Every so often, a list of rushing yard leaders in college football gets posted. And more often than not, it's wrong, and Wisconsin fans are quick to pile on and let people know Ron Dayne is the true king of the rushing yards. According to the graphic, Donnel Pumphrey is listed as the leading all-time rusher with 6,405, with Ron Dayne in second place at 6,397. The problem? Pumphrey has his bowl yardage included, and Dayne does not.
Dayne, if he had his rushing yards from bowl games included, would sit at 7,125 yards, well above Pumphrey and the true all-time leader in college football history. Why does this keep happening? Well, because the official NCAA list is wrong, and it's because of a statistical change from 2002.
From 2002 to the present, bowl stats have been included. Before that? Not included. Ron Dayne left Wisconsin for the NFL in 1999 after winning the Heisman trophy.
Every account posting this is really outing themselves a non-ball knowers. It’s embarrassing, really. #sevenonetwofive https://t.co/uAjVOVDHbQ
— Zach Heilprin (@ZachHeilprin) August 8, 2025
Ron Dayne is the true all-time rushing leader in college football history
Wisconsin fans piled on to the graphic and posted countless replies and quote posts to the original posting. Some of the best are below:
It is our duty as Wisconsin fans to correct this error every time we see it. https://t.co/UTyQxCpBtQ pic.twitter.com/uJtuOFhkWa
— The Dairy Raid 🏴☠️ Ryan Andersen (@thedairyraid) August 8, 2025
NCAA: "hEy, lEt'S aLLoW pUMpHrEy tO uSe bOwL yArDS bUt nOt DAyNe" https://t.co/sHjqngmaFa
— Scary Alvarez (@barryisthedon) August 8, 2025
The NCAA’s excuse for not counting bowl stats is it would be too much work to go back and adjust everyone going back through time. So let’s just not even put Dayne or Dorsett on this list. You lazy bastards. #Badgers #NCAA pic.twitter.com/zmm0o2IXsa
— Adam Key (@AdamRKey) August 9, 2025
One Wisconsin ball-knower even pointed out how Jonathan Taylor could have easily been number one and Ron Dayne number two if Taylor had stayed around for another year. Taylor ended fourth on the list with 6,174. If you are curious, yes, his bowl yardage is included in that total. One more year fully healthy would have done it for Taylor, as he averaged around 2,000 a season at Wisconsin.
The erroneous graphic continuing to be posted is about as frustrating as it comes, but one of the tasks that Wisconsin fans have been assigned until the NCAA fixes it is correcting every fanbase that thinks Pumphrey is the leading rusher of all-time.