ANYBODY ELSE SEE IT THIS WAY?

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BreakTheGopherCurse

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I'm surprised I haven't seen this discussed at all on GH after the Wisconsin game (which is probably because I'm off base here).

Perhaps I was hallucinating or not paying close enought attention, but early on in the game I got the distinct impression that our Offensive Line was getting good push and seemed to be winning the battle in the trenches. I remember yelling at the T.V. "just keep running the damn ball and we'll kill them". Did anyone else get the feeling that we had them on ropes with the run game but sort of let them off the hook? I really thought we were going to dominate them with time of possession and our strong running game.

I know this is dangerous territory to delve into because I vowed to never again question coaching, but just wondering if anyone else was feeling the same way during the game. This was one of the few times this season where I thought to myself "just keep running".
 

Had the same thought at the game, but after some further reflection came to the conclusion that there were plays to be made in the passing game, we just didn't execute. Thought the game plan and play selection were pretty good.
 

The first thing I texted to my buddies was that I thought both of our lines were holding up well and felt like we were going to be able to run on them. I would have like to seen more running at the beginning but against a good team you are going to have to mix it up and the pass game just wasn't working, which in my opinion was mainly on Nelson.
 

We were running well but not well enough to keep it strictly on the ground. For example, on our first two drives, I think we had 3rd and 4 and against that good of a defense I would call a passing play as well. The receivers were open for first downs on both plays, but a combination of inaccuracy from Nelson and cold hands blew those drives up.
 

I felt that we abandonded the run too quickly. I like a nice mix, but felt that we were having success running the ball, and also felt that facing 3rd and 4 or less would help our conversion rate. I know it sounds so simple in retrospect, but our lack of succes throwing the ball early should have made Limegrover dial back the passing game a bit in the 3rd quarter and it didn't. The receivers didn't have a good day and Nelson had a rough one, so you can't blame he play calling, but i would have liked to see us run the ball more in the 2nd half.

Cobb has had a great year, but i also would have liked to see Kirkwood get a little run in the game. He's a solid change-of-pace over Cobb and gives the D a different look to deal with. Cobb had some uninspired efforts on Saturday. He's been great, but it's OK to sit him now and then.
 


BreakTheGopherCurse said:
I'm surprised I haven't seen this discussed at all on GH after the Wisconsin game (which is probably because I'm off base here).

Perhaps I was hallucinating or not paying close enought attention, but early on in the game I got the distinct impression that our Offensive Line was getting good push and seemed to be winning the battle in the trenches. I remember yelling at the T.V. "just keep running the damn ball and we'll kill them". Did anyone else get the feeling that we had them on ropes with the run game but sort of let them off the hook? I really thought we were going to dominate them with time of possession and our strong running game.

I know this is dangerous territory to delve into because I vowed to never again question coaching, but just wondering if anyone else was feeling the same way during the game. This was one of the few times this season where I thought to myself "just keep running".
Click to expand...

No, I agree as well. There were actually a couple 3rd and medium (3, 4) early in the game where I thought we should've run because we were getting decent movement up front. I even saw a quote after the game from one of Wisconsin's players saying that it took them a bit to adjust to our physical style of play. So yeah, I agree. But as others have pointed out, it's unlikely that style would've worked the entire game. We'd passed successfully in the 4 previous wins, so there was no reason to get away from it completely. Well, until it was blatantly obvious we weren't going to move the ball that way -- but that's another story.
 

I think we did get a good push for about a quarter and a half then they seemed to make some adjustments. If we were more efficient in the passing game things might have been different.
 

Early on, we were able to dictate where Borland was lining up. The offense double shifted several times leaving him on the weak side of the D which allowed us to run more effectively. Mid 2nd quarter, WI caught on and it wasn't as effective.

I don't DVR the games and and go back and break them down; this was a game time observation from the stands, so others may have a bit more insight.
 




Well, all sr and jr, anyway. Unless one of those uber recruits like pirsig or shaft (Isaac hayes) breaks through - but I'm not expecting it.
 

I absolutely think we went away from the run too often and too early. I took these stats from the box score: RB's (Cobb and Kirkwood) 19 rushes for 80 yards (4.2 / attempt avg.), WR's (Wolitarsky and Jones), 3 rushes for 16 yards (5.3 / attempt avg.), QB (Nelson) 9 rushes, 8 yards - may have been a sack or two to lower it but pretty abysmal numbers from that position.

When your passing game stinks and your run game is averaging 4-5 yards a pop we should have been running more, on almost every first and second down and on a lot of our third downs too, those are pretty good rushing/attempt numbers. I'd have run it more.

Kirkwood came in and was very effective, 2 rushes for 12 yards for a 6 yard/attempt average and then doesn't get another carry? That is rather curious.
 

Triple D said:
I absolutely think we went away from the run too often and too early. I took these stats from the box score: RB's (Cobb and Kirkwood) 19 rushes for 80 yards (4.2 / attempt avg.), WR's (Wolitarsky and Jones), 3 rushes for 16 yards (5.3 / attempt avg.), QB (Nelson) 9 rushes, 8 yards - may have been a sack or two to lower it but pretty abysmal numbers from that position.

When your passing game stinks and your run game is averaging 4-5 yards a pop we should have been running more, on almost every first and second down and on a lot of our third downs too, those are pretty good rushing/attempt numbers. I'd have run it more.

Kirkwood came in and was very effective, 2 rushes for 12 yards for a 6 yard/attempt average and then doesn't get another carry? That is rather curious.
Click to expand...

We maybe could have run the ball more in the first half but Wisconsin was daring us to throw and the coaches were trying to mix it up. We were forced away from the run in the second half because of the following:

Wisconsin took the opening kickoff of the 2nd half ate up nearly half the quarter and scored a TD to push their lead to 13. On our first play of the next drive Cobb fumbled. By the time we got it back the third quarter was nearly over and we were still down by 2 TD's. 2nd half TOP was 2:1 in favor of Wisconsin and when you are down two TD's you need to go to the air to try and eat up bigger chunks of yardage. Our running game was doing OK but we were not busting a lot of big gains.

Bottom line is our passing game did not do enough to make it possible for us to try and use the run game more heavily.
 

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