after reviewing the game last night on espn360, here is my assessment of the running game:
First, if you take out Ganz's runs/scrambles, we didn't run the ball all that much.
Second thing i noticed was that on about every zone running play, the running back got caught from behind by either a back side linebacker or defensive end. Thats credited to VT's speed and so we probably shouldn't have run any zone plays at all because their defense is so fast. There were some holes on the outside of these plays but the backs could never get there before being caught from behind.
Thirdly, the plays where we had pulling linemen were somewhat successful. They usually yielded 4 yards or more but we didnt run them that often. Sure there were numerous times when there were absolutely no places for our backs to go but that wasn't the case every time. Keep in mind that VT's defensive line is really good and has both size and speed.
I also would have liked to see a few more screens and draw plays to keep VT's defense honest but that didn't happen. We ran one middle screen that i remember. It went to Lucky and he got knocked down for no gain I believe and that was the end of the screens to the running backs.
So I'm blaming our lack of a running game on several things:
1. VT's team speed
2. Some poor play calls
3. and poor execution by the huskers