Seems respectable to me. Jamaal had a little rougher of a go, scoring on 44% of his attempts. Luke? He scored on 82% of his attempts.1717. In 2001. I couldn't find play-by-play data for games prior to 2001 anywhere. So in a way this stat is misleading, but in another way, Luke's 2001 season is the one we really pay attention too, right? I don’t know what it was that made Luke so unstoppable -- the simple ability to run to the corner pylon faster than normal earthlings? -- but whatever it was it worked.

Who had the most help from surrounding talent?
Harvey Unga played with the fifth-best QB in BYU history -- an unpopular claim, yet one I stand by -- ,a top-3 TE, my favorite player of all-time at WR, and two linemen who made the '07 and '08 all-MWC 1st team1818. Dallas Reynolds as well as my old homework copying buddy, Ray Feinga. and another (Matt Reynolds) who made freshman All-American in '08 and an all-MWC selection in '09. Those were some stacked squads.

During Luke’s best season he played alongside the perfect option complement in Brandon Doman, a top-5 WR of all-time in Reno Mahe, a TE who caught 120 passes for 1,300 yards during his time in the NFL (Doug Jolley), and one lineman who made all-MWC (Jason Scukanec). That’s not bad either.

Jamaal Williams … holy yikes. In his glorious 2016 season BYU’s biggest non-Jamaal and non-Taysom playmakers were Nick Kurtz and Colby Pearson. Harvey had Dennis Pitta on his team. Luke had Doug Jolley on his team. Jamaal had this.

 
BUTTTTTT. Jamaal did have Tejan Koroma leading the charge during his most successful year, the fellow who was graded the second highest center in the country by PFF in 2016. And Jamaal's job was made infinitely easier thanks to defenders constantly focusing on Taysom. Still, when you evaluate Jamaal you have to wonder if Harvey and Luke helped some old ladies cross the street in the pre-existence because they enjoyed some charmed lives. (Well, you know, except for Luke's 614 surgeries) 


Who benefited the most from scheme?
Who cares! One of the stupidest arguments against Luke Staley is that his prodigious stats were inflated because BYU ran the option so much. Cool. If the option is some magic bullet that pumps out Doak Walker winners and 12-2 seasons why isn’t everyone in the country running it? Why didn't it work for BYU in 2002? 

Dismissing accomplishments because of scheme is so dumb to me. Do we crap on Jim McMahon for dominating with a passing attack no defense had ever seen or prepared for? Do we punish Jamaal for the yards he racked up on zone reads when the entire defense converged on Taysom? I don’t and neither should you. 

OK, but honestly Jamaal overcame the most coaching debacles right?

While Harvey enjoyed the play-calling of Anae 1.0 and Luke got two years of Norm Chow plus Crowton's  magnum opus, Jamaal's best coach came up with something called Go Fast Go Hard -- ah, I miss the jokes -- and that was sandwiched between the tragic comedy of the Ty Detmer high school staff and the intentionally small linemen days of Brandon Doman. 1919. Remember when that USU cornerback bullied our starting LT for a sack? I don't miss those days. So yes, we should shake a little extra credit on Jamaal for prospering in the depression era. 

Who had the best move? 
Let’s start with Jamaal’s trademark because his is so fun to watch. I present to you Jamaal, the stiff-armer.

 

 
How does Jamaal's stiff-arm compare to Harvey’s primary weapon, the shoulder bomb of doom? 

 

What was Luke's best move? I think it was his ability to go from first to fifth gear in the same time it took coach 80K to puss his way out of the rivalry. Let's use screenshots to illustrate because I think it’s funnier that way. 

Here's a picture of a handoff at San Diego State. It looks like two guys might have a chance to make a tackle on Luke.  

Here's how the play ended.

Here's the start of a congested run against Utah State.

Here's how it ended. 

 Here's the time a few Tulane folk thought they had Luke boxed in. 

You get the point. The guy could look like he was moseying along and then he'd fly. 

 
I love each of these trademarks. Watching Staley make defenders look like they belonged in junior college was probably the most fun of the three, but if I were building a running back from scratch I'd take Harvey's shoulder bomb. It's the easiest move to execute repeatedly, it succeeded more often than Jamaal's stiff arm or Luke's "HE GONE", and also happens to be the most punishing to defensive players. Think of it this way: when Harvey lowered his shoulder the defender was the one getting tackled.

Note: you could argue each of these guys best move was their stutter step, jump cut juke seen here and here for Harvey, here and here for Luke, and here  and here for Jamaal, but they all had that same move. In my book your best move has to be something different your peers didn't bring to the table. 

Who was the smoothest looking runner? 

Each player had tremendous balance, footwork, ability to move through crowded lines, avoid tacklers, etc. Remember what I said about slim margins? But gun to my head I think Jamaal gets this one. What he did may not have been more effective than his peers but I think he looked the best doing it.

Speaking of avoiding tackles, who did that best?
I wish we had PFF data for the Harvey and Luke eras! Alas, we only have numbers for Jamaal and even then for just part of his career. In 2016 Jamaal was credited with avoiding 55 tackles, and for his partial 2014 season he’s credited with avoiding 12. That’s 67 missed tackles in 344 rushing attempts, which means for every 20 carries Jamaal made 4 guys miss, either by breaking a tackle or evading one. I’d be shocked if Luke didn't match that. I'd be even more shocked if Harvey didn't exceed that. 

Who did Ute fans fear the most?
A quick check of criminal census records confirms there were no Ute fans during Luke and Harvey’s careers so we’ll never know the answer to this one. 2020. I wrote this is as a joke but the truth is when I reached out to the three biggest Ute fans I'm closest to, none watched during the Staley years and only one followed the team during the Unga years (sometimes you can't make this stuff up). For what it's worth the one fan worried more about Harvey than Jamaal.  

Who delivered in big games? (rivalries, ranked contests, P5s, bowls)
Luke came through massively in the two biggest contests of the 2001 season, the rivalry against Utah and the road tilt at Mississippi State, but it’s kind of silly to highlight just two games when he came through in every game he played that year. Get this. From October 1st through the end of his 2001 campaign -- i.e., as BYU's ranking climbed and the pressure on Staley and the team mounted -- Luke averaged 198 yards and 3 touchdowns per game (on 8 yards per touch). I mean what can you even say besides LOL LOL LOL.

Luke was good in his early career too, opening his freshman season with stellar performances in wins against Washington and Cal, posting 95 scrimmage yards and 2 scores versus the Huskies and 111 scrimmage yards and 1 score vs Cal. He delivered 100 scrimmage yards and 3 TDs in a win versus #24 Colorado State and 89 yards and 2 TDs in a loss to Virginia. It was one of the most electric introductions by a BYU player that I remember. Then came the injuries. 

At the peak of his injury troubles Staley missed the '99 rivalry game, managed a combined 8 yards in the '99 bowl game against Marshall and the '00 season opener against Florida State, missed the '00 Virginia and Mississippi State games, squeaked out 38 yards versus Syracuse and finished the season with 44 yards at Utah. In those 7 big games Staley gained 90 TOTAL yards, zero touchdowns and simply didn't play in 3 of the contests. That's a noticeable skid mark on his big game credentials.

Jamaal is an interesting case because he played so many more "big games" than the other two. As you might expect, the more big games you play, the more varied the results become. Which means Jamaal had some duds – the bowl game against Washington in 2013 (12 carries for 31 yards), the 2016 UCLA game (14 carries, 28 yards), Oregon State in 2012 (15 carries, 36 yards). Not to mention in three games facing Utah the highest scrimmage yardage mark he reached was 68. But overall the hits outnumber the misses for Jamaal.

He went over 160 scrimmage yards six times against P5 teams in his career (Georgia Tech in '12, Virginia and Texas in '13, and Arizona, West Virginia, and Michigan State in '16). No one else can make a claim like that.

Jamaal was good at #21 Wisconsin in 2013 (16 touches, 90 yards), better at #5 Notre Dame in 2012 (106 yards on 21 touches), and best against #15 Texas in 2013 (31 touches, 185 yards). Jamaal may not have the clutch, memorable moments that Harvey and Luke have, but by volume nobody was better in big games.

So what about Harvey? Well there’s a reason I call him the Ute Slapper. In three games against the Utes Harvey delivered the below stat lines:

2007: 24 touches, 168 yards, 1 TD
2008: 18 touches, 121 yards, 2 TDs 2121. When I'm 91 in a rest home I'll be explaining to my caregiver that Robert Anae should face charges for not force feeding Harvey the ball in the '08 Utah game.
2009: 23 touches, 116 yards, 1 TD

And Harvey wasn't content to JUST score on the Utes. He wanted to hurt them. We all remember the Robert Johnson incident, but we forget he tried to put this Ute on a poster too. 

Unfortunately #10 for Utah was prepared. I imagine during Robert Johnson's memorial services Coach Whitt made each of his player swear a blood oath that they wouldn't let Harvey humiliate them again.

Here’s the thing with Harvey. Did he ever not matter? He rushed for over 100 yards or scored a touchdown in 76% of the games he played. 

Of the games he didn't score or get to 100 yards, one came at Tulane when he was recovering from injury and only got 5 touches; one came against Wyoming when he got 92 yards; one came versus TCU when he got 93 yards, and one came against New Mexico when he got 90 yards. Three of the remaining games saw him put up 71, 79, and 84 yards. To put it another way there were only 3 times in his 38-game career where he had less than 70 yards or didn’t score a TD. 

In other words the guy almost never had a bad game. You’ve got the horrific game against UCLA's elite run defense in the ’07 Vegas Bowl, a woof against SDSU in '08 2222. The bad game in 2008 isn't surprising considering the year prior Harvey victimized the Aztecs to the tune of 190 yards and 3 touchdowns. The Aztecs entire game plan in 2008 was to make sure that didn't happen again. Congratulations it worked! Oh, except for the part where Max Hall threw for 317 yards and 3 TDs and BYU was up 41 to 6 with 3 minutes left in the game. But good job stopping Harvey! and that’s it.

So ... once again everyone is pretty even. 

- Luke averaged 108 scrimmage yards in big games. Harvey averaged 112 scrimmage yards in big games. 

- Harvey averaged 86 rushing yards per big game. Jamaal averaged 89 rushing yards per big game. 

- Jamaal averaged 4.8 YPC in big games. Harvey averaged 4.9. 

- Luke went over 100 scrimmage yards in 46% of the big games he played. Jamaal went over 100 scrimmage yards in 45% of the big games he played. 

- Harvey's worst big game came against a P12 team in a bowl. Jamaal's worst big game came against a P12 team in a bowl. 

- Harvey's best rushing performance in a big game came against Utah. Luke's best rushing performance in a big game came against Utah. 

Hooray, we have yet another question with an unclear answer. Harvey delivered the most consistent results ... but Jamaal has him beat by volume ... but Luke at his best performed at a level the other two can't match.

I guess the only thing we can do is ask more questions ... tomorrow.