I have to say that I don't think our running game is as bad as it may initially look. Lets look at a few things about the Top-25 teams in the country according to the AP... Top 25 Teams by Total Rushing Yards: ------------------------------------- 1) Clemson #15 - 1203 2) West Virginia #4 - 1199* 3) Boise St #20 - 1077 4) Rutgers #24 - 1041 5) Texas #7 - 1026 6) Nebraska #22 - 1013 7) Louisville #8 - 998* 8) Michigan #6 - 963 9) Missouri #23 - 941 10) Oregon #11 - 910* 11) Georgia Tech #18 - 870 12) Auburn #2 - 864 13) Florida #5 - 836 14) Ohio State #1 - 770 15) California #16 - 769 16) LSU #9 - 723 17) Oklahoma #14 - 721* 18) Iowa #19 - 692 19) USC #3 - 671* 20) Georgia #10 - 667 21) Tennessee #13 - 665 22) Boston College #25 - 630 23) Virginia Tech #21 - 517 24) Notre Dame #12 - 437 25) Florida State #17 - 435* Top 25 Teams by Average Rushing Yards/Carry: -------------------------------------------- 1) Oregon #11 - 6.2* 2) West Virginia #4 - 6.1* 3) Louisville #8 - 5.8* 4) Clemson #15 - 5.8 5) Texas #7 - 5.1 6) Boise State #20 - 5.1 7) Georgia Tech #18 - 4.9 8) Rutgers #24 - 4.8 9) Oklahoma #14 - 4.8* 10) Nebraska #22 - 4.8 11) California #16 - 4.7 12) Florida #5 - 4.7 13) Missouri #23 - 4.7 14) Auburn #2 - 4.6 15) USC #3 - 4.6 * 16) Ohio State #1 - 4.4 17) LSU #9 - 4.3 18) Michigan #6 - 4.3 19) Georgia #10 - 4.1 20) Iowa #19 - 4.1 21) Tennessee #13 - 3.9 22) Boston College #25 - 3.8 23) Virginia Tech #21 - 3.4 24) Florida State #17 - 3.4* 25) Notre Dame #12 - 2.9 * - Notes teams that have only played 4 games (for what it's worth). Now.. While it's somewhat less than flashy being "middle of the road" in the top 25 teams as far as rushing, there's not alot of spread between us and some of the teams 5 or more spots ahead of us. More notably in the avg/carry list... One good game for one team, and one bad one for others is all it takes. For instance.. Say Scott has a good day Saturday and the rest of the team does too on the ground.. and gets say... 225 yards on 33 attempts. Then all of a sudden we average about 4.8 yards a carry and we move up 5 or so spots in the rushing game (provided the other teams are consistant with their last games). My questions are: ----------------- Does the running game look worse since we're basically doing it by committe? Is it more noticable when 1 back averages 145 yards a game rather than 4 combined (making it seem a bit more lack-luster than it is)? Does it matter to anyone as long as we get the yards? Lastly, in the SEC and combined with our passing attack.. Is 145 yards rushing/game average enough? I say yes, yes, not a bit, and most likely.
Now, post the passing stats and the defensive stats. Put all of the stats together... LSU looks great. Nay sayers suck a$$
If you consider the Auburn and MSU games, then the running game sucks. If you consider it against the porous defenses we faced other than those 2 teams, then we look great. My guess is that it leans more towards sucking than excelling. Russell will likely need to throw for in excess of 300 yards to win the game this weekend vs. the Gators.
It needs to be more consistent. The running plays seem to be a little predictable. Though, what do I care. Lets air it out 50 times a game. :wink:
Yeah we suck at running.. look at the company we keep around us... 12) Florida #5 - 4.7 13) Missouri #23 - 4.7 14) Auburn #2 - 4.6 15) USC #3 - 4.6 * 16) Ohio State #1 - 4.4 17) LSU #9 - 4.3 18) Michigan #6 - 4.3 19) Georgia #10 - 4.1 I mean no offense, but you make it sound like nobody has anything to worry about with LSU's offense because barely half way into the season we're not in the top 5 running teams. Few ever 'have it all'... I would argue that not only is it being used, but a few people find it somewhat effective. As they have been. I mean, last I checked we're 5th in the country in 3rd down conversion percentage... Also pretty highly ranked in TD's scored off running the ball. The passing game has complimented our running thusfar much to everyone's dismay (as we SEC folks are used to some running). I beg to differ... by my officiating I had that game as 10-7 at the very least. Yeah unfortunately, the team that plays best doesn't ALWAYS win... I don't care what any of the barners say, they know they slipped away from disaster that day and they all know they have never been more glad to be on the happy side of those calls... repeatedly. But hey, we shouldn't have played it that close right? I mean, it's just the #3 team in the nation at the time (now #2). Refs aside, We should have been able to smoke them by 9 bazillion points too.. right? I don't mean to be so argumentative with my opinions, as that's all they are... I've just noticed alot lately that people are worried about our running game like it's an embarrassment. I don't see it like that. I say no way. It's not nearly as horrible as people think... I think there's alot of ball left to be played and they will get it together before the year's out. In the mean time, the passing attack and defense is more than enough for any team to consider us an extremely formidable threat.
I would be inclined to agree if I thought Florida could out score us in this one. Call me Ray Charles but I just don't see it happening. I think Florida may score 14 on us at the most, and I also think half of that may come from their defense rather than offense. We should be able to put 24 points on them, which I think is a reasonable estimate. I just hope 2 things.. Leak doesn't pick on Chivas Jackson, and that we don't have to have Hester throw a block for a RB on a game winning play..I love the guy to death but he's gotta work on that.
LSU does not have a poor rushing game, it has a mediocre rushing game. It's just that we have become accustomed to a powerful rushing game. LSU is in the upper half of the SEC in rushing (#5) with 144 yards a game, ahead of ranked SEC teams like Bama, Georgia and Tennessee.. LSU has 14 rushing touchdown, most of any SEC team. We can carry the football and are especially good around the goal line. What we haven't been able to do is sustain long rushing drives to eat up clock and protect a lead. The OL and the backs do have room to improve and they will improve.
Some will say our statistics were built up by poor opponents, but we also faced 2 very good defensive lines in Miss St & Auburn. Miss St held Auburn to something like 70 rushing yards, so anything we accomplished on them should not be viewed lightly just because of their poor record. Our running game seems worse than it is for 2 reasons. 1) We don't have any great back, much less a couple of them as we may have been used to in the past and 2) We were terrible at it in our only loss.
Ok let's take a look at the rushing stats for our SEC games…because that's really what counts. We played two, one good team one not so good team. Auburn: 23 for 42 - 1.8 yards per carry Miss St: 38 for 108 - 2.8 yards per carry That's a combined 2.3 yards per attempt. No matter how you spin it that's not good enough. I'll give you that the O-line for Miss St is one of the better aspects of a bad team, but we should still be able to do better than 2.8 yards a carry. Especially when we are throwing so well. What happened to the pass opening up the run philosophy? We did have four rushing TD's in the game which is a bright spot. At least we showed we can punch it in when it counts and that will help a lot in keeping defences honest in the red zone. I do think as the young o-line jells, veteran RB's regain confidence, and freshman RB's gain experience, that the running game will come around. I just hope it's sooner rather than later.
