Two years ago, Urban Meyer led a young but talented team to a championship in the first ever College Football Playoff. That team rode a sophomore running back – particularly in the postseason – to Ohio State's first national title in 12 years.
Meyer hasn't been shy with comparisons of his current team to his 2014 squad and once again, a bruising, but agile running back, starting in his second season with the program, is a key component of a high-scoring offense.
It may be a bit early to be breaking out comparisons to Ezekiel Elliott, but Mike Weber is having himself a season through four games. Saturday, Weber honored Zeke with a crop top during pregame warmups before promptly destroying the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on the ground.
Weber got going early, ripping off an Ohio State best 49-yard 1st quarter run to set up a field goal, victimizing Rutgers safety Anthony Cioffi in the process.
The Detroit product went to the locker room at the half with 10 carries for 91 yards, but he was only getting started.
A little over two minutes into the 3rd quarter, Weber took a read option handoff from quarterback J.T. Barrett and raced around the left end for 46 yards to put Ohio State up 37-0.
When the Scarlet Knight dust settled Saturday following Ohio State's 58-0 victory, Weber had a career-high 144 yards on just 14 carries—good enough for 10.3 per tote.
Through four games, Weber has 495 yards on the ground this season, tallying at least 100 yards in every game but in week two against Tulsa, when he fell just eight yards shy of the mark.
But how does that stack up to the start of Elliott's 2014 campaign? Glad you asked.
| Year | Player | Attempts | Yards | TDs | Long | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | EZEKIEL ELLIOTT | 55 | 323 | 3 | 20 | 5.9 |
| 2016 | MIKE WEBER | 68 | 495 | 2 | 49 | 7.3 |
Now, for some caveats.
While Weber compares well through four games, Elliott wrecked defenses towards the end of that monster season. He racked up 696 yards and 8 rushing touchdowns in the final three games of that year during Ohio State's postseason run on the way to 1,878 yards on the ground – the second-highest single-season total in school history behind Eddie George's 1,927 yards in 1995 – and a whopping 18 touchdowns.
That, needless to say, will be hard to duplicate.
Elliott was also a much better option as a receiver out of the backfield than Weber has proven to be at this stage of his career and he'll also go down as the school's best blocking running back.
However, he did have steam heading into 2014.
Elliott entered his sophomore campaign having played as a true freshman. It was spot duty, backing up Carlos Hyde and earning carries during Hyde's three-game suspension to start the 2013 season, but he did have a breakout performance in the fourth game of the year against Florida A&M, finishing with 162 yards.
Zeke also had the good fortune of playing a 15-game schedule, though he absolutely made the most of those three extra games.
Weber is on pace for an incredible year of his own if he continues to improve – and most importantly, remains healthy. The Big Ten is a grind and he's just getting into it.
Here's how Weber's season projects through four games:
| Games | Attempts | Yards | TDs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 221 | 1,609 | 7 |
| 14 | 238 | 1,733 | 7 |
| 15 | 255 | 1,856 | 8 |
Weber has the tools for a big season. Like Elliott, he has an uncanny ability to get positive yards on nearly every touch. Through four games, he's only been stopped for a loss twice and both stops went for just one-yard losses.
Top-end speed may be a concern, however. When Elliott broke through, you knew he was gone. Nobody was going to catch him. On Weber's 49-yard run Saturday, he was caught. And his coach noticed.
“He got caught once. Print that,” Meyer said following the game.
