College Football 2024: Top 8 Running Back Performances Through Week 3 of the Season

College football has become pass-heavy, but you still need to run the football effectively to win. We're already through three weeks of the season, and in the first few games, there have been some impressive performances on the ground, with a number of running backs who have had hot starts.

Boise State's Ashton Jeanty, Tennessee's Dylan Sampson and Iowa's Kaleb Johnson have all stood out.

Let's run through the most impressive running back performances through the first three weeks of the season.

LSU needed a come-from-behind victory on the road against South Carolina. Although quarterback Garrett Nussmeier will get credited with a lot of the offensive success, a ton of credit should also go to the Tigers' ground game.

It was led by true freshman Caden Durham, who finished with 98 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.38 yards per carry in his SEC debut.

"Well, it sets a standard of what we're looking for, right?" LSU head coach Brian Kelly told reporters after the game. "I mean, I think all those backs needed to see what we're asking them to do. Caden broke three or four tackles. That's the nature of the SEC. You're gonna have that extra guy coming down—that's why you're on scholarship, OK? Quite frankly, you got to make some of these guys miss and you got to run through some tackles."

He showed some tough runs, too, getting past arm tackles to continue to churn his legs and move upfield. His 26-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was a great example of just that:

Senior Josh Williams added 20 yards with a touchdown on the day, too. If LSU wants to compete for a playoff bid and an SEC title, it'll have to have a strong run game like it did against the Gamecocks.

Boise State looks like a Group of Five playoff team with a Heisman-hopeful running back in Ashton Jeanty. The junior tailback is second in the FBS in rushing yards with 459 yards to go with nine touchdowns, averaging 229.5 yards per game.

The most impressive part? He's put up these numbers while playing in just two games this season, the Broncos having a bye week this past weekend. Jeanty's breakout game came during Boise State's Week 1 win over Georgia Southern. He had himself a day, finishing with 267 yards on 20 carries with six touchdowns, a school record.

Two of his scores went for over 70 yards too—his first went 77 yards, and he had another one go 75 yards in the fourth quarter. Broncos head coach Spencer Danielson told CBS Sports last week that there was even a chance for Jeanty to go elsewhere following the 2023 season:

"He [Jeanty] said 'Coach I've got all these people calling me, calling my family telling me I should leave.' All the negative recruiting and all the money being thrown at him, we had one conversation -- me, him and his dad -- and it was this is where we're at, these are some different things we're going to help you grow in.

"After that one day, that one conversation, he never talked about it again. He said 'I'm a part of this program, I'm committed to Boise State and I know I'm going to grow and develop to be the best version of myself on and off the football field.' And that was it. That's a testament to Ashton and who he is as a person."

Jeanty had a successful season in 2023, too, finishing with 1,347 yards and 14 touchdowns. It'll be fun to see how far Jeanty can take this Boise State team, which has legitimate playoff potential as a Group of Five team. One thing's for certain is that opposing defenses likely aren't looking forward to lining up against Jeanty with what he's done the last two weeks.

With a name like Cam Skattebo, how can you not be a ground-and-pound running back? The senior Sun Devils running back has rushed for 373 yards with three touchdowns during Arizona State's 3-0 start.

His best game came against Mississippi State, when he finished with a career-high 262 yards on 33 carries, averaging 7.9 yards per rush. Perhaps what's more impressive? Skattebo alone had 238 more rushing yards than Mississippi State had all night, the Bulldogs getting just 24 yards on the ground.

"They couldn't stop us in that three-down front," Skattebo said, via the Clarion-Ledger, of the Sun Devils' success on the ground against. Mississippi State. "Honestly, we all felt disrespected with them in a three-down front. You can't come in here and put five guys in the box and expect to stop six. I don't know. We took that a little disrespectful, and we rushed for what over 300 yards? Something around there. It is what it is."

Skattebo had a quieter performance on Thursday night against Texas State, getting just 62 yards on 24 carries. But he did have two touchdowns, including the game-tying score in the third quarter. We'll see if Skattebo and the Sun Devils can make some noise as they start Big 12 play against Texas Tech this Saturday.

Rutgers senior running back Kyle Monangai entered this season as the reigning Big Ten leading rusher. Through two games, he has shown no signs of slowing down. Monongai has accounted for 373 yards on 46 carries with four touchdowns.

His best performance of the season came during a Week 2 49-17 win over Akron, rushing for 208 yards with three touchdowns. Although we're a long way out from December, Monangai's name has been mentioned as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate.

"That's like a childhood dream and something you aspire to get as a kid," Monangai said of a Heisman possibility after the win over Akron. "So to even have that be a consideration is beyond an honor," Monagai said. "But if that does happen we know why. It's those five guys up front."

Rutgers leads the Big Ten in rushing yards, putting up 307 yards per game on the ground. Monangai and Rutgers' next test? Going on the road to face Virginia Tech next week before opening Big Ten conference play at home against Washington.

If there is any threat to Monangai's Big Ten rushing title from last season, it'll be from Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson. Johnson leads the FBS in rushing yards, with 479 yards and six touchdowns, averaging 7.85 yards per carry.

Johnson has had over 100 yards rushing with two touchdowns in each of Iowa's three games. Although the Hawkeyes fell 20-19 to Iowa State in Week 2, he had his best game of the season, finishing with 179 yards rushing with two touchdowns. He's added five receptions for 27 yards in the passing game, as well.

"He's a little bit more patient than he was," Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said earlier this month of Johnson's development as a rusher. "He's running really strong. Obviously had some really nice runs the other day. I thought his best runs were at the end of the game where he ran strong and broke some tackles. There wasn't a lot there but he was making yards."

During Iowa's 38-21 victory over Troy, Johnson scored the first touchdown of the game for the Hawkeyes. Then late in the game, he had a 33-yard score to give Iowa a 31-21 lead early in the fourth quarter.

If Iowa is going to be a dark-horse Big Ten team and earn a playoff bid, Johnson continuing to run like he has will be key.

The UCF Knights are 3-0 and look like they could make some noise in a wide-open Big 12 title race. A big reason for that is how well the Knights have done on the ground with running back RJ Harvey through three weeks.

The Orlando, Florida, native is third in the FBS in rushing yards, with 448 yards and eight touchdowns. He had his best game of the season when UCF opened Big 12 conference play on the road against TCU on Saturday. During the Knights' impressive 35-34 road win, Harvey finished with 180 yards and two touchdowns, including a 29-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter.

"He's one of the best backs in college football," UCF head coach Gus Malzahn said of Harvey after the game. "I think each week he's proven that."

It was an impressive come-from-behind victory for the Knights, who trailed 21-7 at halftime. Harvey had a career-high four touchdowns the week prior during UCF's 41-14 win over Sam Houston State.

If Harvey keeps playing like he has been, UCF has a legitimate shot to make a Big 12 title run.

Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman is squarely on the hot seat this season. But he's likely grateful for how his starting running back, Ja'Quinden Jackson, has performed through the first three weeks.

Arkansas had to replace leading rusher Raheim "Rocket" Sanders, who transferred to South Carolina this offseason, but Jackson seems to have settled nicely into the No. 1 running back role.

During Arkansas' 2-1 start, Jackson has rushed for 397 yards with six touchdowns, averaging 8.45 yards per carry. In each of his three starts, he's earned over 100 yards rushing with at least a touchdown in each. His best outing was against Oklahoma State. Although the Razorbacks lost 39-31 to the Cowboys, Jackson finished with 149 yards and three touchdowns. He's added five receptions for 49 yards on the season, too.

"(Jackson) makes extra yards when he carries the ball," Pittman said of Jackson after his 147-yard performance during Arkansas' 37-27 win over UAB on Saturday. "We'll block it up some, but he always seems to be making somebody miss or running over somebody. Got really good vision back there."

Unsurprisingly, Jackson leads the SEC in rushing yards.

The SEC's No. 2 running back is Tennessee's Dylan Sampson, who has accounted for 357 yards with nine touchdowns this season. His nine scores ties the aforementioned Jeanty for first in the country. One of Sampson's best performances this season came in Week 2 during Tennessee's 51-10 rout of NC State, when he finished with 132 yards and two touchdowns.

"(Sampson) has great vision and great pace," Tennessee coach Josh Heupel told reporters of his running back after the Vols' 71-0 win over Kent State in Week 3. "He presses the line of scrimmage and is elusive in space."

Impressively against Kent State, Sampson scored a whopping four touchdowns in the first half against the Golden Flashes. He finished with 101 yards on the day in the victory. Tennessee has the best rushing offense in the SEC, and ranks third nationally, putting up 336 yards per game.

If Tennessee wants to make it to the playoff for the first time this season, the Vols will need to keep relying on a strong rushing attack like they have early this season.