RUN THE BALL!!!

[BRV920]

Yeah, Michigan State. But that's my point. When I see all these posts about not caring about what offense we run I'm left scratching my head. I get that there are warm weather schools that can get away with throwing the ball more. But we aren't one of those schools. If out goal is to return to winning national championship games there is a ton of info that points to running the ball as the best way to do that.

 

[Saunders]

That's a half story.

Example:

BYU - 37 rushes, 127 yards (3.4 YPC)

Northwestern - 38 rushes, 82 yards (2.2 YPC)

Iowa - 38 rushes, 137 yards (3.6 YPC)

That stat also gets inflated because of the Purdue game, where we played from so incredibly far behind the entire game. Minus the Purdue game, the runass ratio in losses is 48:52

Again... watch HOW we ran the ball.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Then please point out a team that throws it 40 to 50 times a game that is consistently successful? Washing state isn't exactly what I call a cold weather school. MSU might be close to that many pass attempts per game. But that's about the only school I can think of.

We averaged 35 passes per game. Not sure why you keep trying to inflate the passing attempts in your posts.

 

[BRV920]

Not trying to inflate our passing numbers. I'm asking somebody to point out a team that throws the ball a lot the actually wins anything playing in a colder environment. Still haven't had anybody name one.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Not trying to inflate our passing numbers. I'm asking somebody to point out a team that throws the ball a lot the actually wins anything playing in a colder environment. Still haven't had anybody name one.

But, by your definition of "a lot" ( somewhere between 40-60) doesn't even include us. So, I'm confused on your point.

Also, how many real cold games did we play this year?

 

[Hayseed]

Crazy what happens when you actually let our running game have a chance to work.

It's not Newby.

It's not the offensive line.

It actually calling a coherent game running the ball.

Through the first six games, we've called passing plays about 65% of the time in the first three quarters of games. Today we've called 58% running plays so far

TCU has the #13 rushing offense in the country. They ran 44 times for 203 yards (4.6 ypc) against Minnesota.

We have run 20 times for 131 yards (6.6 ypc) in the FIRST HALF.

RUN THE BALL!!!

This thread is hilarious because the whole bar screamed this at the same time near the end of the game when everyone could see Langsdorf was starting to have another brain seizure.

 

[BigRedBuster]

By your definition, there were only 8 teams in the country that threw the ball 40 times or more.

Btw....Michigan threw on average 32 times a game. Some fans think their coach is the bees knees.

Would it make everyone happier if we passed 3 times less per game?

 

[BRV920]

I would say we had 4 games this year where weather was a factor in our passing game. Since you seem so fixated on the numbers Big Red Buster lets just talk about running percentage. How many teams are consistently successful up north that throw the ball more than they run?

 

[NUance]

I would say we had 4 games this year where weather was a factor in our passing game. Since you seem so fixated on the numbers Big Red Buster lets just talk about running percentage. How many teams are consistently successful up north that throw the ball more than they run?

You seem fixated on the ambient temperature. Sure, that's one factor. But do you think the quality of the rush defense that an OC faces has anything to do with his play calling?
Let's take a look at Alabama as a point of reference. Last night Bama had 286 passing yards and 154 rushing yards. LINK Why would Bama pass more than rush? Well, maybe Sparty having the #12 rushing defense in the country had something to do with Bama's play calling.

This year we played four teams with rushing defenses in the top 13 in the country. That might have had something to do with out run/pass mix.

Am I saying we should keep passing the ball as much as we did this season? No. I'm not. Instead I think we need a balanced run/pass game. And we should be able to emphasize whichever part of the game the other team is weakest in. Like when we played Michigan State. Or UCLA.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I believe that for most games we were right around 50-50. Pass vs rush. A few we were more run and a few we were more pass.

Btw....on the season I think we were 496 rush to 458 pass.

Can you define northern and consistent success? I don't think there are very many that would fall in both categories.

 

[HuskerExpat]

I would say we had 4 games this year where weather was a factor in our passing game. Since you seem so fixated on the numbers Big Red Buster lets just talk about running percentage. How many teams are consistently successful up north that throw the ball more than they run?

You seem fixated on the ambient temperature. Sure, that's one factor. But do you think the quality of the rush defense that an OC faces has anything to do with his play calling?Let's take a look at Alabama as a point of reference. Last night Bama had 286 passing yards and 154 rushing yards. LINK Why would Bama pass more than rush? Well, maybe Sparty having the #12 rushing defense in the country had something to do with Bama's play calling. This year we played four teams with rushing defenses in the top 13 in the country. That might have had something to do with out run/pass mix. Am I saying we should keep passing the ball as much as we did this season? No. I'm not. Instead I think we need a balanced run/pass game. And we should be able to emphasize whichever part of the game the other team is weakest in. Like when we played Michigan State. Or UCLA.

Exactly.

Pretty basic concept. We're just not going to be able to have as much success running the ball 75% of the time against a team that is far better than UCLA at defending the run. Find a team's weakness and exploit it....

 

[BRV920]

Point out all the teams playing for conference championships and national title games in the cold that are 50/50 run pass or throw the ball more than they run it. Also if you can actually come up with one why not take a long term look at their success.

 

[BRV920]

Sure Alabama threw the ball last night. Could it be because MSU was loading the box to stop Henry leaving their secondary in man coverage. The reason Bama was able to to throw so successfully was because of their running game.

 

[TheSker]

Pretty basic concept. We're just not going to be able to have as much success running the ball 75% of the time against a team that is far better than UCLA at defending the run. Find a team's weakness and exploit it....

And we're going to be a .500 team until Riley can figure out the running game.

 

[HuskerExpat]

Point out all the teams playing for conference championships and national title games in the cold that are 50/50 run pass or throw the ball more than they run it. Also if you can actually come up with one why not take a long term look at their success.

The relevant inquiry would actually be their ratios of run to pass while the game is in doubt. As has been pointed out many times in this thread, a team is far more likely to go run heavy if they're up two or three scores in the second half. That obviously skews the ratio to make it look like they run more than they do to put themselves in the position to win the game by running out the clock.
And you'd also have to adjust for things like QB sacks and scrambles, which count as runs but were not the play called.

So it's not as simple as just looking at the box score.

And the point still remains. Unless your team is so dominating as to tell the other team you're running and dare them to stop you (yes, we did this in the 90s but when else by anyone?) then you're going to have to adjust to what the other team is doing and attack their weaknesses. That is why the bowl game showed promise, since the coaching staff did that very well in that game.