More sobering statistics about our diminished running game

lo country

lo country

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It's one thing to watch the game and come away saying we looked over matched in our run game. Then to read a statistical break down to show just how much we dropped off....Talent, injuries, play calling, scheme, coaching etc....We need a lot of improvement that might take longer than a year or two....

http://www.omaha.com/huskers/football/offense-on-shaky-ground-line-injuries-among-several-factors-in/article_14e4e0a3-439c-5964-b6db-b8243e453f78.html

After that bye week, the NU train veered well off that track.

Nebraska averaged 138.1 yards per game and 3.75 yards per carry over the final seven games. That’s nearly 100 fewer yards per game and more than 1 less yard per carry. NU also carried the ball more than 10 fewer times per game over the last seven contests than it did in the first five.



And we lost 3 of those........... Further proof, IMO, what some had said that against better teams, Langs had no answer in the run game. None.

I understand Cav and the "chemistry" to a degree. Its great when you have depth, but when we don't? It sucks. He is another dude who would be on a short leash this next year, if not one who is another casualty of subpar performance soon....
 
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I think Newby did well for what he had to run behind... We were spoiled with Roy, Rex and AA.... Unsure if those lines were much better or those guys were that good..

I also think Tre might be the back we have missed the past few years.

 
Our run game dropped off with the disappearance of Ozigbo. When your O line is not able to blow holes for your 'scat' or smaller types backs, then you have to go with a big power back and use a powerful blocking FB as well. We did much better last season down the stretch with Devine and Cross and Jano. I don't think the O line was all that much better last year - rather it was the backfield set up and utilization that helped. If we are going to run the ball better next year, we are going to have to throw the ball MUCH better so that teams will have to stop the passing game with a dime package or other measures that will weaken their run defensive posture. Presumably we will have some extra bodies by next fall on the line as well. Between linemen hurt and limping, etc and the absence of Ozigbo and Cross and Jano, there was a great deal missing. Add in a gimpy Tommy and Iowa had an easy chore to stop our offense.

 
lo country said:
I think Newby did well for what he had to run behind... We were spoiled with Roy, Rex and AA.... Unsure if those lines were much better or those guys were that good..

I also think Tre might be the back we have missed the past few years.
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Every single year, in the present tense, it seems we always hear more voices talking about how bad our line is in the run game.

Then, every year, it seems like it hindsight past lines were, to many, so much better than the current line. It's very bizarre.

 
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
lo country said:
I think Newby did well for what he had to run behind... We were spoiled with Roy, Rex and AA.... Unsure if those lines were much better or those guys were that good..

I also think Tre might be the back we have missed the past few years.
Click to expand...
Every single year, in the present tense, it seems we always hear more voices talking about how bad our line is in the run game.

Then, every year, it seems like it hindsight past lines were, to many, so much better than the current line. It's very bizarre.
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I'm not making excuses for the line but Newby is terrible at reading blocks. He got better at it this year but it's pretty basic thing to do for a RB. It would have helped the line a lot

 
I still do not get at all why the coaches held back Devine when he was feeling well enough to play. Not worth sacrificing the run game.

At the same time, I do not think Newby is trash, I think he did well when he had to. The coaches just liked to use him for all the wrong reasons. Thus why I wanted Langs gone so much during the season.

 
Sometimes when you're a rb the best you can hope for is one on one with a defender. Either you have to make him miss or run him over. There won't always be gapeing holes to run through. Our rb's have to be better.

 
GBRHouston said:
I still do not get at all why the coaches held back Devine when he was feeling well enough to play. Not worth sacrificing the run game.

At the same time, I do not think Newby is trash, I think he did well when he had to. The coaches just liked to use him for all the wrong reasons. Thus why I wanted Langs gone so much during the season.
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No idea at all......seems like a poor decision given how crappy we were in that 7 game stretch.

 
10 fewer run plays per game. I don't know how many times against tougher defenses we had good runs to the outside with Newby and then toss the ball around the next few plays. Langs never stuck with the run game except to run inside again and again when we did run, with very few outside runs and if it didn't get us 4/5+ yards we'd just start throwing the ball. Very little if any misdirection plays, screen plays seem to disappear (I know TA...blah,blah,blah and that's true) but we had had some good success earlier in the year with the screen and you are guaranteed to not have success if you are not calling the plays including sporadic run plays.

Maybe I am misremembering and was going to go back and watch all the games except for Ohio St but after the Iowa game I just deleted them all. It may just boil down to the OC having absolutely no confidence in our offense being able to do anything he wanted to do consistently. Personally it's not that I don't like him, just some play calling left me scratching my head especially the 3rd and 1 to 3 yards where he seemed to want to pass more often than not. It's just a wait and see what happens next year for me.

Folks can say whatever they want to say but Newby WAS NOT the problem!

 
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