Dunn Deal? Cook closing in on Seminoles' career rushing record

The record will fall. The only question is whether it will happen this Friday night against Boston College or in one of Florida State’s final few games of the 2016 season.

Junior tailback Dalvin Cook, who broke Warrick Dunn’s single-season rushing record last season, needs only 126 yards to tie Dunn’s Florida State career rushing mark.

Interestingly enough, Cook is averaging exactly 126 yards per game this season.

“This is why you worked so hard,” Cook said on Tuesday, when asked about the significance of the record. “This is why you worked so hard and put in the time … and do all the preparation, for accomplishments like this. Just to be mentioned with Warrick. … I’m just blessed, man. And the record’s there to be grabbed.”

Cook, who has said numerous times this season that he is more motivated by team goals than individual accolades, repeated that message on Tuesday.

“I wanted to come in and win titles here,” he said. “I wanted to come in and help this program win football games.”

The Seminoles have won plenty of football games during Cook’s three seasons, but if he declares for the NFL Draft after this year as expected, he will come up short in his quest for a national championship. FSU fell in the College Football Playoff when he was a freshman, and the ‘Noles have lost at least three games this season and last.

But as far as consolation prizes go, owning both FSU’s single-season and career rushing records would be plenty impressive. Cook’s 1,691 yards in 2015 obliterated the old mark of 1,242, which Dunn set 20 years earlier. And with four games remaining, including a bowl, the junior from Miami has a chance to soar well past the career mark as well – in one fewer season.

From 1993 through ’96, Dunn racked up 3,959 yards to pass former record-holder Greg Allen’s total of 3,769. Barring something unexpected, Cook will become the first Seminole to eclipse 4,000 rushing yards.