University of Wisconsin running back Ron Dayne is all smiles during a ceremony honoring the season and his record run at the end of the victory over Iowa on Nov. 13, 1999, at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. Behind, Chris McIntosh and coach Barry Alvarez applaud his efforts. Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Will any running back ever come close to Ron Dayne's rushing record ever again?

Originally posted on Wisconsin Badgers on SI
By Lorin Cox | Last updated Jun 22, 2025 7:13 PM ET

Ron Dayne should still hold the NCAA record for most career rushing yards, even though Donnel Pumphrey technically set a new high mark in 2016.

Almost a decade later, it feels like no other running back will ever come close again in college football.

ESPN college football reporter Chris Low included the record as an honorable mention on his list of the sports' 10 most unbreakable records.

Will any school ever win 47 in a row again? Will any player average 238.9 rushing yards again? Will any player return three punts for touchdowns again in the same game? Will any coach have 14 straight top-5 finishes again in the polls? https://t.co/ykNHh58WAY
— Chris Low (@ClowESPN) June 18, 2025

With 6,405 yards in 54 games, San Diego State's Donnel Pumphrey broke Ron Dayne's NCAA career rushing record in 2016. Dayne had 6,397 in 43 games at Wisconsin. It's hard to imagine a player putting up those numbers -- and taking the beating a running back does -- and staying four years in the current climate of college football to make a run at Pumphrey's record.Chris Low, ESPN

Pumphrey had eight more rushing yards than Dayne but needed 11 more games to reach the mark. Most notably, Danye's rushing yards in bowl games did not count towards his total, but Pumphrey's bowl games are included in his record.

If you subtract Pumphrey's bowls or add in Dayne's, the record would still belong to the Badgers running back.

Dayne averaged 148.8 rushing yards per game across his college career. Pumphrey averaged 118.6. To be fair the San Diego State rusher averaged more yards per carry (6.0) than Dayne (5.7).

But in the modern college football landscape, running backs that talented don't typically stay in college for all four years, so it's hard to envision another rusher reaching the same volume as these two stars.