Mike Hart

He's a warrior on the field and carried the ball 44 times against what was the #1 rushing defense in the nation statistically entering the game. Everybody knew he'd need to do it with Ryan Mallett still manning the QB position in Chad Henne's place against #10 Penn State. 153 yards and 1 TD later and it's another victory for Michigan. Quite the performance. Earlier this summer, I noted that Mike Hart was approaching several career records for Michigan. Well, they are going to ride him hard this season and he will have a good shot at some single season marks as well.

Four games into the season, Hart ranks #1 nationally with 655 rushing yards and #2 nationally with 163.75 yards per game and #1 nationally with 127 carries and #10 nationally with 6 rushing touchdowns.

Let's assume Michigan will play in a bowl game this year. Before the season, that was a given. After the 0-2 start, that was a major question. At this point, though, it seems pretty reasonable. That would give Michigan 13 games to play this season. Right now, Hart projects to 413 carries for 2129 yards and 20 TDs. That would be a hell of a season.

Rushing Attempts - the current single season mark is held by Chris Perry at 338 attempts. Hart needs 211 more in 9 games (23.4/game) to tie the mark. Assuming he's got a couple more 35+ carry games coming it would seem that he will break this mark if he stays healthy. I'm thinking 360+ is a likely bet at this point.

Rushing Yards - the current single season mark is held by Tim Biakabutuka at 1818 yards in 1995. Hart needs 1163 more yards in 9 games (129.2/game) which will be tough to do but is within reach. Hart's main problem will likely be that the Michigan coaches will look to give him some breaks against teams like Eastern Michigan so he might only end up with a few sub 100 yard games. I'm not ruling him out, though.

Rushing Touchdowns - Ron Johnson holds the single season mark with 19 rushing TDs in 1968. Hart needs 13 more in 9 games (1.44/game) to tie the record. This will be tough to do, but he will definitely get the ball near the goalline. If he can throw up a couple three TD games he'll have a chance.

100 Yard Games - the single season mark is currently held by Jamie Morris with ten 100 yard games in 1987. Mike Hart is 4/4 on the season and needs to get 6 of the last 9 to tie the mark. It seems pretty likely that he'll at least tie the mark and he might even break it.