One thing that strikes me about most of our discussion of our poor offensive performance against Rutgers is about how we view the run game because of the stats. NCAA counts sacks against rushing totals, unlike the NFL, which counts them against the passing totals. (I prefer the NFL approach, btw.) So our rushing yard total of 12 is somewhat deceiving. Below are the individual numbers for rushing.
NU - Rushing
When looking at this, it is important to note that Bryant's 5 sacks for -37 yards comes out of his (and the team's) rushing totals. So on designed runs, we gained 49 yards for the game on 17 attempts for a 2.88 ypc average. Clearly not where we need to be, but a more accurate statistic of what our run game produced.
Bryant's rush numbers then get adjusted to 3 rushes for 22 yds, for a 7.33 ypc average. Most of this was gained on that 15 yd scramble for the first down.
Some comments on looking at these numbers:
1. We didn't run the ball enough. True, playcalling might have skewed pass heavy once we were behind, but 17 true rushing attempts vs 46 pass attempts (41 attempts + 5 sacks) is not where I think we should be. My recollection is that in our first few possessions, we appeared to be very pass-heavy. I don't think Bajakian committed to the run enough throughout the game. I understand coming out in the first few plays and passing to go against what our usual tendency is and catch Rutgers off guards, but I think we needed more balance.
2. Everybody struggled to gain yards. It's easy to put blame on Porter because he was the starting RB and had the most attempts, but nobody really got going. Which means...
3. ...the lack of run success was mostly due to the OL. Advanced analytics might help in proving this point, but I think the eye-ball test confirms what the basic stats show: that none of our RBs could get much going because the OL didn't open any holes for them.
I might have more thoughts as I continue to process things, but that's what I have so far.
NU - Rushing
| Player | Att. | Gain | Loss | Net | TD | Lg. | Avg. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sullivan,Brendan | 4 | 11 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 2.8 |
| Porter,Cam | 6 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 1.3 |
| Komolafe,Caleb | 2 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 3.5 |
| Henning,A.J. | 2 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0.5 |
| Priebe,Josh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Franks,Zachary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Bryant,Ben | 8 | 22 | 37 | -15 | 0 | 15 | -1.9 |
| Totals | 22 | 58 | 46 | 12 | 0 | 15 | 0.5 |
When looking at this, it is important to note that Bryant's 5 sacks for -37 yards comes out of his (and the team's) rushing totals. So on designed runs, we gained 49 yards for the game on 17 attempts for a 2.88 ypc average. Clearly not where we need to be, but a more accurate statistic of what our run game produced.
Bryant's rush numbers then get adjusted to 3 rushes for 22 yds, for a 7.33 ypc average. Most of this was gained on that 15 yd scramble for the first down.
Some comments on looking at these numbers:
1. We didn't run the ball enough. True, playcalling might have skewed pass heavy once we were behind, but 17 true rushing attempts vs 46 pass attempts (41 attempts + 5 sacks) is not where I think we should be. My recollection is that in our first few possessions, we appeared to be very pass-heavy. I don't think Bajakian committed to the run enough throughout the game. I understand coming out in the first few plays and passing to go against what our usual tendency is and catch Rutgers off guards, but I think we needed more balance.
2. Everybody struggled to gain yards. It's easy to put blame on Porter because he was the starting RB and had the most attempts, but nobody really got going. Which means...
3. ...the lack of run success was mostly due to the OL. Advanced analytics might help in proving this point, but I think the eye-ball test confirms what the basic stats show: that none of our RBs could get much going because the OL didn't open any holes for them.
I might have more thoughts as I continue to process things, but that's what I have so far.
