Too much Mo?

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36 carries, when it wasn't necessary for him to carry such a heavy load? It's a conundrum, as he is our offense. He averages almost 6 yards a carry and we all saw what we look like when he's out.

Coming off the achilles, the injury at MSU, in the medical tent today, and his bruising style of running, combined with such a workload has me concerned for his ability to finish the season. I wish our offense could take more off his plate.
 







I think it's too much Mo, as in there was absolutely zero need to use him so heavily today, especially given the fact that he was gimpy out there. Mo's style is one that is physical as hell, and his mentality leads him not to shy away from contact, but rather to seek it out and try and inflict punishment on the defender. He is a true power back in every sense of that phrase, and in that way he reminds so much of Jerome Bettis sometimes that it's not even funny.

Mo is as true a stud as there is, far as I'm concerned. He is an absolute warrior, but he is not Superman, and exposing him to this many hits, this early, this needlessly, it bothers me greatly. We've still got four very important games left to play, both rivalry games, and I'd much rather he not be fricken crippled or completely spent by that point, beast or no.

All these hits he's taking, they have a cumulative effect over the course of a season and over the course of a career, for that matter. There are only so many hits a human body can take before things just start shutting down, and I do not want to see Mo get to that point for a very long time, after he's made some $$$ in the NFL. He is way, way, way too special a player to blow him out in college.
 

yep. way too much. But it is Flecks issue he does not have a capable backup to play meaningful snaps in a game. Mo should not have had more than more than 24-25 carries in this game.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
yep. way too much. But it is Flecks issue he does not have a capable backup to play meaningful snaps in a game. Mo should not have had more than more than 24-25 carries in this game.
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I don't even see that. In my opinion he does have capable backups in Trey Potts and Bryce Williams. He just chooses not to use them, but rather run his bell cow straight into the ground.
 




A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Was 14 - 0 for most of that…
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Yep, an argument could be made that we had the game in hand regardless but it was still just 14-0 going into the 4th quarter. Once we took a 21-0 lead Mo's night was over.

Our offense just works better when Mo is in there. Again, I can understand someone saying he should have gotten fewer carries but the game wasn't fully out of reach on the scoreboard until that 3rd touchdown.
 

The game was out of reach at the end of the second quarter.
It was obvious that Rutgers could not mount a pass rush and because of that Morgan had a very good day. More passing and using the other RBs would not have cost MN the game.
Rutgers has no real offensive threats.
I turned the game off to watch other games and when I turned it back on I was surprised to see #24 still in even though he was obviously wearing down.
Leonhardt has publically stated that WI is limiting Allen's runs to keep him from wearing out like he did last season.
MN is not going to win the West and winning the trophy games is all that matters now.
 





Seany said:
I don't even see that. In my opinion he does have capable backups in Trey Potts and Bryce Williams. He just chooses not to use them, but rather run his bell cow straight into the ground.
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Trey and Bryce are good backs. Mo has some 1-2 yard runs between the better ones, and he stays in the game. Trey or Bryce has a 1-2 yard run and they’re out. If Trey and Bryce got half the long leash Mo gets, they’d prove valuable backups.

Bryce also can catch a pass out of the backfield and usually makes something out of it. But when you have a lead and decide not to pass, I guess that skill goes on the shelf.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Yep, an argument could be made that we had the game in hand regardless but it was still just 14-0 going into the 4th quarter. Once we took a 21-0 lead Mo's night was over.

Our offense just works better when Mo is in there. Again, I can understand someone saying he should have gotten fewer carries but the game wasn't fully out of reach on the scoreboard until that 3rd touchdown.
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The reason he should not have played the 4th quarter is that he was limping. Still running hard because he has no other way, but favoring his left ankle on the way back to the huddle.

The injury he suffered a month ago is going to nag him all season. His use has to be monitored carefully.
 

Some guy said:
The game was 14-0 with 11 minutes left and once it went to 21-0 Mo got a grand total of 0 more touches.

I agree with you but your framing of it the way you did kind of needs some context
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The context you omit is that he was limping.
 


Johnnyboy18 said:
He's always looks like he's limping. That's just the way he jogs.
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also think that is a function of the tape on his ankle.

Coaches, trainers, Mo all seemed to think he was ok and the best option at the time.....but what the hell do those people know?
 

When you're up 21-0, maybe you think you try to work on some things in the passing game? Get some confidence for receivers and Tanner, work on route timing, give the OL a chance to work?

Or have they just given up on passing?
 



Too much the same guys....our backups need more practice. Run the score up instead of playing so conservatively and put the back ups in for the entire 4th
 

Gophergrandpa said:
Trey and Bryce are good backs. Mo has some 1-2 yard runs between the better ones, and he stays in the game. Trey or Bryce has a 1-2 yard run and they’re out. If Trey and Bryce got half the long leash Mo gets, they’d prove valuable backups.

Bryce also can catch a pass out of the backfield and usually makes something out of it. But when you have a lead and decide not to pass, I guess that skill goes on the shelf.
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I hope so, I just don’t see the decision making anywhere near as good as Mo by those guys yet.

IIRC Bryce cut back… into the defenders near the goal yesterday.
 


Johnnyboy18 said:
He's always looks like he's limping. That's just the way he jogs.
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Nope, he still has a sore to bad left ankle. Pretty evident he is playing on a bum wheel. Mo is just tough and would never complain. Coach needs to give him a few less snaps, work load is a lot. Need to give MO a little more rest in games.
 


MNVCGUY said:
also think that is a function of the tape on his ankle.

Coaches, trainers, Mo all seemed to think he was ok and the best option at the time.....but what the hell do those people know?
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He has a nagging ankle injury. He's going to have it the rest of the season. He's ok to play. He would be more likely to stay ok to play the rest of the way if he was not used more than necessary.

That is just common sense. At some point only Mo will disagree.
 


I wish PJ would find a way to find another 10-12 carries per game for our other running backs. I'm pretty agnostic as to who those people are but I really don't love seeing RBs carry the ball 30+ times per game.

This has been happening for years and I don't expect it to change.
 

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