The Run Game gauntlet hath been throwed

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

We have a monster line with maulers in the middle. We have RBs we've salivated over during past regimes and we have wideouts that demand respect. Isn't it time for our QBs to not be saddled with carrying the team?

Shouldn't we ride our obvious strengths until they are taken away? Or does our breakdown of playmakers require an even distribution? Will Zolson (see what I did there) finally have the breakthrough to be the lynchpin?

Or should we just defacto say we trust Kelly & Co.?

 

[dublinirish]

You know BK likes to chuck the pigskin!

 

[GoIrish41]

We have a monster line with maulers in the middle. We have RBs we've salivated over during past regimes and we have wideouts that demand respect. Isn't it time for our QBs to not be saddled with carrying the team?

Shouldn't we ride our obvious strengths until they are taken away? Or does our breakdown of playmakers require an even distribution? Will Zolson (see what I did there) finally have the breakthrough to be the lynchpin?

Or should we just defacto say we trust Kelly & Co.?

What we should do and what Kelly will do are likely two different things. We should run our horses behind the massive and talented offensive line, but I fear Kelly cannot help himself. He likes to throw the ball, which puts pressure on the quarterback to make plays. Under pressure, a quarterback can either step up or melt down (like Golson in the second half of the season last year). Kelly did seem to lean on the run game a little more during the bowl game, but that probably had more to do with protecting a paper thin defense than it did the realization of a better gameplan. I hope I'm wrong about all of this and we at least give the RB's 50 or 60 percent of the touches to force teams to respect the run and give the WRs more room to make plays the other 40 percent of the time.

 

[Bogtrotter07]

My choice would be to integrate the run game in a whole package that meets the Kelly, Denbrock, Sanford, and Quinn crucible.

 

[Irish#1]

55/45 Run - Pass

There's only three things that can happen when you throw the ball and two of them are not good. A good run game sets up the pass to improve its chances of being successful. This has been a poorly kept secret for decades.

 

[GoldenToTheGrave]

What we should do and what Kelly will do are likely two different things. We should run our horses behind the massive and talented offensive line, but I fear Kelly cannot help himself. He likes to throw the ball, which puts pressure on the quarterback to make plays. Under pressure, a quarterback can either step up or melt down (like Golson in the second half of the season last year). Kelly did seem to lean on the run game a little more during the bowl game, but that probably had more to do with protecting a paper thin defense than it did the realization of a better gameplan. I hope I'm wrong about all of this and we at least give the RB's 50 or 60 percent of the touches to force teams to respect the run and give the WRs more room to make plays the other 40 percent of the time.

There seems to be a lot of bluster on this board about our run game for a team that was largely ineffective doing it last year. Not to say we can't (and I personally think will) improve significantly, let's not pretend we're Wisconsin just yet.

 

[GoIrish41]

There seems to be a lot of bluster on this board about our run game for a team that was largely ineffective doing it last year. Not to say we can't (and I personally think will) improve significantly, let's not pretend we're Wisconsin just yet.

ND rushed for 2073 yards last year and averaged more than 4 yards per carry.

Folston had 889 and averaged 5.1 per carry, while Bryant had nearly 300 in extremely limited attempts (54) and averaged 5.4 yards.

I believe a commitment to the run is what was missing last year. There are times during several games that the run game was clicking and Kelly inexplicably unleashed mistake-prone Golson to do his thing. That isn't good for Golson or the team. When we did focus on the run, Kelly used McDaniel more than he used Bryant, which still irritates me every time I think about it. He had fewer yards than Bryant with 23 more carries, so it seems his love affair with Cam hurt the run game to the tune of a 3.6 ypc average. Golson had a 61 yard TD run to his credit and showed some flashes with his legs, but when sack yardage is added in he only accounted for 283 yards on the ground. Teams were playing the pass against ND last year, which probably resulted in multimple turnovers by ND because they were trying to force the issue in the passing game instead of taking what the other team was giving us. I think focusing on the run game this year is the way for the team to be successful. I think it even helps the QBs by taking some of the pressure off of them to carry the team ... likely resulting in fewer turnovers (and maybe even more yards through the air).

 

[connor_in]

QB sneak it every single play

the opposing D will never see it coming

 

[Booslum31]

We need to run to set up the pass...and then we need to pass to set up the run. Situational. Keeping the defenses guessing and not being predictable is the key IMO.

 

[GoldenDomer]

Pound the rock!!! Until Golson can be trusted in a pass-first system, we need to feed Greg and Tarean and let the hogs get after people up front.

 

[ulukinatme]

Absolutely pound the rock, 60% run or more. It'll help setup the pass, it takes the pressure off the QB and should result in less turnovers, and pretty much all the recent champions have had strong run games.

 

[GoldenDomer]

2014 Stats:

Ohio State: More than 60-40
Oregon: Just barely less than 60-40
Alabama: Closer to 55-45
Florida State: Just about 50-50, more passes than runs

 

[NDRock]

55/45 Run - Pass

There's only three things that can happen when you throw the ball and two of them are not good. A good run game sets up the pass to improve its chances of being successful. This has been a poorly kept secret for decades.

Actually you could get a defensive pass interference, which is much more common now days. Isn't there only one good thing that can happen when you run (positive gain) and two bad things (no gain, loss of yards, fumble). Just never really understood that quote and I'm someone that wants to see us much more run heavy.

 

[ACamp1900]

Absolutely pound the rock, 60% run or more. It'll help setup the pass, it takes the pressure off the QB and should result in less turnovers, and pretty much all the recent champions have had strong run games.

This man does knoweth....

 

[ryno 24]

I agree we need to run the football more and Sanford will ensure we do that, but Kelly still loves to throw and if Everrett Plays QB we will have a talented QB. So I am thinking 55-45 run pass or 50-50.

 

[ulukinatme]

2014 Stats:

Ohio State: More than 60-40
Oregon: Just barely less than 60-40
Alabama: Closer to 55-45
Florida State: Just about 50-50, more passes than runs

And going back to the most recent champions (OSU excluded since they're already listed)

2013 FSU: 54-46 with 5.63 yards a run
2012 Alabama: 63-37 with 5.59 yards a run
2011 Alabama: 59-41 with 5.49 yards a run
2010 Auburn: 69-31 with 6.12 yards a run
2009 Alabama: 63-37 with 5.01 yards a run
2008 Florida: 64-36 with 5.94 yards a run
2007 LSU: 59-41 with 4.9 yards a run
2006 Florida: 55-45 with 4.7 yards a run
2005 Texas: 65-35 with 5.9 yards a run
2004 USC: 54-46 with 4.7 yards a run
2003 USC: 51-49 with 4.5 yards a run
2002 OSU: 69-31 with 4.3 yards a run (Tressel ball)
2001 Miami: 55-45 with 5.3 yards a run
2000 Oklahoma: 48-52 with 3.9 yards a run

As a comparison:
2014 ND: 51-49 with 4.28 yards a run
2013 ND: 51-49 with 4.46 yards a run
2012 ND: 57-33 with 4.87 yards a run
2011 ND: 48-52 with 4.82 yards a run
2010 ND: 46-54 with 3.98 yards a run


Looking at the data, more often than not recent champions are closer to the 60-40 run/pass metric and usually they were close to or above 5 yards a carry. Going back 10 years the split was closer to 55-45, but it still favored more running. Only one team actually passed more than they ran, and that's the enigma of the 2000 Sooners. Exceptions in the metrics were OSU in 2002 who had lower yards a carry and relied greatly on defense and Tressel ball, USC had lower rushing attempts in the mid 2000s but they had some Heisman Trophy winning QBs, 2013 FSU which had a closer 50/50 split on run/pass but they had pretty good defense and benefited from an unlikely Alabama loss against Auburn in the SEC Championship, and of course 2000 Oklahoma. Without question our best season was in 2012 when we nearly hit that 60-40 run/pass metric and it was also our best year running the ball. Are some of these numbers inflated because teams often run the clock out at the end of games when they're winning? Possibly, but you would expect those yards a carry to drop further as defenses try to stuff the run.

 

[Riddickulous]

650 yards per game minimum on the ground. If we don't have at least four 1,000 yard rushers, Kelly should go.

 

[bkess8]

If Kelly allows Sanford to call the plays then we will see the increase in run percentages per game, but remember every game situation is different. If we are up a lot or down a lot then we will run more or less. I watched roughly 3 or 4 BSU games last year and was impress by the running of Jay Ajayi. I know we have the lineman and the running backs to mirror/surpass the success of BSU's running game last season. My only question is how much will Kelly allow Sanford to be in control?

 

[ulukinatme]

650 yards per game minimum on the ground. If we don't have at least four 1,000 yard rushers, Kelly should go.

5 Wide Fullbacks!

 

[BeauBenken]

In before Dshans "thrown*".

 

[dshans]

In before Dshans "thrown*".

Haven't you noticed that I've lightened up?

I want to share the scorn, umbrage and hate mail.



Thank you for your participation ...

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

Haven't you noticed that I've lightened up?

I want to share the scorn, umbrage and hate mail.



Thank you for your participation ...

I would hope at this point, DShans can recognize an intentional misspell from an unintentional won.

 

[connor_in]

Haven't you noticed that I've lightened up?

I want to share the scorn, umbrage and hate mail.



Thank you for your participation ...

dshans becoming more than a man/member...dshans becoming a concept and sometimes a verb
/no italics

 

[ulukinatme]

One more stat...in arguably are most impressive wins (Based on oppoonent strength or blowout status) we ran the ball 60% or more in contests last year against Rice, Michigan, and LSU. All other games we either passed the ball more, or it was closer to 50/50. The yards per carry were 5.0 or better against LSU and Rice, but against Michigan it was an abysmal 1.7 yards (Credit the defense and Devin Gardner's awesome turnovers on that one I guess). Again, some of that may be a component of running out the clock in a lopsided win, but in all 3 cases we did a pretty good job dominating the line of scrimmage (Michigan was setup to stop the run quite a bit that game, and we still gave up just 1 sack).

 

[Booslum31]

I could sign up for 55/45 or 60/40 if we mixed in some runs where our back starts out TOWARDS the LOS. I hope we dont try to solely live on jet-sweeps and read option. I know we don't have a fullback but we have folks like Luatua that could plow a patch. This would certainly help us close out games...like Lou used to.

 

[Irish#1]

I could sign up for 55/45 or 60/40 if we mixed in some runs where our back starts out TOWARDS the LOS. I hope we dont try to solely live on jet-sweeps and read option. I know we don't have a fullback but we have folks like Luatua that could plow a patch. This would certainly help us close out games...like Lou used to.

I'd like to see us under center more. Whenever we did that, we ran the ball more effectively. RB has a running start and doesn't have to wait for the ball to be given to him.

 

[dshans]

I would hope at this point, DShans can recognize an intentional misspell from an unintentional won.

Yes. Yes I can. I do it myself quite often.

And it's "dshans," knot "DShans." All lower case. Unless used as or in a title, or to begin a sentence. That would require an upper case "D."

Language is fluid and can be manipulated for effect or affect.

 

[Irish#1]

Yes. Yes I can. I do it myself quite often.

And it's "dshans," knot "DShans." All lower case. Unless used as or in a title, or to begin a sentence. That would require an upper case "D."

Language is fluid and can be manipulated for effect or affect.

That was very effective.

 

[bkess8]

Yes. Yes I can. I do it myself quite often.

And it's "dshans," knot "DShans." All lower case. Unless used as or in a title, or to begin a sentence. That would require an upper case "D."

Language is fluid and can be manipulated for effect or affect.

Wood rep you again but I have to weight!

 

[kmoose]

dshans becoming more than a man/member...dshans becoming a concept and sometimes a verb
/no italics

I'd sooner get hit by a train than dshansed on the internet:

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