Cy the Cyclone
Starter
You're statistics are totally misleading...newearthhusker said:Here we go about Barney:
NU in 03 235 rushing per game for 4.3 a carry. (72 ypg being QB Lord)
ISU 04 141 ypg 3.2 ypc
ISU 05 110 ypg 2.7 ypc
ISU 06 101 ypg 3.0 ypg
If you ask me rushing yards and line play go hand in hand. Barney's lines have never really beat teams around and please name a single lineman that has shown improvement on the field under his watch. On Bo's pre-season show he said that Slauson was maybe the most talented Guard he had been around so why hasn't it shown on the field the first two games?
This point last year the team had already rushed for over 500 total yards with basically the same line except for Nicks playing basically the same type teams. This year we have 230 yards. I'm not saying it is all Barney I'm just saying it may be Barney.
ISU was coming off a 2-10 season when Cotton arrived...and finished 2004 with a 7-5 record, a bowl game, a 1000 yard rusher (Stevie Hicks) and 2257 passing yards (Bret Meyer)...a total turn around.
In 2005, Hicks was hurt early in the season (when a lot of runners are piling up yards against inferior opponents) missing three games and playing sparingly in the other 8. Even playing mix and match with the backs, ISU went 7-5 got to another bowl and Meyer ended up with 2999 total yards (2876 passing).
In 2006, the wheels fell completely off the bus. Hicks was hurt most of the year, his backup, Scales, got hurt and never came back. 4 OL starters went down with injuries as did two of their backups and missed parts of the season...
In addition, you throw out the QB rushing totals (considering Meyer had a habit of running backwards and getting crushed whenever he felt any pressure) and the average rises to close to 4.0 yards a carry for all four years.
I'm not a big Barney Cotton fan but I don't think people should be laying all this at his feet.