Badgers’ Braelon Allen Among CFB’s Most Hyped Running Backs

With less than a month to go until Year One of the Luke Fickell era kicks off in Madison, there’s a palpable buzz emanating across the state of Wisconsin about the Badgers’ football team.

One reason for that statewide optimism is the exploits of junior running back Braelon Allen of Fond Du Lac.

Allen is fresh off a sophomore season that saw him smash and dash his way towards a 1,242-yard campaign with 11 trips to the end zone for the Badgers, joining a long line of Wisconsin backs to eclipse the 1,000-yard plateau at Camp Randall Stadium.

With the college football season beginning at the end of August, BetWisconsin.com used our Wisconsin sports betting mindset and utilized Google Trends to find the college football running backs with the most search interest for the 2023-2024 Season.

Most Search Interest For CFB Running Backs For 2023

The results were taken from the last 90 days from April 25^th to July 25^th. The Heisman odds were taken from BetMGM on July 25^th.

Rank	Player	Heisman Odds	Search Interests Compared to Other Topics
1	Michigan RB Blake Corum	+4000 (1st RB)	23
2	Penn State RB Nicholas Singleton	+6600 (T-2 RB)	18
T3	Michigan RB Donovan Edwards	+10000 (T-4 RB)	16
T3	Southern Miss RB Frank Gore Jr.	N/A	16
T5	Wisconsin RB Braelon Allen	+8000 (3rd RB)	15
T5	Clemson RB Will Shipley	+6600 (T-2 RB)	15
7	Ole Miss RB Quinshon Judkins	+6600 (T-2 RB)	14
T8	Arkansas RB Raheim Sanders	+15000 (T-6 RB)	13
T8	Notre Dame RB Audric Estime	+15000 (T-6 RB)	13
T8	Baylor RB Richard Reese	NA	13

Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter was removed due to his potential suspension pushing his search interest up.

Where Allen Ranks Among CFB’s Most Hyped Running Backs

Given his red-hot performance on the ground a year ago and the Badgers’ rejuvenated offensive attack under Fickell, there’s good reason to expect big things out of Allen this fall.

That’s why oddsmakers have the junior running back at +8000 to win the Heisman in 2023, ranking third among running backs overall.

If Allen can bring the hardware back to Madison, he’d be the third Badgers back (after Alan Ameche in 1954 and Ron Dayne in 1999) to win the Heisman Trophy.

Allen’s talent out of the backfield is one reason that oddsmakers at BetMGM Sportsbook have Wisconsin at +6000 to win it all this year, ranking in a tie with Oklahoma for 16th nationally.

The Badgers are also the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten West (+110) on BetMGM Sportsbook, with a preseason win total over/under of 8.5.

Expect Allen to shoulder much of the load if the Badgers are going to get back to Indianapolis this fall, as Wisconsin will need the junior to be a bona fide playmaker to reach the Big Ten championship game.