Ed Marinaro had the most rushing yards in 1971, with 1,881 yards.

	NAME	RUSH YDS	SEASON	TM	GP	ATT	YPC	RUSH YDS/G	RUSH TD	REC YDS	REC	AVG	REC YDS/G	REC TD
1	Ed Marinaro E. Marinaro	1,881	1971	COR	9	356	5.3	209.0	24	51	6	8.5	5.7	0
2	Robert Newhouse R. Newhouse	1,757	1971	HOU	11	277	6.3	159.7	12	35	3	11.7	3.2	0
3	Terry Metcalf T. Metcalf	1,673	1971	LBS	12	267	6.3	139.4	28	130	15	8.7	10.8	1
4	Greg Pruitt G. Pruitt	1,665	1971	OKLA	11	178	9.4	151.4	17	108	4	27.0	9.8	0
5	Lydell Mitchell L. Mitchell	1,567	1971	PSU	11	254	6.2	142.5	26	154	16	9.6	14.0	3
6	Eric Allen E. Allen	1,494	1971	MSU	11	259	5.8	135.8	18	275	18	15.3	25.0	0
7	Howard Stevens H. Stevens	1,429	1971	LOU	10	250	5.7	142.9	12	168	22	7.6	16.8	1
8	Charlie Davis C. Davis	1,386	1971	COLO	11	219	6.3	126.0	10	79	7	11.3	7.2	0
9	George Amundson G. Amundson	1,316	1971	ISU	11	287	4.6	119.6	15	174	22	7.9	15.8	0
10	Jon Hall J. Hall	1,230	1971	CIT	11	169	7.3	111.8	9
11	Larry Hopkins L. Hopkins	1,228	1971	WAKE	11	249	4.9	111.6	5	-4	2	-2.0	-0.4	0
12	Rufus Ferguson R. Ferguson	1,222	1971	WIS	11	249	4.9	111.1	13	63	7	9.0	5.7	0
13	Billy Taylor B. Taylor	1,215	1971	MICH	11	217	5.6	110.5	13	2	1	2.0	0.2	0
14	Bobby Moore B. Moore	1,211	1971	ORE	11	249	4.9	110.1	7	324	32	10.1	29.5	3
15	Woody Green W. Green	1,209	1971	ASU	11	208	5.8	109.9	9	94	4	23.5	8.5	2
16	Bernard Jackson B. Jackson	1,189	1971	WSU	11	177	6.7	108.1	11	185	14	13.2	16.8	1
17	Paul Miles P. Miles	1,185	1971	BGSU	10	274	4.3	118.5	7	30	6	5.0	3.0	0
18	Bob Hitchens B. Hitchens	1,157	1971	M-OH	10	271	4.3	115.7	13	23	2	11.5	2.3	0
19	Jack Mildren J. Mildren	1,140	1971	OKLA	11	193	5.9	103.6	17
20	Fred Henry F. Henry	1,129	1971	UNM	11	176	6.4	102.6	10	39	6	6.5	3.5	1
21	Larry Sherrer L. Sherrer	1,129	1971	HAW	11	204	5.5	102.6	15	97	8	12.1	8.8	1
22	Billy Pritchett B. Pritchett	1,128	1971	WES	11	236	4.8	102.5	7	78	6	13.0	7.1	0
23	Lawrence McCutcheon L. McCutcheon	1,112	1971	CSU	11	261	4.3	101.1	8	197	19	10.4	17.9	0
24	Johnny Musso J. Musso	1,088	1971	ALA	11	191	5.7	98.9	16	14	5	2.8	1.3	0
25	Joe Schwartz J. Schwartz	1,079	1971	TOL	11	206	5.2	98.1	16	220	18	12.2	20.0	2