If you think we should have a featured back.....

[DELdaBull]

If they're going to telegraph most of the running plays it doesn't really matter who the back is.

bingo.

7 plays in the playbook is NOT ENOUGH to put together a BCS-bowl worthy season.

we had 7 plays in 2005 with Dre, and what was our record?

We basically have the same offense as last year (Matt Grothe, 9-4).  I would take a mix of last years offense with the 2005 offense (aka a feature back only).  Maybe that would get us to that covetted BCS bowl.  The Matt Grothe offense will not do it.

[ABullAboveAnyOther]

Im assuming that most everyone that posts with regularity on this board is a pretty big football fan...  Having said that if you are a football fan and have been for any extended period of time I cannot find one logical reason why you would not think Ford is the best RB on our squad.  It is not even close.  He is so much more gifted both physically and athletically than any other back on our squad it is ridiculous.  Seriously EVERY time he carries the ball I feel like he is about to bust a big run.  I do not even remember feeling that way with A Hall, and I love that guy.  Obviously none of us know every detail involved with the backfield, by that I mean classroom performance, practice field performance, and overall attitude.  But from a pure football standpoint its Ford, and then I just don’t care who else.  Being in the stadium at Auburn you could honesty feel the stadium hold their collective breathe every time Ford got the ball, I remember more than one cheer going up from the Auburn faithful when he left the field.  Ford is the best period.

[JoeB]

If they're going to telegraph most of the running plays it doesn't really matter who the back is.

bingo.

7 plays in the playbook is NOT ENOUGH to put together a BCS-bowl worthy season.

we had 7 plays in 2005 with Dre, and what was our record?

Tell that to Texas from a couple years ago.  How many plays did they run?  What about WVU a few years back?  They don't run many plays and they are BCS worthy. 

[thebouncer1898]

Im assuming that most everyone that posts with regularity on this board is a pretty big football fan...  Having said that if you are a football fan and have been for any extended period of time I cannot find one logical reason why you would not think Ford is the best RB on our squad.  It is not even close.  He is so much more gifted both physically and athletically than any other back on our squad it is ridiculous.  Seriously EVERY time he carries the ball I feel like he is about to bust a big run.  I do not even remember feeling that way with A Hall, and I love that guy.  Obviously none of us know every detail involved with the backfield, by that I mean classroom performance, practice field performance, and overall attitude.  But from a pure football standpoint its Ford, and then I just don’t care who else.  Being in the stadium at Auburn you could honesty feel the stadium hold their collective breathe every time Ford got the ball, I remember more than one cheer going up from the Auburn faithful when he left the field.  Ford is the best period.

Maybe you havent seen Jamar Taylor.

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

Tell that to Texas from a couple years ago.  How many plays did they run?  What about WVU a few years back?  They don't run many plays and they are BCS worthy. 

and who did Texas have?  a freakin legendary college option quarterback and future NFL ROY.

as much as i like MG and respect the talent on our team, we don't have anyone the caliber of Vince Young that can completely put the offense on his shoulders and work miracles consistently, drive after drive.  we also don't have a receiving corps like Limus Sweed, David Thomas, Billy Pittman, etc. that can consistently catch passes, or a stable of guys in the backfield like Selvin Young, Jamaal Charles and Ramonce Taylor.

the point i'm making is this: we have the talent to win, and beat any team on our schedule.  we don't have the talent to telegraph our plays and still move the ball on defenses that know exactly what plays we're calling and when we're calling them.  that's what Vince did, and Grothe isn't quite there yet, and doesn't have the same caliber of talent around him. we need to expand our playbook, cuz we're not showing our opponents anything they haven't seen 8 games worth of tape on this season.

do u think the '05 Longhorns would have lost to this UConn team?  come on.  it's ridiculous to even compare the 2007 Bulls to the 2005 National Champion.  please come back down to earth.

[ITBULL]

dude... it's freakin AUBURN...  in his 2nd college game.

anyone that rushes for 74 yards against Auburn is pretty **** good.

Excellent point.

I agree.

Are you kiddig me??  Just because they are Auburn doesn't mean they are going to be good every year.  That is the mentality that is killing everything, and the driving force behind these stupid rankings that change drastically every week.

Look at it this way, that same "AUBURN" (in bold to emphasize their greatness) lost to Mississippi State the very next week.  Does their win over Florida look all that great now?

[Orlando Bull]

dude... it's freakin AUBURN...  in his 2nd college game.

anyone that rushes for 74 yards against Auburn is pretty **** good.

Excellent point.

I agree.

Are you kiddig me??  Just because they are Auburn doesn't mean they are going to be good every year.  That is the mentality that is killing everything, and the driving force behind these stupid rankings that change drastically every week.

Look at it this way, that same "AUBURN" (in bold to emphasize their greatness) lost to Mississippi State the very next week.  Does their win over Florida look all that great now?

That same Miss State team also beat Kentucky. Just because they are Miss State doesn't mean that they are going to be bad every year.

I too was at Auburn, and felt like Ford was a MAJOR reason we were able to win that game. You may say that Auburn isn't as good as years past, but you can't say their defense is the problem.

I will always go back to this, and say I am exaggerating if you will, but Ford got 21 carries and was on the field for no more than 25 plays (including one catch I believe - of course, he couldn't have because the theory is that he cant catch right?). They knew he was getting the ball when he was on the field.

I agree with ABullAbove..., from a pure football standpoint, Mike Ford is the best we have, maybe the best in the state right now, and in a few years, maybe the best the Big East has seen (I know, Rice, Slaton, McGahee, Gore, etc.). He holds the HS record for yards. He got that from Travis Henry. It's not a fluke. I know, it's not HS any more, but playing HS ball in this state, you have to be pretty **** good to hold that record. I have said several time, if there is some other, non-football or practice issues related reason that he isn't playing, fine, I trust Leavitt with that.

I don't know how anyone can deny that he is the most talented we have.

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

Are you kiddig me??  Just because they are Auburn doesn't mean they are going to be good every year.  That is the mentality that is killing everything, and the driving force behind these stupid rankings that change drastically every week.

Look at it this way, that same "AUBURN" (in bold to emphasize their greatness) lost to Mississippi State the very next week.  Does their win over Florida look all that great now?

have u seen Auburn's defense? Auburn is 8th in the country in yards allowed per game.

regardless of their record (they've only lost to us, MSU and LSU), it is hard to move the ball on them.  they are a hard hitting SEC defense.

this is the same Auburn D that held one-time Heisman front runner Darren McFadden to only 43 yards.

as a matter of fact, only Teblow (75) and MSU's Dixon (103) have had more rushing yards against Auburn than the Ford (74) this season.

bottom line, any back that can rush for 74 yards on Auburn has serious talent.

of course, the reason Mike isn't our "featured back" is not due to any deficiency in his ability to run... his blocking and catching is where he's lacking.  and of course his ball handling technique.

[Rocky Style]

I think I saw Ford set up a good block for Grothe running in the UCONN game in one of his rare game appearances. 

[DELdaBull]

I think I saw Ford set up a good block for Grothe running in the UCONN game in one of his rare game appearances. 

Yes he did.  Too bad he is hurt.  He should be on the field.  The whole offensive mentality is different when he is.

Like I said I would like a mix of the 2005 Dre offense and the current MG offense.  That would be a much better O than we currently have.