The Great Debate: Earl Campbell or Ricky Williams?

In the opening montage played at Texas football games, a herd of Longhorns stampede to Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium. Before entering the stadium, two statues fire lightning bolts (presumably the magic kind, not the real kind that can kill you) at the herd and the Longhorns miraculously morph into football players. The graphics are Toy Story-era, gen-2 CGI, and it’s a little hokey. But the crowd almost always goes wild, which might explain why it’s become more or less a staple at home games.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing this on the Godzillatron at DKR, you may be wondering who the two players are that fire their football magic in the form of lightning bolts at the herd of Longhorns. Well, there’s a litany of ex-Longhorns whose football pedigrees we only wish we could bottle up and serve to David Ash in the form of maple syrup for his blueberry pancakes. Vince Young, Colt McCoy, James Street, Noble Doss, Bobby Layne, and Tommy Nobis are all examples of the Longhorns’ deep and rich history. Cutting such a list of great players down to two would be an exercise in futility. However, there are two players whose accomplishments separate them from the herd, Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams.

Both Campbell and Williams won the Heisman their senior  [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] seasons at UT. So, based on hardware alone, Campbell and Williams would be the greatest Longhorns ever. Winning the Heisman is the single greatest honor a player, arguably of any sport, can receive. Only the most ardent of basketball fans can name you the Naismith award winner, but even the casual football fan can tell you who won the Heisman. Such an honor places Campbell and Williams in a stratosphere untouched by any other Longhorn.

With this in mind, I wanted to find out who was better, Campbell or Williams?

In many ways, this is akin to a film buff picking his or her favorite movie, a nearly impossible task. But, breaking down the players’ stats, the teams they played on, and their intangibles, I arrived at a decision.

 

Stats

Earl Campbell (1974-77)

Att	Yds	Avg	TD
765	4,443	5.8	40

 

Ricky Williams (1995-98)

Att	Yds	Avg	TD
1,011	6,279	6.2	72

 

Looking at stats alone, Williams wins by a landslide. Williams holds nearly every rushing record a Longhorn can possess, and even the yards per carry record is held by Vince Young, a quarterback.

Not only is he statistically the greatest running back in Longhorn history, but also one of the greatest running backs in NCAA history. In his Heisman season, Williams broke Tony Dorsett’s all-time rushing record (a record subsequently broken the following year by Ron Dayne of Wisconsin (though it’s worth noting that it took Dayne 104 more rushing attempts to beat Williams by a mere 118 yards)) giving Williams an ungodly 6,279 rushing yards in his college career. Williams also holds the record for most rushing yards and touchdowns in a single season for the Horns. In 1998, Williams rushed for 2,124 yards and 27 touchdowns.

One could argue that Williams’ usage rate was higher, thus skewing the numbers in his favor. However, his additional touches does not account for that wide of a margin in touchdowns and yardage.

Just because of Williams’ statistical dominance, this does not mean that Campbell put up cupcake numbers. In his senior season, Campbell rushed for 1,744 yards and 18 touchdowns, both of which were, at the time, school records. Also, in his Heisman season, Campbell averaged 6.5 yards per carry, .6 yards more than Williams in his Heisman season.

Regardless, Williams averaged more yards per carry throughout his career.

Edge: Williams

 

Teams

There’s an interesting symmetry between Campbell’s and Williams’ careers. Both played for the same coach their first three years, Royal and John Mackovic (cough) respectively, and ended their careers playing for a different coach, Fred Akers and Mack Brown.

The 1977 Earl Campbell-led Longhorns were one of the greatest teams in Texas history. The Horns were ranked No. 1 for six consecutive weeks to close out the season, and would have captured a national title if not for a defeat at the hands of No. 5 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl.

Campbell was the focal point of the offense. In fact, the Horns threw the ball a total of 156 times that season, completing less than half of those attempts. Conversely, Campbell ran the ball 267 times.

The rest of Campbell’s teams were not quite as eventful. Yet, when looking at the stats, it’s obvious that the team went as Campbell went.

Campbell’s sophomore and senior seasons were by far his best statistically. These years, the Longhorns went a combined 21-3. In the other two years the team went an anemic 13-10, and Campbell rushed, combined, for less yards than his senior season.

Unlike Campbell, who was the main offensive force through all four years of his college career, Williams’ teams had a proficient aerial attack with James Brown and Major Applewhite at quarterback. And during his freshman season, Shon Mitchell was the primary running back, rushing for over 1,000 yards.

The Horns of this era will always be regarded as a group that underachieved. Whether you blame it on coaching, conference realignment or El Niño, these were teams with a great deal of talent that failed to meet expectations (a 4-7 year after winning the Big 12 title comes to mind).

The fact is while Williams was in his prime the Longhorns were still growing up.

Edge: Campbell

 

Additional Factors

Earl Campbell Tackling Bevo vs. Pot-Smoking, Predator-Looking Dude

Edge: I’m a big fan of Williams’ free spirit, but come on, Earl Campbell tackled effing Bevo!

 

Verdict

Earl Campbell. Sometimes stats can’t overcome subjectivity, or a man as classy and gracious as Campbell. And remember, Williams was always described as an Earl Campbell-like running back.

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