A love letter to Dalvin Cook’s fifth gear

College football has been blessed by an embarrassment of riches at the running back position through the years.

Every decade has had its legends, and the 2010s have been no different, from the mythical Leonard Fournette to the Bama-killing Ezekiel Elliott to [insert Bama workhorse here]. Like Elliott, Florida State’s Dalvin Cook never finished higher than seventh in the Heisman voting, but he might have provided more indelible moments than anyone in the decade this side of Columbus.

He provided a couple of more in what was almost certainly his final game in a Seminole uniform, a 33-32 Orange Bowl win over Michigan. He rushed for 12 and 28 yards to set up FSU’s first touchdown (a 2-yard Cook carry), but the Wolverines’ defense stiffened.

After scoring four times in seven first-half possessions, the Seminoles began the second half with two three-and-outs and a pick-six. Michigan cut a 20-6 deficit to 20-15 heading into the fourth quarter. But on the second play of the final period, facing third-and-22 from the 13, Cook took a handoff on a basic counterplay and turned the game around.

This was maybe the most Dalvin Cook play of Cook’s career. Over the last three years, no one in college football has killed defenders’ angles better than Cook. He has no third or fourth gear — he just goes straight from second to fifth. Four different potential Michigan tacklers thought they had him. And a fifth, who definitely had the angle on him at one point, was only able to shove him out of bounds by a millimeter.

Deondre Francois would score four plays later to expand FSU’s lead to 27-15, and when Michigan surged ahead, 30-27, a perfect 21-yard screen to Cook helped to set up the winning touchdown.

Assuming Cook indeed goes pro — and really, there’s nothing more for him to prove at the college level unless he really wants to win a national title with a loaded 2017 FSU team — he wrapped up his career in impressive fashion. Through three seasons, he has rushed 687 times for 4,464 yards (almost 500 more than Warrick Dunn; almost 700 more than Greg Allen) and caught 79 passes for 935 more.

The Miami Central product lived up to his five-star recruiting ranking and then some. And while there are always what-ifs involved with blue-chippers, it’s fun to look back on Cook’s recruitment. He committed to Clemson, then Florida. He took visits to Arkansas, Miami, and Texas before committing to Jimbo Fisher’s Noles. Almost all of the schools Cook entertained have undergone coaching changes since he signed.

Miami could have had Cook and Duke Johnson and saved Al Golden’s job.

Arkansas would have had a home run hitter to go alongside Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins in 2014, giving an awesome team one extra push in a season that featured four tight losses. Texas could have had an offensive star right out of the gates in the Charlie Strong era. (Yes, technically he was recruited by Mack Brown. Go with it.)

Instead, Cook went to FSU, where he served as a bridge between potential title runs. He enrolled right after the Seminoles won the 2013 title, and they will be among the favorites to win it in 2017, with or without him. But even if his career ends without a title run of his own, he will have served as one of the most distinctive, thrilling backs in a decade full of them. There are worse legacies than that.

Jim Harbaugh obviously doesn’t read SB Nation. His loss.

From 2005-15, teams that elected to kick field goals on fourth-and-goal from the 1 in the first quarter made 97.1 percent of them. Expected points from those attempts: 2.91.

Teams that went for these field goals had win-loss records of 14-20 (win percentage: 41.2 percent). In games that finished within one possession, they went 8-9 (47.1 percent).

Teams that went for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1 in the first quarter scored touchdowns 67.1 percent of the time. Expected points: 4.67.

Teams that went for these touchdowns had win-loss records of 133-77 (win percentage: 63.3 percent). In games that finished within one possession, they went 44-37 (54.3 percent).

We have no idea whether Miami would have converted on fourth-and-goal. Just because 67 percent of these touchdown attempts were successful doesn’t mean Miami’s would have been. But it wouldn’t have hurt the RedHawks’ odds of completing a near upset. And even a failure would’ve given MSU awful field position.

Yep, six minutes into the Orange Bowl, Michigan kicked a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 1. It had no discernible impact on the Wolverines’ win probability. You have about a two-in-three chance of converting from there, and if you fail, your opponent has the ball at its 1. With 54 minutes remaining, you think maybe Michigan would have appreciated having four more points in the bank later in the game?

GO FOR IT. EVERY DAMN TIME (in the first quarter, and probably the second and third, too).

We’ve been dealing with a particularly dumb “to play or not to play?” argument in bowl season. Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey and LSU’s Leonard Fournette announced heading into bowl season that they would not be playing in their respective bowl games, and Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers, also a blue-chip draft prospect, was withheld from the Orange Bowl at the last second because of a hamstring injury. They let their teams down! They’re selfish! They’re scared!

Cook’s huge performance gave the “kids these days are weak and selfish” crowd a nice piece of evidence for what happens if you suck it up and play. Meanwhile, in the Music City Bowl, Tennessee’s Derek Barnett used his one extra game to break Reggie White’s school sacks record. Likely No. 1 pick Myles Garrett of Texas A&M played, too. And none of them got hurt!

Of course ... Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst, meanwhile, likely tore his ACL in the Sun Bowl that McCaffrey didn’t play in. And the game itself was dragged down by a series of injuries that killed momentum and buzz. Also, Michigan’s star tight end Jake Butt likely tore a ligament in his knee, too.

Gosh, it’s almost like this is an argument that will go on every year for decades. Like every other dumb college football argument.

Regardless, McCaffrey’s absence gave Stanford fans a window into 2017. Sophomore Bryce Love took over in the backfield, carried 22 times for 115 yards, and caught a 49-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. That, and an opportunistic Cardinal defense that forced three turnovers, made the difference in a 25-23 victory in El Paso.

Over the final five games of Joshua Dobbs’ career, the Tennessee quarterback lived up to all of the hype he received through the years, and then some. On the heels of a three-game losing streak that wrecked the Vols’ season goals, with a banged-up defense collapsing, Dobbs and the UT offense were set free.

Out of necessity, Tennessee unleashed the offense it should have had all along, and Dobbs posted damn-near, Heisman-level numbers: 92-of-124 (74 percent) for 1,260 yards, 12 touchdowns, and one interception (passer rating: 189.9), plus 49 carries for 511 yards and seven more scores.

Tennessee averaged 29.3 points per game in its first eight contests, then averaged 47.8 in its last five. No, there weren’t elite defenses on the slate in that stretch, but Dobbs was damn-near perfect.

His final act: 291 passing yards and 118 rushing yards in a 38-24 Music City Bowl win over Nebraska. A 9-4 campaign with no SEC East title is not what Tennessee fans expected this year, and the late-season defensive collapse was jarring. But winning your final game is still better than losing it.

After rising as high as ninth in the AP poll early in the season, Georgia lost four of five games in the middle of the year, then finished the regular season with a frustrating loss to a frustrating rival (Georgia Tech). But like Tennessee, the Dawgs at least finished on a happy note. They spotted TCU a 16-7 lead midway through the second quarter of the Liberty Bowl, then finished the game on a 24-7 run.

Unlike Tennessee, Georgia returns most of its offensive stars in 2017, too. Nick Chubb and Sony Michel, who both announced they would be returning next fall, combined to rush 32 times for 229 yards and two scores, and they did it in the Chubb-and-Michel way: Chubb’s 17 carries gained 142 yards, while Michel tossed in two receptions for 39 yards and a touchdown.

Kirby Smart is pulling off some lights-out recruiting and will take a more experienced team than expected into 2017. Now he gets to actually prove if he can coach. His grade after Year 1 was an Incomplete. An A will be expected next fall.

The Arizona Bowl was certainly off the radar in a day mostly dominated by power conference matchups. But it was certainly entertaining.

Underdog South Alabama raced to a 21-3 lead 20 minutes in, but Air Force tied the game at halftime, then scored on a 75-yard pass from Arion Worthman to Jalen Robinette on the first play of the second half. That opened the floodgates for a 45-21 win.

It also completed Air Force’s second 10-win season in three years. Troy Calhoun’s Falcon program was on life support after his seventh season in Colorado Springs. After winning 34 games in his first four seasons, Calhoun’s win total went from nine to seven to six to two by 2013. Since then, they’re 28-12 with a MWC Mountain title and two bowl wins.

You’re not supposed to get another chance when you go 2-10 in your seventh year. But the faith paid off for Calhoun.