RB Respect Month Vol. 3, Day 29: A forgotten RB Duel in the Lone Star State (1997)
Ricky Williams vs. Michael Perry.
For those reading on e-mail: click 'view in browser' to see the full contents of today's post. Today's post is FREE for all subscribers and visitors.
Welcome to day 29 of Running Back Respect Month! Yesterday, Darren McFadden and Felix Jones went full Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble on South Carolina. Here's where we're at today, and how the rest of the month looks:
Get all RB Respect Month content sent directly to you 👇
Today: Ricky Williams and Michael Perry (Texas-Rice 1997)
RB Respect Month Vol. 3, Day 29: A forgotten RB Duel in the Lone Star State (1997)
You know what I'm sick of hearing about? Quarterbacks. Whether it's college or the NFL, all we hear about each weekend –and during the week, to be honest– are quarterbacks, and what order they should be ranked amongst their signal-calling brethren. God forbid two prominent QBs actually play against each other and we have to spend the whole leadup to the game and then the aftermath hearing about who won the 'Quarterback duel.' How about a running back duel, instead?
In 1997, Texas' Ricky Williams (249 yards, 5 TD) and Rice RB Michael Perry (211 yards, 2 TD) gave us just that. The two combined for 460 yards rushing and 7 TD, as the Longhorns escaped Houston with a thrilling 38-31 win that came down to the final play:
If you were around for last year's RBRM, you'll remember that I closed out the month by writing about Ricky Williams' 350-yard, six-touchdown game vs. Rice in 1998. In that column, I mentioned that today's game would be part of Vol. 3, plus Williams' overall dominance against the Owls. In three career games, he had 68 carries for an astonishing 623 yards (9.1) and 13 (!) touchdowns. Few running backs have ever been more productive against a single team. On Tuesday, we'll close out this year's RBRM with one who was.
Colton Denning
