The hard part about determining the nation’s best running back is that the University of Florida has to stop them both.
Leonard Fournette of LSU? Or Dalvin Cook of FSU?
For the Gators, who have the 12th-ranked run defense in the country, it’s a matter of picking your poison. Saturday, they have Fournette, who leads the nation in rushing with 204.4 yards per game. Later in the season, they play against Cook, who is second with 158.4 yards yards per game. In other words, the next few games will be a matter of fastening the chin strap for the Gators.
So far, Fournette has been the best story in the country. He’s rushed for 1,022 yards and scored 12 touchdowns, and he turns every play into a threat to go to the end zone. He has seven straight 100-yard games.
But Cook hasn’t been bad, either, despite missing almost all of Wake Forest and some of the Miami game. He’s rushed for 792 yards, the sixth highest total in America. He’s scored eight times.
Florida was also scheduled to play against Nick Chubb if Georgia, the eighth-ranked back in America, but he’s out with a knee injury.
For the Gators, it will be a test. Playing without suspended quarterback Will Grier, the defense will have to carry the day. The Tigers are undefeated and ranked sixth, two spots ahead of Florida.
