Hubbard Ready for Texas Bowl After Long Season
HOUSTON, Tx – We’re a little over 24 hours before the opening kick of the Texas Bowl between Oklahoma State and former Big 12 rival Texas A&M. If you’ve somehow missed this, running back Chuba Hubbard will be playing in the game Friday evening.
We found out a few weeks ago that Hubbard had made his decision to come back and finish the season with the bowl game, but there was definitely some doubt as to whether he would. There’s still a big question as to whether or not he’ll return for his redshirt junior season, but I doubt that we’ll know anything on that for at the very least the next few weeks.
As for the month that the Cowboys have had to prep for the Texas Bowl, it’s been one of the best periods for Hubbard, but it’s been great for the opposite of the success he’s had throughout the year: rest.
That’s right, Hubbard was one of the players that took a small amount of reps simply because of the amount of reps he took during the season. Hubbard had the most rushing yards in the FBS, 1,936 yards, and was third in the FBS in carries with 309. That’s three less carries in one less game than the second-place rusher in Jaret Patterson from Buffalo.
“I think our staff…they’ve done a good job with [Chuba Hubbard],” said head coach Mike Gundy. “[Chuba] knows this, he’s had a lot of carries this year. So, towards the end of the year, he got a little bit fatigued. Hopefully he’s had enough rest now and we can get him back up and running.”
“There’s definitely a point where my body was obviously fatigued a little bit, it had some wear and tear on it,” said Hubbard. “These last few weeks have been good for me just to rest my body.”
We got eyes on Hubbard this morning in Houston at the press conference and he looked good. You could tell that the two to three weeks off have done him a lot of good. He looked fresh, there was a bit of a bounce to his step and he seemed very relaxed.
“I feel good,” said Chuba Hubbard. “They rested me up pretty good, just the whole medical staff, they did a great job with me. So, I’m good to go.”
With the rest, something that you need to keep an eye on is rushing yards. Texas A&M are 30th in the FBS in allowing just 129.1 rushing yards per game, but Chuba’s just 64 yards away from the 2,000-yard mark on the season.
My prediction? With the extra rest, I think Chuba surpasses his nation-leading game average of 161.3 yards per game.
