Innovations

When Ron Dayne broke the Division I-A record for career rushing yards, we couldn't help but measure him against history. If we have any affinity for college football, we can't help ourselves. We plead for perspective. We beg for a sense of where the current era fits in the historical landscape of college football. Is Dayne better than Ricky Williams? Herschel Walker? Tony Dorsett? Archie Griffin? O.J. Simpson? Elroy "Crazy Legs" Hirsch? Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis? Jim Thorpe? The answer is. . . we'll never really know for sure.That's the problem with history. It's impossible to measure our three-dimensional present accurately against the flat facts of history. Knute Rockne lost only 12 games in 13 years before his untimely death in a plane crash at age 43. Bear Bryant won 323 games. Who was better? Rockne or Bryant? And now that Joe Paterno and Bobby Bowden are bearing down on