College Football Stat Leaders

2018 Big Ten College Football Rushing Yards Per Game Leaders

Average rushing yards gained per game.

Seasons Covered

2004-2025

Current Leader

Wisconsin (273.4)

Best Season

Wisconsin 2014 (320.1)

Scope

Big Ten • 2018

Browse Metrics

Crawl sibling stat pages without leaving the shared leaderboard template.

What The Numbers Say

Route-specific context pulled from the current leaderboard, winner trend, and historical baseline.

How Rushing Yards Per Game Reads

Rushing yards per game captures line-of-scrimmage control and down-to-down physicality, so teams that dominate this leaderboard usually create efficient early-down offense without needing to chase long passing volume. On this 2018 leaderboard, the visible range runs 273.4 to 204.6, with Wisconsin setting the pace.

Big Ten Context

Big Ten teams have claimed 100% of the yearly titles in this filtered dataset, and Indiana is the latest winner at 217.2.

Spread At The Top

The gap from No. 1 Wisconsin to No. 5 Penn State is 68.8, which shows how tightly packed the top of this leaderboard is.

Recent Trend And Baseline

The yearly winning mark improved from 202.4 in 2024 to 217.2 in 2025, a swing of 14.8. Wisconsin's current mark of 273.4 sits above the all-time average leader benchmark of 208.5 held by Ohio State.

Leaderboard

Top 14 rows for the current route scope.

1WisconsinBig Ten Conference2018273.4
2IllinoisBig Ten Conference2018244.3
3MarylandBig Ten Conference2018230.2
4NebraskaBig Ten Conference2018209.0
5Penn StateBig Ten Conference2018204.6
6MichiganBig Ten Conference2018203.3
7Ohio StateBig Ten Conference2018175.7
8MinnesotaBig Ten Conference2018171.2
9IndianaBig Ten Conference2018157.3
10IowaBig Ten Conference2018146.8
11PurdueBig Ten Conference2018136.4
12RutgersBig Ten Conference2018134.2
13Michigan StateBig Ten Conference2018124.7
14NorthwesternBig Ten Conference2018115.1

Trend Chart

Yearly winning values for the current filter scope.

Historical Leaderboard

Average across seasons for each team in the current filter scope.

RankTeamSeasonsAverageBest Season
1Ohio State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004208.52013 (308.6)
2Wisconsin2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004204.52014 (320.1)
3Nebraska2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011183.82012 (253.4)
4Michigan2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004178.72022 (238.9)
5Oregon2025, 2024178.42025 (198.6)
6Minnesota2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004170.12005 (273.1)
7Penn State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004167.02005 (212.8)
8Illinois2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004165.52007 (256.8)
9USC2025, 2024157.82025 (169.2)
10Maryland2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014152.32018 (230.2)
11Northwestern2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004152.32012 (225.5)
12Michigan State2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004150.72004 (238.5)
13Rutgers2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014148.72024 (176.5)
14Indiana2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004148.12014 (263.6)
15Washington2025, 2024148.02025 (166.8)
16Iowa2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004146.82024 (197.8)
17Purdue2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004129.72005 (186.7)
18UCLA2025, 2024113.32025 (139.6)

Frequently Asked Questions

Who leads the Big Ten rushing yards per game leaderboard in 2018?

Wisconsin ranks first at 273.4 in 2018.

Which Big Ten program has the best long-term rushing yards per game profile?

Ohio State owns the strongest all-time average at 208.5 across 22 tracked seasons in this conference scope.

How does the Big Ten race compare with the recent trend?

Indiana is the most recent yearly winner in this conference scope, so the route combines the current leaderboard with a recent trend line instead of showing only one season snapshot.