Georgia Southern's Matt Breida Added to Doak Walker Candidate List

Georgia Southern running back Matt Breida - who once again this weekend did "Matt Breida Things" by running for an 88 yard touchdown run against Navy - has been added to the list of candidates for this season's Doak Walker Award.

The Doak Walker was created in 1989 to honor the nation's top running back. On the season, Matt Breida currently has 1434 yards rushing on 152 attempts for an average of 9.4 yards per carry. He also has 16 touchdowns, seven of which are from 40+, six are 50+, and five are 60+ yards.

Breida is a special talent, that's for sure. But let's face it, this season's Doak Walker is going to Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin. He of just shy of 2000 yards rushing with two games to go in the regular season and 408 yards rushing in THREE QUARTERS against Nebraska on Saturday.

That's ok, though. Matt Breida is just a sophomore and will have plenty of time to prove his worth. Sure, some can point to his big runs being against the dregs of the Sun Belt, but two of those runs were against ACC teams. One of those ACC teams (which Georgia Southern should have beaten) still has a chance to be a divisional champ.

Next season Breida will face West Virginia and Georgia in P5 competition and will have a chance to show what he can do against their defenses along with the same Sun Belt teams Georgia Southern played this season. It's just great that someone like Breida is getting a mention on a big stage like this, and hopefully he can position himself to win it in the future.

Here is a highlight video someone put together as a "Heisman Campaign" for Breida through 8 games of the season.