Buffalo runner Jaret Patterson could have been a player that many fans knew nothing about entering the 2020 college football season. But as we get to the end, it’s worth mentioning his name to tell the full story of the year.
Patterson, a junior, caught the attention of the sport on Nov. 28 against Kent State when he tied the FBS record for collisions in a game with eight and earned the second-highest total in a game with 409 yards in a 70-41 victory. .
He has come a long way since his visit to eastern Michigan as a high school sophomore, when his twin brother, James, found him in a bathroom on campus crying after being the only one on his visit to Michigan. recruitment that did not get an offer. Now Jaret Patterson is one of the best players in Buffalo history, alongside guys like Branden Oliver and Khalil Mack.
As Patterson and Buffalo (5-1) face off on a Christmas Day showdown with Marshall (7-2) at the Camellia Bowl (14:30 ET, ESPN and the ESPN app), let’s take a deeper look at the Escape from the Star Bulls.
Great games are Patterson’s specialty
As a senior at St. Louis High School. Vincent Pallotti of Laurel, Maryland, did a bit of everything in a 2016 game against Riverside Baptist, with 558 versatile yards, an interception and two forced shots.
“You can ask anyone in the Maryland area,” Patterson said. “They know this game.”
His talent translates perfectly to Buffalo. In 15 of the 28 games he has carried the ball 11 times or more, he has run more than 100 yards. And in more than half, he has run at least 160 yards.
In 2019, a season in which he ran 1,799 yards and 19 touchdowns, in addition to compiling 209 yards receiving with another score, he started with a burst and thrashing playing Toledo and Bowling Green. Against the Rockets, Patterson had 227 yards and five touchdowns; facing the Falcons, he had 298 running yards and six touchdowns.
“In those two games alone, there are 11 touchdowns. For some, a whole season,” he said. “This is not a coincidence.”
There has been a good football player, and then there is an overwhelming force. Patterson is often the latter.
In the 2019 Bahamas Bowl, he led the Bulls to the program’s first win with 173 yards and two touchdowns against Charlotte.
“The fourth quarter came and the boys were tired and we imposed our will,” Patterson said.
He recalled that Charlotte’s coach, Will Healy, who approached him after the game, was impressed and said, “As the game progresses, you just get stronger.”
Postgame and even half-game praises have become the norm for Patterson. Whether it’s between plays or going up the line of play, guys from Bowling Green and Kent State have called him to stop running the ball or even suggested he pass the Bulls.
“They know it’s going to come, but they have to stop it at the end of the day,” Patterson said. “Sometimes they can’t.”
Patterson entered the game against the Golden Flashes seeking revenge. When both teams played in 2019, the Bulls increased 27-6 in the fourth quarter, only to allow 24 unanswered points, including a winning field goal of the game, as time went on to lose 30-27. Patterson ran for 141 yards in that game.
At the start of the 2020 game, Patterson knew he would have a good game, but he didn’t know it how well.
“The first couple of touchdowns I had intact,” he said. “I’m talking about the holes being so big that you could drive a truck around here.”
At the break, Patterson said he had a moment when he stopped and knew he was doing something big.
“I didn’t know the amount, but I knew I ran pretty well and scored a lot,” he said.
Many college football fans were upset when Bulls coach Lance Leipold pulled Patterson before he could break the touchdown record. After the game, Leipold said, “I didn’t even know I had eight touchdowns. I wish I had known a little bit.”
Patterson realized what he had done only after he was taken out of the game and said he had no sense of not getting the record. Patterson and Leipold have even joked about it.
Patterson even labeled this game as “easy,” accrediting his offensive line.
“Without those guys up front, I wouldn’t run for 1,000 yards in five games,” Patterson said. “That’s unheard of. Even the perimeter receivers, everyone plays with them. In the long periods you see, guys struggling to finish defenders, everyone plays with them.”
He added: “I don’t see any better line than them and what they did. I think their resume speaks for itself.”
Awards or not, Patterson knows he’s one of the best RBs in the country
The Doak Walker Award finalists were announced on Tuesday and he was not one of them. He was also not one of the finalists for the Heisman Trophy. But Patterson knows he belongs.
In a season where rules have been set and thrown out the window, one thing that hasn’t changed is Patterson’s ability to present statistics at an overwhelming pace for the defenses. And he put up his 1,072 running yards and 19 touchdowns in just five games, which he continues to point out when it comes to defending why he should be in these awards talks.
“Like I did, it was different from the others,” Patterson said. “Not taking it away, the guys definitely put numbers on themselves, but in the same way I did it on the back again. The guys don’t score eight touchdowns and run 300 yards on their backs. But I think the two most important things it’s just the short games and the delay we started. I think that’s why I should be a contender for sure. “
Since all of Heisman’s votes will have been cast when Patterson has a chance to play on Christmas Day, his Camellia Bowl stats won’t contribute to his case. But he will still play with that chip on his shoulder the rest of his career.
“If he comes back in the fall or goes to the NFL, I’ll still have that chip, I’ll still be the same player,” said Patterson, who turned 21 this week. “Nothing will change. That’s what I’m staying for, that’s my morale and regardless of whether it’s in Buffalo or the next level, I’ll still have that motivation to prove people are wrong and I’m right in myself that I can be a great running back to college and to the next level. “