MADISON, Wis. -- They were supposed to form perhaps the best 1-2 running back tandem in college football this season. Melvin Gordon would mesmerize with highlight-reel plays on the way to a seat at the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Corey Clement, meanwhile, would cement himself as the next great Wisconsin talent, emerging from Gordon's shadow with his own dazzling rushing displays.
Instead, the show belonged to Gordon alone through five games. He had lived up to the billing as a superstar, busting 40-yard runs like he was playing against Pop Warner teams. And Clement was left to wonder how he could avoid falling even further behind as his role diminished.
"From your own standpoint, you want to be able to have a name for yourself as well," Clement said. "You just don't want it to be a one-dimensional team. You've got to become a dual threat. We wanted to be the tandem that we thought of over the summer."
Saturday represented a big step toward solidifying the Gordon-Clement combination during Wisconsin's 38-28 victory against Illinois at Camp Randall Stadium. Gordon rushed for 175 yards and four touchdowns, while Clement added a career-high 164 yards with a score.
Gordon required 27 carries and averaged 6.5 yards per attempt. Clement needed 13 carries and averaged 12.6 yards per rush, which included a 72-yard touchdown that gave Wisconsin a 38-14 fourth-quarter lead.
"Corey, he can make explosive plays, too," Gordon said. "And people overlook that. I hope we showed people that today. He can take it to the house 60, 70 (yards). He can do it just as well as I can. And I get excited when he makes plays because he's so hungry. He wants it so bad. You can't be anything but happy for him."
Gordon began the day leading the country in rushing yards per game (174.2), and he offered little chance for others to surpass him Saturday. Clement entered the game averaging 62.4 yards rushing per game and ranked 101st nationally in that category. During a 20-14 loss at Northwestern a week ago, Gordon carried the ball 27 times and Clement earned only six carries.
But both players sensed they would perhaps be in for a stellar day against Illinois, which possesses one of the worst run defenses in the country. The Illini (3-4, 0-3) were surrendering 249.5 rushing yards per game and ranked No. 119 out of 125 qualifying FBS teams. Wisconsin ranked No. 3 nationally in rushing offense (331.4 yards).
Gordon opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game with a 15-yard touchdown run to put Wisconsin (4-2, 1-1) ahead 7-0. He also scored on runs of 6, 30 and 1 yard and became the fastest Wisconsin player to reach 1,000 rushing yards in a season, doing so in just six games. The previous mark belonged to Gordon (2013) and P.J. Hill (2006), both of whom did so in seven games. And through six games, Gordon already has more rushing scores (13) than he did all of last season (12).
A year ago, Clement rushed for at least 100 yards on three occasions, but they all came in mop-up duty as the team's third-string tailback. On Saturday, he performed when the Badgers needed him most.
"It meant a lot," Clement said. "Especially coming off the last game, six carries, I just wanted to capitalize this week and just show what I'm actually capable of doing. I can break the long run. I can put points on the board just as well as Melvin is doing.
"I just don't want him to do it all himself because you can't really put it all on his back. You've just got to help him out. I see it out there. He needs some help out there. I'm just like, 'Why not be the dual threat that we should be this year?'"
Afterward, Badgers coach Gary Andersen called Gordon "the best player I've ever been around." But he also offered praise for Clement, who came to Wisconsin last season after smashing New Jersey rushing records in high school.
"Corey is in a difficult position because he is such a competitor and he wants to be a great, great running back," Andersen said. "I believe he is very special. He's going to be a great back. He showed today the special things that Corey can do. And I wouldn't expect him as a young man to be anything more than a little bit frustrated. If you're a competitor, you want the ball."
During the summer, Gordon said one of his goals was for he and Clement to break the FBS single-season rushing record for a running back duo. That record belongs to Gordon and James White, who ran for a combined 3,053 yards last season for the Badgers. Although Gordon has done much of the work this season, he and Clement still have an opportunity to break the mark. Through six games, they have amassed 1,522 rushing yards.
It hasn't come the way most anticipated, but Saturday's game may have provided exactly the type of boost necessary to unleash the Gordon-Clement train.
"We knew we would get some runs," Gordon said. "We knew we would get some opportunities, and we were both going to try to make the best of them."
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