09-04-2022, 08:00 PM
(09-04-2022, 05:45 PM)MV72018 Wrote: How good was the O line's blocking yesterday?
E.J. Smith ran 11 times for 118 yards. Here are the yardages for his 11 runs, in the order in which they occurred:
87
8
-2
-1
6
6
1
1
16
-1
-3
On the 87 yard TD run, Smith showed good speed and I think he gets
kudos for finding a hole that looked unplanned.
The TD run aside, E. J. had 10 carries for 31 yards.
Of those 10 carries, 4 lost yardage (a total of 7 yards). Quite disturbing that he lost yardage on 4 plays out of 11 carries.
On the other 6, he gained 38, one of them accounting for 16 yards (toward the sideline).
Considering that we were playing Colgate, 10 for 31 doesn't impress me as a good or great day for the O line.
We shall see how the running game shakes out against USC on Saturday.
I've watched the replay of Smith's first run several times. The LOS looked more like a basketball court as most of our guys (and their guys) looked to be either standing, screening, or tangle-blocking. Smith just kind of got lost for a while behind the tall guys and then Colgate's safeties sucked themselves in big-time, probably sensing an opportunity for a gang tackle. At that precise moment Smith popped outside and was in daylight. If the Colgate DBs hadn't unnecessarily taken themselves out of the play, it could have been a gain of 3-4 yards.
I was more concerned by Smith's KOR right before that. Seemed to go down on an ankle tackle.