Ford is looking huge

[smazza]

part of Ford's fumbling problem was his lack of playing time in my opinion.

Ford is a power runner, he needs to get in there and bang heads to get a good feel for the game.  if you look at the games where he had a lot of carries there were no fumbling issues.  it was the games were he would get 4 or 5 touches.

that will never happen with our offense

he needs to produce  early and often or he will be pulled

[Bullpride08]

S. Bien, I've already argued with you about this last year, I believe, but every game that we gave Ford the ball a lot (Auburn, Syracuse, Louisville, Pittsburgh) we won the game.  He had more carries against both Louisville and Syracuse than the 3 Big East losses combined.  Including Oregon, he had the same number of carries in the 4 losses as he did against Louisville, and had 4 more against Syracuse.

He also averaged 4.7 yards a carry on the year.

Not giving him enough carries was a mistake.

I hope he's a better pass blocker, but it's not like our QB draws weren't predictable, so only putting Ford in running plays wouldn't have been much different.

There is really nothing to argue about, the reason we won the games we gave him a lot of carries in is because a lapdog could have ran for 100 yards against those teams.

Against the quality teams, with quality defenses Ford was still short on the finer points, i.e. pass protection, reads, running the option...etc., that they couldn't effectively get him in the game and win.  Once he masters those things the kid will be good.

Yeah, Auburn wasn't known for their defense.  Pittsburgh didn't beat WVU the week after.  Give me a break.

Good grief we ran him 16 times, mainly in the first half against AU, the same exactly play until AU could stop it...DUH!  Pitt, yeah the kid got it going at Pitt but he wasn't doing much.

You've got a lot of explaining to illustrate how rushing 30 times and gaining 100 yards against Da Cuse, and Da Ville is impressive since they had two of the worst rush defenses in the nation last year.  Again, a lap dog could rush for 100 yards against them.  Not saying it wasn't a good idea by the staff to get him in there for those games and let him get the lionshare of the carries, Ben Williams could have just as easily done what Ford did in those games, because they had weak rush defenses and it was a good time to use Ford as a battering ram.

I really miss what in the world you are arguing about?  Ford was not a very good RB last year, he was capable but he didn't know the offense at all and missed many assignments.  The staff used him as best as they could, and I think we'll see a transformed Ford this year, one with a better handle on the offense, and clearly in great shape and finally taking this football thing seriously.

Do you realize that Ford ran a 4.94 forty when he was timed in late Febuary 2007 during Winter Conditioning, i heard be benched less than 300lbs and was a bit soft.  But he was 225lbs, and always ran with authority.  They say he ran a sub 4.6 last month, transformed his body....it's night and day and it will show on the field.  He won't be simply a battering ram like he was last year just running in and pounding defenses like a glorified FB.  Now he'll be using his feet better like he did in HS, and no Elon defender will catch him before he gets to the end zone.

[Bullpride08]

part of Ford's fumbling problem was his lack of playing time in my opinion.

Ford is a power runner, he needs to get in there and bang heads to get a good feel for the game.  if you look at the games where he had a lot of carries there were no fumbling issues.  it was the games were he would get 4 or 5 touches.

I think most of Ford's problems were conditioning, strength, and knowledge.  His fumbles came primarily because Ford ran like a **** upright FB last year, and he didn't know where he was going sometimes, and simply rammed into holes with his large body and forcing collisions that led to hard hits and occasionally fumbles.  With better strength, and conditioning, and knowledge I think you'll see a more nimble Ford who's not going to be just a battering ram.  Someone that's harder to tackle, and who will avoid hits, which should mean less nasty collisions and harder to strip the ball away from.

[Bullpride08]

I think oppossing defenses figured out our offense, which isn't Grothe's fault per se.  Especailly Oregon.  Grothe throws too many int's and makes some bad decisions however he isn't the reason we lost the bowl game.  Put that one on the coaches.

Perhaps on the offense Oregon figured it out, but 'opposing defenses' statement doesn't make sense since our offense was ranked 32nd in the country out of 120 Div 1-A teams last year before the bowl game. Regarding Matt and the Oregon game, one could argue that Grothe's gamesmanship in the first half even kept us in it, that one TD pass to TJ was all Grothe.  He throws a few too many InT's and makes bad decisions but everyone agrees that's more youth than a talent issue.

Here's a comparison regarding the INT's, because everyone keeps throwing this "He throws to many INT's" rhetoric around, the comparison is of all the top sophomores in the country how does Grothe compare, also to a few of the key seniors.  Grothe threw 14 INT's last year:

1. Dan Lefevour- CMU- 13 INT's

2. Colt McCoy- UTexas- 18 INT's

3. Max Hall- BYU- 14 INT's

4. Matt Stafford- UGA- 11 INT's

5. Kellen Lewis- Indiana- 11 INT's

6. Rusty Smith- FAU- 9 INT's

7. Tim Tebow- UF- 6 INT's---well heisman trophy winner, there is only one Tebow a decade folks.

Other QB's of Note last year.

1. Matt Ryan- BC- 19 INT's (supposedly the #1 QB to be drafted this year).

2. Brian Brohm- UL- 13 INT's

3. Colt Brennan- Hawaii- 17 INT's

4. Chase Daniels- Missou- 11 INT's.

I think the INT's aren't excessively high, although I think critical tiimes when they're thrown is more of the issue, in the end zone against RU, and UConn.  I also believe less running, and a RB that he can rely on to carry it much more will allow Matt to stay rested more in games and be more clear and cogent at the end of games to make better decisions and perhaps concentrate more on his passing game.  Matt is one of the five best junior's to be returning, but to go any further he needs to make better passing decisions overall.  Nothing earth shattering, just stay in more control throughout the game and it will be easier to do that if he has a 230lbs battering ram carry the rock who is bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter than last year.  Matt won't take such a beating and his head will be in the game.

Your analysis is missing something important...touchdowns.

Take a look...

1. Dan Lefevour- 27

2. Colt McCoy-22

3. Max Hall-26

4. Matt Stafford- 19

5. Kellen Lewis- 28

6. Rusty Smith- 32

7. Tim Tebow- 32

Grothe- 14 TD, 14INT

All of the above soph passers threw more, if not double, the TDs that MG scored last year. The INTs aren't the problem, its the imbalance of the TDs.

You fail to recognize Grothe's true value by not considering TOTAL TD's...Passing and Rushing

When all of his TD are considered, all 24 of them, then he is right in the mix with those on that list.  The only exceptions being Dan Lefevour and Tim Tebow, which are just far and away from the rest of the field. 

For example, Rusty Smith in a very bad conference had 34 TDs but Tim Tebow had 55 TDs total.  Only Lefevour had similar numbers to Tebow but thats it. 

Even Matthew Stafford only had 21 TDs total.

1

Good point Power...and I didn't want to get into the TD thing partially because it's tough to rate because of Matt's running ability and comparing competition.  He had some TD's nuetralized because of drops too.  Also, because a bunch of guys are always saying "he has to stop throwing iNT's," and sure less INT's would be better he wasn't that bad at it, and over half were in three games- Uconn, Cinci, and RU.  He needs to improve decision making and ball protection-- both are mental and something you can expect a solid QB to improve.

If Grothe can subtly improve his decision making, get a real running game behind him, and see some improvement in the play around him this offense could really be fun to watch this year and next.