40 Days Until FSU Football: 2012 FSU Offense Dominates With 40 Rushing Touchdowns

There are 40 days left until Florida State football starts the 2018 season. As part of the offseason, we’re highlighting players, games, and specific moments from FSU football history.

On Tuesday, it was FSU’s active streak of 41 straight winning seasons.

Today, it’s the 2012 FSU offense going for 40 rushing touchdowns on the season.

The legendary scoring ability of the prolific 2013 offense is often shown as the apex of former head coach Jimbo Fisher’s coaching ability. While it certainly warrants discussion, the 2012 offense was nearly as talented and had truly dominant showings against good defenses.

Current offseason discussion centers around the depth of the running back position with Cam Akers, Jacques Patrick, Khalan Laborn and Zaquandre White all being legitimate options. It’s certainly one of the deeper backfields in recent memory, but it still might pale in comparison to the 2012 running back depth chart that helped combine for 40 rushing touchdowns and 2,800 yards.

Chris Thompson rushed for a career-high 197 yards in a 2012 shutout of Wake Forest. (Chris Holder/Garnet and Great)

Florida State had an embarrassment of riches with Chris Thompson, James Wilder Jr., Devonta Freeman and Lonnie Pryor all toting the rock. What was even more fun to think about was how different all those players were.

Thompson was an explosive and versatile back who was as big a receiving threat as he was running back. Wilder was a bulldozer who needed at least three players to bring him down on every play. Freeman could be called on for runs in between the tackles, and Pryor was the ever dependable fullback.

Those four players rumbled for 32 rushing touchdowns, and the first three all had over 600 yards rushing. Wilder led the way in touchdowns (11) while Chris Thompson finished with 687 yards on 7.5 yards per carry. Thompson only played eight games before suffering an injury against Miami that ended his season, which makes the leading rusher title all the more impressive. Freeman took over after the injury and did quite well, rushing for over 100 yards in two games.

Quarterback E.J. Manuel also contributed 310 yards on the ground and four touchdowns of his own. Debrale Smiley (3) and Rashad Greene (1) chipped in for the remaining four.

Some highlight performances include the top-10 match-up against Clemson, when the Seminoles ran for 287 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. Each of Thompson, Wilder, and Pryor scored in the contest. Or the Miami game that witnessed 230 rushing yards and all three touchdowns by FSU come from the ground game.

Lonnie Pryor rushed for 134 yards and two touchdowns in the 2013 Orange Bowl. (Steve Musco/FSU athletics)

The individual efforts were similarly stunning. Thompson had a career-day vs. Wake Forest by going for 197 yards and two touchdowns on just nine attempts. Wilder tore through the Clemson defense for 65 yards and two touchdowns, but a couple of his runs brought the crowd to their feet after he broke multiple tackles. In addition, who could forget Pryor’s final game at FSU when he took five attempts for 134 yards and two touchdowns in the Orange Bowl against Northern Illinois?

Even if the season got overshadowed by the national championship the year after, the results on the ground deserve serious attention. Fans might never see a backfield in the future with that amount of both proven talent and eventual greatness.