Williams beats out Carey for Doak Walker
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Andre Williams 2, Ka'Deem Carey 0.
Three days after he was named one of six Heisman Trophy finalists, Williams beat out Carey for the Doak Walker Award in a presentation at the Home Depot College Football Awards show Thursday night in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Washington's Bishop Sankey also was a finalist for the honor, given to the nation's top running back.
An effort to reach Carey over the phone after the show was denied. But at the Arizona's own end-of-the-season awards banquet Sunday, the Pac-12 Conference's offensive player of the year said he wishes the honor could be decided on the field New Year's Eve when he meets Williams and Boston College at the AdvoCare V100 Bowl in Shreveport, La.
"I always love playing great backs," said Carey, who finished with 1,716 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns to earn a Walter Camp first-team All-American selection for a second consecutive year.
"To tell you the truth, I wish the game was before the Doak Walker and then we just battle it out there."
Williams collected 2,102 rushing yards, becoming just the 16th player in FBS history to top 2,000 yards, and the first since 2007. With 175.17 yards per game - including five games with at least 200, highlighted by a 339-yard performance - the senior owns the edge for the nation's rushing title, which Carey won last season and ranks second (156 per game) in 2013.
But Carey owns the nation's longest active FBS streak at 15 games with at least 100 rushing yards. In his words, "Let the show begin."
"I want to show everybody who's the better back," Carey added. "Me and him are going to be battling. We're going to make a good little show out there.
"You want to beat him in total yards that game but you also want to win the game. It's going to be fun."
Sankey ran for 1,775 yards and 18 touchdowns for the Huskies.
Williams will now be on his way to New York City for the Heisman ceremony. After a strong finish to the season, Auburn's Tre Mason also swooped in to make it two running backs up for the award.
Carey was shut out.
Mason, who averaged 173.6 yards and scored 13 of his nation-leading 22 rushing touchdowns over the final five weeks, did not make the final cut for the Doak Award. Five of his first eight rushing totals were below 100 yards.
UA quarterback B.J. Denker actually sided with Mason's inclusion over Carey, but would have left Williams out of the running.
"I'm not disappointed that Tre Mason got the invite; I'm disappointed that Ka'Deem didn't," Denker said. "Andre Williams had all the yards, but if you look at some of the big teams that Ka'Deem played and how he played in those big games … I'm biased, obviously, but I think it should have been Tre Mason and Ka'Deem Carey.
"But now you'll find out New Year's Eve who's the best running back and I have no doubts that it will be 2-5 (Carey)."
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Click Here to view this Link.Tracy McDannald
GOAZCATS.com Senior Editor