Rushing Leaders

[Gophergrandpa]

After three games, here are the Big Ten leaders in rushing attempts: Mo Ibrahim, 97 attempts for 572 yards; Stevie Scott, 65 for 235 yards; Sean Clifford(!), 52 for 150—must count sacks, I assume. Obviously, Mo is a stud. He’s on quite a pace. I know that folks disagree on this point, but I personally hope we can spell him a bit more during games, without dropping quality too much. Good for Mo’s durability; good for development of depth.

 

[HitMeAgainIAmStillMoving]

He is a kid, give him the rock.

 

[RememberMurray]

"Spell him a bit more often"?

Last season, as a junior, Jonathan Taylor carried 320 times for Wisconsin.
As a sophomore, Taylor carried 307 times.
As a freshman, Taylor carried 299 times.
Now he's with the Indianapolis Colts.

Do you think Wisconsin over-used Taylor? At no point in his college career did did Taylor appear worn out to me. However, often it seemed that the defenses trying to contain him did look a bit tired and beaten-down by the end of those Wisconsin fourth quarters.

 

[8151]

"Spell him a bit more often"?

Last season, as a junior, Jonathan Taylor carried 320 times for Wisconsin.
As a sophomore, Taylor carried 307 times.
As a freshman, Taylor carried 299 times.
Now he's with the Indianapolis Colts.

Do you think Wisconsin over-used Taylor? At no point in his college career did did Taylor appear worn out down to me. However, often it seemed that the defenses trying to contain him did look a bit tired and beaten-down by the end of those Wisconsin fourth quarters.
[/QUOTE

I understand most pro scouts had concerns about his "mileage."

 

[UpAndUnder43]

97 attempts in 3 games is a lot of attempts. Wow.

 

[Unregistered User]

"Spell him a bit more often"?

Last season, as a junior, Jonathan Taylor carried 320 times for Wisconsin.
As a sophomore, Taylor carried 307 times.
As a freshman, Taylor carried 299 times.
Now he's with the Indianapolis Colts.

Do you think Wisconsin over-used Taylor? At no point in his college career did did Taylor appear worn out to me. However, often it seemed that the defenses trying to contain him did look a bit tired and beaten-down by the end of those Wisconsin fourth quarters.

And Mo is close to those total rushing attempts with a 9 game season vs. seasons where Taylor played 14, 13 and 14.

10+ more carries each and every game.

 

[RememberMurray]

And Mo is close to those total rushing attempts with a 9 game season vs. seasons where Taylor played 14, 13 and 14.

10+ more carries each and every game.

Did they over-use Taylor, while winning the West last season?

No.

 

[RememberMurray]

"I understand most pro scouts had concerns about his "mileage.""

Oh? He was drafted 41st overall — in a league that has drastically de-valued running backs in recent years.

Edwards-Helaire, #32
DeAndre Swift, #35
Jonathan Taylor, #41

 

[Some guy]

Did they over-use Taylor, while winning the West last season?

No.

I don’t think it is wrong to run him 40 times while trying to win a close game.

I do think it’s rather stupid to run him while up 20 with 7 minutes left when he carried as much as he had in the previous 8 days.


but it’s not like it’s the most clear cut thing in the world. Whatever

 

[RememberMurray]

I don’t think it is wrong to run him 40 times while trying to win a close game.

I do think it’s rather stupid to run him while up 20 with 7 minutes left when he carried as much as he had in the previous 8 days.


but it’s not like it’s the most clear cut thing in the world. Whatever

I agree with the bolded part, but that being said the Gophers were fresh off of blowing a 17-point fourth quarter lead against Maryland. That might have factored into their thinking. Plus, Potts got hurt and was unavailable.

I thought it was encouraging to see Potts and Wiley running well.

 

[Some guy]

I agree with the bolded part, but that being said the Gophers were fresh off of blowing a 17-point fourth quarter lead against Maryland. That might have factored into their thinking. Plus, Potts got hurt and was unavailable.

I thought it was encouraging to see Potts and Wiley running well.

I said in either this thread or another thread that I think the fact that he was in at that point really tells you how much confidence fleck had in the defense

 

[forever a gopher]

I said in either this thread or another thread that I think the fact that he was in at that point really tells you how much confidence fleck had in the defense

The difference is the 4th string Illinois QB wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire throwing the ball. They could sit back and play the run and hope to not get burned. Mo should have been shut down mid way through the 4th, if for nothing else than to get more game reps to the backups. Is Williamson healthy? Get him some carries. Wiley was doing fine- give him the ball. Part of the great thing about easy non-con games and blowouts in general is getting game reps to your backups so they’re more ready when you actually need them.

 

[RememberMurray]

Has anyone heard if Potts will play Friday night?

 

[#2Gopher]

Has anyone heard if Potts will play Friday night?

Stay tune! Perhaps about game time you'll find out!

 

[Gophergrandpa]

In 2019, Taylor—a true work horse—was used on 320 attempts in 14 games, which is slightly less than 23 attempts per game. In 2020 so far, Mo is averaging just over 32 attempts per game. I consider this a true, material difference; some others consider it an immaterial difference. That’s OK. I’m just expressing an opinion. Football is a violent game. Running backs, especially those who run violently, risk injury every time they carry the ball. If to win we need to run Mo 30+ times a game (a pace of 430-440 rushing attempts in a 14 game season), then that’s what we should do. But, in terms of likelihood, we will increase the chance that Mo suffers an injury. Is it worth it late in a game that we have solidly in hand? And by using Mo at a pace that is 25% beyond the pace at which WI used Taylor, we miss the opportunity to give other backs the chance to experience game conditions in a year where practice was not sufficient for development. But, in the end I trust the coaches. They know when we “need” to use Mo, and I’m sure they balance the increased possibility of injury (removing Mo entirely from future games) against the benefit gained by using Mo late in a game that is already well in hand.

 

[denguegopher]

I would guess that there are reasons not to, but at the end of decided games why aren't more subs put in? Wasn't Morgan in for most every snap of the last game? It seems that it could provide experience for folks and some memories. It also reduces chances of injury for starters. Rick Neuhesiel has talked about this. He said that in some games he would tell assistant coaches that he was going to put some guy in at safety who was actually a back-up wide receiver. His argument being that he wanted the scrubs to be able to say that they got into a few games. The asst coaches were apparently concerned that the sub had no idea of their assignments and would give up a big play and mess up the coordinator's unit's statistics. I say let the kid play. Go Gophers.

 

[GopherFanatic19]

Maybe fleck is showcasing a lot of carries for MO, to help attract high rated RB. A lot of 4-5 star RB want the ball a lot every game with a good offense. Fleck is showing that we have good QB and WR play now he is showcasing a RB in his offense can get a lot of offense and TD.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Has anyone heard if Potts will play Friday night?

IIRC he is "day to day"..

I think it is unlikley we hear anything other than day to day until the game is played.

 

[Some guy]

Maybe fleck is showcasing a lot of carries for MO, to help attract high rated RB. A lot of 4-5 star RB want the ball a lot every game with a good offense. Fleck is showing that we have good QB and WR play now he is showcasing a RB in his offense can get a lot of offense and TD.

I do think part of the reason Wisconsin always has good running backs and Oklahoma has good quarterbacks is because it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy

Of course you want to showcase that because then someone else wants to come get showcased

 

[Gophergrandpa]

Maybe fleck is showcasing a lot of carries for MO, to help attract high rated RB. A lot of 4-5 star RB want the ball a lot every game with a good offense. Fleck is showing that we have good QB and WR play now he is showcasing a RB in his offense can get a lot of offense and TD.

Could be ...

 

[RememberMurray]

Maybe fleck is showcasing a lot of carries for MO, to help attract high rated RB. A lot of 4-5 star RB want the ball a lot every game with a good offense. Fleck is showing that we have good QB and WR play now he is showcasing a RB in his offense can get a lot of offense and TD.

And... it's been very successful, especially so considering Fleck's love of controlling the ball and dominating time of possession.

When you're fortunate enough to have a guy who is tearing it up, there's a tendency to keep handing that guy the rock. Good things happen when Mo has the ball in his hands.

 

[PMWinSTP]

Did they over-use Taylor, while winning the West last season?

No.

I think the point is Taylor was used 10+ carries less per game than Mo is currently averaging, so I'm not tracking with your point using Taylor as an example. Mo is averaging almost 50% more carries a game than Taylor did.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Did they over-use Taylor, while winning the West last season?

No.

I don't think they did, but I don't think it has anything to do with them winning the west. There is pretty strong evidence that RBs hit a wall after a certain number of carries. If Taylor's effectiveness/longevity was greatly diminished by receiving too many carries. . . it was great for WI but maybe not for him.

I'd really like to see Mo capped at around 20-25 carries per game. He has just done so much for the U, I thnk the coaching staff owes it to him to maximize his potential (here and in the future).

 

[RememberMurray]

I don't think they did, but I don't think it has anything to do with them winning the west.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post.

To clarify: surely you're not saying that Wisconsin's long history of battering opponents into submission via their powerful running game and their long chain of workhorse running backs — as seen most recently with Taylor — has had nothing to do with their success in the B1G West?

 

[RememberMurray]

I think the point is Taylor was used 10+ carries less per game than Mo is currently averaging, so I'm not tracking with your point using Taylor as an example. Mo is averaging almost 50% more carries a game than Taylor did.

Yeah. Maybe those extra 10 carries per game will destroy Mo.

I don't know, though; he doesn't appear to be too fragile — at least not to my eyes.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Yeah. Maybe those extra 10 carries per game will destroy Mo.

I don't know, though; he doesn't appear to be too fragile — at least not to my eyes.

I think it is less about worrying about him being fragile and more about trying to spread out the workload so that late in the game he is at his best as opposed to situations like the Maryland game where there is no way he was at his best late after getting 40 carries.

 

[RememberMurray]

I think it is less about worrying about him being fragile and more about trying to spread out the workload so that late in the game he is at his best as opposed to situations like the Maryland game where there is no way he was at his best late after getting 40 carries.

You're saying you could see that "no way he was at his best" late in the Maryland game, but the coaching staff were apparently oblivious to that fact?

Shame on them, then.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your post.

To clarify: surely you're not saying that Wisconsin's long history of battering opponents into submission via their powerful running game and their long chain of workhorse running backs — as seen most recently with Taylor — has had nothing to do with their success in the B1G West?

Evidently, yes. You know those little things running and tackling on your television, those are real human beings. So sometimes things that help you win a football game aren't good for those actual human beings.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Yeah. Maybe those extra 10 carries per game will destroy Mo.

I don't know, though; he doesn't appear to be too fragile — at least not to my eyes.

You don't think getting hit adds up? Why do NFL running backs have such short shelflives?

Also - Mo has missed time in each of the past two seasons. He isn't fragile, it's a violent sport and RB (especially the way Mo plays it is the most violent position).

So some people think it makes sense to minimize the amount of hits a player takes when possible.

 

[RememberMurray]

You don't think getting hit adds up? Why do NFL running backs have such short shelflives?

Also - Mo has missed time in each of the past two seasons. He isn't fragile, it's a violent sport and RB (especially the way Mo plays it is the most violent position).

So some people think it makes sense to minimize the amount of hits a player takes when possible.

What should his 'pitch-limit' be?