Excellent thoughts Ohiocard and TriangleTree. A few quibbles, both related to the run game:
Other teams use shovel passes and shovel draws too. Statistics don't totally capture every nuance but the things that can deflate the run game like not counting those plays or having sack yardage subtracted apply to everybody. If you start to say "but we had a good shovel pass" as an excuse for miserable run stats you will end up in a less accurate place than if you judge by the overall results.
Filkins absolutely did not have a monster game. He had an admirable workhorse game (and I worry how sustainable his work load is). But you can't have among the worst ball security in the nation (literally the only Power Five running back in America with 4+ fumbles, and Saturday was his worst game of the season by that measure) and average 2.8 yards per carry (TWO POINT EIGHT!) and have a "monster" game. His troubles were not just a function of not breaking off a big one. Among his 36 touches (no doubt a workhorse performance), eight went for first downs. Against USC, Smith had 10 first downs and Filkins had 8. Against Washington Filkins had 7 on 22 touches. Against Oregon Filkins had 6 on 22 touches. Filkins' game on Saturday was not monster, it was workhorse. He carried a big load but didn't plow very far, and knocked the plow into a ditch an unforgiveable number of times with his butter fingers. For what it's worth, in large part due to the fumbles, PFF graded Filkins at a bad 52.8, tied as the 10th best among the 13 Stanford players with 20+ snaps on offense.
Other teams use shovel passes and shovel draws too. Statistics don't totally capture every nuance but the things that can deflate the run game like not counting those plays or having sack yardage subtracted apply to everybody. If you start to say "but we had a good shovel pass" as an excuse for miserable run stats you will end up in a less accurate place than if you judge by the overall results.
Filkins absolutely did not have a monster game. He had an admirable workhorse game (and I worry how sustainable his work load is). But you can't have among the worst ball security in the nation (literally the only Power Five running back in America with 4+ fumbles, and Saturday was his worst game of the season by that measure) and average 2.8 yards per carry (TWO POINT EIGHT!) and have a "monster" game. His troubles were not just a function of not breaking off a big one. Among his 36 touches (no doubt a workhorse performance), eight went for first downs. Against USC, Smith had 10 first downs and Filkins had 8. Against Washington Filkins had 7 on 22 touches. Against Oregon Filkins had 6 on 22 touches. Filkins' game on Saturday was not monster, it was workhorse. He carried a big load but didn't plow very far, and knocked the plow into a ditch an unforgiveable number of times with his butter fingers. For what it's worth, in large part due to the fumbles, PFF graded Filkins at a bad 52.8, tied as the 10th best among the 13 Stanford players with 20+ snaps on offense.