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The running game. - Printable Version

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The running game. - 81alum - 09-28-2012

Yards per carry/Taylor yards per carry 2012
SJSU 3.8 / 4.5
Duke 3.5/4.9
SC  5.5/5.7
Washington  2.3/3.6

Yard per carry/Taylor yards per carry 2011
5.3/5.5

For all the talk about Nunes' inaccurate passing, the fact is that there has been a major decline in the running game.  Of course, they are related.

Does SC have the weakest run defense?  I would not have thought so before...

Re: The running game. - 81alum - 09-29-2012

Coming into this season I thought the most we could hope for from our offense was to be similar to the 2009 offense, which was built around Gerhardt in his final year, and in which an emerging new quarterback was completing 56%.  Let's compare the 2009 games to the 2012 games

Washington
2009  Rushes/Passes  50/14  1st downs rushing/passing 16/5  Rushing yards/passing yards 323/103 TOP: 33.32
2012  Rushes/Passes  28/37  1st downs rushing/passing 3/7  Rushing yards/passing yards 70/170 TOP: 30.20

SC
2009  Rushes/Passes  50/22  1st downs rushing/passing 16/8  Rushing yards/passing yards 325/144 TOP: 36.20
2012  Rushes/Passes  37/32  1st downs rushing/passing 8/11  Rushing yards/passing yards 202/215 TOP: 31.55

SJSU
2009  Rushes/Passes  40/15  1st downs rushing/passing 10/6  Rushing yards/passing yards 211/171 TOP: 30.23
2012  Rushes/Passes  41/26  1st downs rushing/passing 7/8  Rushing yards/passing yards 155/125 TOP: 30.32

Generally speaking, the run/pass balance has moved decisively away from the run in comparison with our run-happy 2009 offense.  Is this a commentary on playcalling or philosophy?  Not entirely.  It could be that our running is less effective and even though the game plan calls for it, we are forced out of running.  Is it less effective because our talent is not as good as in 2009?  Is it that our pass threat doesn't open up the run?  Clearly our quarterback talent  is not as good.  Is it that Taylor is not as good as Gerhardt?  I doubt that.  Is the 2012 Offensive line worse than the 2009 offensive line? Hard to say.

There is another possible and more ominous explanation.  It could simply be that opposing defenses are getting better and more practiced at countering the "Stanford style" of power.  Despite the fact that this style of offense is as old as the hills, when Harbaugh brought it back it was almost a novelty in the Pac-10.  It presented real problems for opposing defensive coordinators and personnel to adjust since they rarely played against that style of offense  (e.g. reminiscent of getting ready for an option team.)  But they have been doing it for four or five years now.  The players have mostly played against it before--sometimes several times.  The novelty is long gone, and the players know exactly what they need to do to clog up the middle.  I sometimes wonder if their linebackers are shouting "Here comes Spider 3 Y banana again--they're calling it ____________ this year!"

Our coaches see that, and so they are attempting to develop a more balanced approach, since it seems they believe (with some evidence) we can't have the 2009 running game back again.  But the one big problem with a balanced offensive philosophy is you need an accurate quarterback.  The "balanced" game means controlling possession, making play-action effective, and sustaining drives.  And we are doing a poor job on all those phases right now.


Re: The running game. - Griffins78 - 09-29-2012

I agree. Before the USC game I said we need an effective enough passing game to open up the running game - not the other way around. Teams know we run power and have played against it their entire college career. It is not a novelty. Until we can hurt teams with our passing games, defenses will focus on stopping the run first and dare us to pass.