I think it's not so complicated. Kelly had a QB one year, a red shirt freshman, won 12 games and played in the NCG.
The other years he had Tommy Rees.
Playing with a legit QB opens up a lot of options offensively.
Ugh...I'm not refuting that Golson doesn't open up options offensively. In fact, I'm completely taking him out of the equation as many of his yards come when a passing play breaks down. I was trying to say that our run blocking has taken a step back, strictly from an execution standpoint and completely separate from any lost production due to defensive schemes or QB play.
Maybe it's just me, I watch linemen a lot being a former big guy in the trenches. I saw the run blocking improve through the end of 2010 into 2011 when we saw a huge jump in the running game (400+ yards). All those yards came from our backs, and 2011 was one of the first years we had a great rushing attack again after years of futility. I felt like Warriner was a big part in getting the running game going as it was abysmal under Charlie (As low as 900 yards in 2007, finishing with 1500 his last year). If you look at what Warriner did in his previous stops and his current stop at OSU, his teams have always done well running the ball when he was OL coach, or in Kansas's case they were a very good passing team when he was OC. Again, I'm not out to get Harry, I absolutely love he's done with recruiting and our pass blocking, but from what I've seen we've gotten sloppy with the run blocking and opening holes. I'm not factoring in Rees, or what defenses are doing, I'm strictly talking about rushing yards and what I've seen from an execution standpoint from the OL.
Maybe this will help illustrate my point:
Year Attempts Yards Avg
2009 401 1539 3.84
2010 414 1646 3.98
2011 433 2085 4.82
2012 506 2462 4.85
2013 440 1962 4.46
Based on the numbers above we saw the smallest increase in average yards between 2011 and 2012. This was despite the fact we had a mobile QB, which is where most of the extra yards that year came from. Despite the fact a mobile QB can open up your game we only increased our average rushing yards by .03 yards a carry. We also had a fairly experienced offensive line in 2012, so you would possibly expect more improvement instead of little change. In 2013 we saw a substantial drop in the average yards, partly because of teams loading the box and we decided not to attack them vertically or call screens, but we were also sloppy in our run blocking imo. I can't really back that up with data or anything, that was just my assessment watching the games. Of course we saw the biggest gain between 2010-2011 and that was with Tommy at QB still. We may have only won 8 games that season, but if you consider that the 1st half of USF was an absolute abomination, our defense blew the Michigan game, and the other two were very winnable (FSU and USC, Stanford wasn't going to happen)...that 2011 team could have been pretty good. Regardless, our running game was very good that year despite having a statue at QB, and our running backs had epic holes to run through at times. Aside from some plays here and there, I haven't seen us opening holes as often and as large the last few years.
This is all moot really if we come out and have a great year this year. We've got two great young budding backs in Bryant and Folston, and I certainly love what Cam does too. I'm just worried that these guys will never see their full potential if our run blocking slides.
Theres something awesome about lining up in a formation like that and ramming the ball down the opponent's throat. Of course, it's a real downer if you're like Stanford and you get stuffed 4 times in a row. I would have at least tried the PA on 3rd or 4th down.
