It was only one game. And it was against an FCS opponent.
But goodness if it doesn’t look like Florida State has a true three-headed monster in its backfield.
Just look at what each of them did in the first game of the season. As a unit, Treshaun Ward, Lawrance Toafili and Trey Benson helped FSU run for 406 yards against Duquesne Saturday night. That hadn’t been done by an FSU team since 2016.
Individually, they accomplished something never before done in FSU football’s storied history. Each of the three finished with over 100 yards, marking the first time FSU has ever had three 100-yard rushers in the same game.
“Before the game, this morning, we broke (our meeting) off on 500 because that’s what we wanted to get (500 yards),” Ward said after Saturday’s 47-7 win. “Just to see everyone get 100 yards makes me proud.”
Ward, Toafili and Benson each had their moments in the preseason. There were questions galore about how reps would be split up and which running back would emerge from the fray as the front-runner of the group.
If the Duquesne game taught us anything, it’s that the answer to those questions may not matter.
Each of the top three FSU backs had their moments to shine Saturday. And each of them took full advantage of those opportunities with highlight plays of multiple varieties, from jukes to trucks to speed bursts.
“Usually it’s whoever has the hot hand. But today all of us had the hot hand,” Benson said. “I just want to thank the O-line and thank the scout team from practice, because they have been giving us great looks throughout the whole week.”
It started, probably as expected, with Ward. The former walk-on is FSU’s leading returning running back, having run for 515 yards and four touchdowns in his first season on scholarship in 2021.
Ward got off to a red-hot start, rushing for 38 yards on the opening drive and 60 yards on FSU’s first two possessions, averaging 10 yards per carry over that span. He finished with 127 yards, blowing by his previous career high of 77 yards.
Toafili was the next FSU back to reach the century mark, validating the praise he received from FSU head coach Mike Norvell as the team’s most improved player. After battling injuries in 2021, he reached 100 yards for the second time in his career against Duquesne.
Benson was the last one to reach 100 yards. He did so early in the fourth quarter on a 12-yard run, capping off a nearly two-year recovery from a severe knee injury he suffered in December of 2020 at Oregon.
“I've been visualizing it for the past two years so it meant a lot for me,” Benson said. “Coming to the sideline, me scoring, them smiling, it encouraged me a little more. They actually told me it was coming, they told me I was going to bust one. I was like, 'I believe that,' and it happened. I'm just grateful for the opportunity to play with these guys and get better as a team, get 1% better.”
The rotations of Benson and Toafili with Ward were plentiful as the game progressed and the rep count as well as the lead grew. There may have been a noticeable difference between the trip from a running style, but from a production standpoint, there wasn’t one to be seen.
“I think we've got a great running back room. Those guys are very competitive. But they're very supportive in how they work,” Norvell said. “We want to be a football team that we move forward on contact. I thought those guys showed it. They were able to break some tackles. They've done that throughout fall camp and scrimmages. In live situation, it was good to see it show up.”
Each had highlight-reel plays in the win – Ward with a spin move and a truck, Toafili with a filthy juke and Benson with broken tackles galore – and the feelings they had seeing each others’ moments speaks to that position group’s chemistry.
“Seeing everybody get their burn and seeing everybody get their touches, it makes us proud,” Ward said. “Nobody is selfish in this room. We want to see everybody eat and get to the next level.”
By halftime, FSU had 200 rushing yards, only 11 of which came from athletic quarterback Jordan Travis.
By the end of the game, FSU’s running back entourage was responsible for the program’s second 400-yard rushing performance of the last 25 seasons.
The game even got out of hand enough that true freshman running back Rodney Hill got to make his debut, carrying the ball nine times for 55 yards.
In all, FSU’s running backs carried the ball 47 times against Duquesne and averaged 8.3 yards per carry. Perhaps even more impressive than that, none of those 47 carries went for negative yardage.
The FSU running back room made sure to thank the offensive line for its role in this.
“I’m thankful for these guys and the O-line,” Toafili said. “We couldn’t do it without us and the O-line.”
The degree of difficulty ramps up quickly from here. Come next Sunday against LSU, getting one running back to the century mark – let alone three – would be an accomplishment worth celebrating.
But don’t think that this new challenge will shake the running back room’s confidence.
“It's another game, we've still got to prepare for it like it's any other game,” Ward said. “We've just got to take it day by day with the scout team giving us great looks and being on top of the gameplan that the coaches are going to put out for us. We've got to come out there and execute the gameplan, be all as one, come out victorious.”
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