95...probably why I hate stats....
in 97 I think Skip Hick had an average of 9 yards a rush against us. Is that an accurate description of his day? 88 came on one run, the one series LEon had to sit out because of stuff he did in the 96 Apple Cup.
I hate stats cause they don't show a picture of what truly is going on. Skip Hicks had a 9 yard average against us in 97, yet 88 came on one play. The rest of the game he was well under three if my memory is correct.
Let me state several things so it is not to be misconstrued as a Leach hating post. First, there is a pendulum in college football. Many teams use the read option either as a base offense, or use it to keep defenses honest. Oregon was the first and it works for them all the way to the championship game.
But here is where Leach will have the advantage over the next five years, meaning the pendulum will be to move away from the read option for some teams because they will see talent go bye bye because it is showing the read option QB in the NFL is gonna go bye bye.
The NFL is going to get tired of taking "dual QB's" like Locker, Colin Slapernick, and the many others they have spent draft picks on only to see Brady, Manning, Romo, Wilson who are the more refined QB's with true QB teachings, and Super Bowl rings by their name in the case of Flacco, Big Ben, Brady, Manning, Manning, Wilson and Brady.
I watched Marriota with pressure on him and he looked horribly inaccurate against OSU. He looked like Locker on more than several plays. Do you try to take that read option QB and fit him into some sort of NFL system? I think the answers are coming out that the NFL needs a better training ground for their QB's, and the training ground is in the true passing game.
While Leach has a different offense, one that is said to be a "system" offense, I think he will be a leg up trying to get kids into the NFL. And he will continue to get more and more pro prospects in his system.
With that said, without the coaches film to break down play after play, it is impossible to know how many times during the game there were three and four man fronts that we had numbers in the running game. But I would say 66 attempts a game probably means we are out of balance.
I, like Sponge would like to see more running even if the stats to you say we are dreadful. Without the look of a running game, you are not forcing the linebackers to make a read. They are simply dropping into coverage. And when it is said the screen pass serves as a run, no it doesn't. You are not making the linebackers play the "run", and their first step and initial is back. In doing so , you are creating tighter windows for the QB to throw into.
