Although he was only runner up for this year’s Heisman trophy, Wisconsin’s famous running back will still end his college career with a season to remember.  

Melvin Gordon has come a long way since his first year as a Badgers’ recruit in 2011.  From playing in only three games and being sidelined with an injury in the 2011 season to starting every game and accomplishing a record-breaking season in 2014, Gordon has grown immensely as a player and made himself a name as a Wisconsin legend.  

This season, Gordon has joined Ron Dayne and Montee Ball in running multiple 1,500 yard seasons at Wisconsin.  In fact, this year Gordon has the most rushing yards in the country with 2,336.  Which is 300 more than the second place running back and 571 more than third place.  He’s also top in the nation with 179.7 rushing yards per game.  Only three other people have ever rushed more yards in a single season.  Gordon also leads the country with 26 rushing touchdowns and is fourth in the nation for rush yards per carry.  Against Nebraska, he broke the single-game rushing record with 408 yards—although this was later broken again by an Oklahoma player.  And let’s be honest, if he had played more in that game, the record would probably still be his. 

In any other year, these credentials would be more than enough to make Gordon a shoe-in for the Heisman trophy, a national award given to the most outstanding player in college football.  However, this was a year of great players, so Melvin took runner-up to Oregon’s quarterback Marcus Mariota, who won by the second-most votes in history.  The result was unfortunate, but expected as Marcus Mariota was at the top of the watch list most of the season.   Gordon took the runner-up spot humbly and congratulated Mariota with a tweet: “Congrats to Marcus on the Heisman and to Coop for his great season. Thanks to everyone thats supported me and made my dreams reality.”  Gordon is only the fourth Heisman finalist in UW history. 

Despite his lack of Heisman, Gordon received many other awards and accomplishments this season, including the 2014 Tribune Silver Football, awarded to the best player in the Big 10, as voted by the conference coaches.  

Last week Gordon confirmed that this will be his last season at Wisconsin, as he is officially entering the 2015 NFL draft.  Gordon will play one final game as a Badger at the Outback Bowl against Auburn on January 1.  He will be missed by teammates and Badger fans alike, but we’ll all still be cheering for him on the sideline; this time, the sidelines of the NFL.