Calling Richard Kelly!!!!!!!

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

with the exception of the UL game, our running game has been productive pretty much all season. Not sure how we got away from it last game-- running/passing balance has been a big part of the offense this season until then. I think we need to get back to that.

our running game hasn't changed.

but 8 games into the season, teams have figured out how predictable and simple it is and are shutting it down.

we didn't "get away from it" so much as it was shut down and we were forced to do something else, namely rely on Grothe to make Gregory's lemons into a very bitter lemonade.

[MikeG]

with the exception of the UL game, our running game has been productive pretty much all season. Not sure how we got away from it last game-- running/passing balance has been a big part of the offense this season until then. I think we need to get back to that.

I couldn't agree more.  I understand Ford and Taylor were hurt against UL, but don't we have 3 other backs?  Leavitt mentions them all the time in press conferences, so I would expect he has confidence in all of them.  BBQ, Plancher, or Kelly should have been given the carries against UL with the others hurt. 

once we lost Dile and Puppello (and with Huners already out for several games and Schmidt was having trouble too as I recall)-- it made it pretty tough to run I guess. THe Bulls took what they could get via the passing game (which was actually moving the chains). Injuries at this stage of the season hurt us last year as well. YOu throw guys in there like Estenour and other new linemen and things get tougher for everybody-- poor line play leads to difficulties rushing and pass blocking. We fell apart somewhat. It can happen to any team

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

IMO, R.Kelly is our 2nd best back.  the guy has never had a single carry for negative yardage.  he is averaging around 5 yards per.  Ford should be 1a, Kelly 1b.

but i don't think this thread is titled appropriately.

we shouldn't be "calling" Kelly, as it isn't his decision when he gets carries.

it is the decision of Franks and Gregory, and as is par for the course with this team they have proven utterly inept at adjusting and tailoring our playcalling to our specific opponent, and have failed to recognize the individual talent sets of our players and send in packages that hilite that.

we have the offensive talent to bulldoze our way through the Big East [maybe not the depth, but our 2-deep at the skill positions is top fit], but our coaching staff is utterly garbage.

[TRUTH D. Antagonist]

with the exception of the UL game, our running game has been productive pretty much all season. Not sure how we got away from it last game-- running/passing balance has been a big part of the offense this season until then. I think we need to get back to that.

I couldn't agree more.  I understand Ford and Taylor were hurt against UL, but don't we have 3 other backs?  Leavitt mentions them all the time in press conferences, so I would expect he has confidence in all of them.  BBQ, Plancher, or Kelly should have been given the carries against UL with the others hurt. 

once we lost Dile and Puppello (and with Huners already out for several games and Schmidt was having trouble too as I recall)-- it made it pretty tough to run I guess. THe Bulls took what they could get via the passing game (which was actually moving the chains). Injuries at this stage of the season hurt us last year as well. YOu throw guys in there like Estenour and other new linemen and things get tougher for everybody-- poor line play leads to difficulties rushing and pass blocking. We fell apart somewhat. It can happen to any team

our running game sucks regardless of the situation on the OLine...  the unhealthy OLine merely compounds the problem.

the problem is less the OLine and more the predictable, inadequate playcalling.

[MikeG]

most of our running backs average around 5 yards a carry-- so that stat seems pretty silly to base things on.

RB averages per carry so far:

[table][tr][td]RUSHING GP-GS Att Gain Loss Net Avg TD Long Avg/G[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]GROTHE,Matt 8-7 86 449 160 289 3.4 3 28 36.1 [/td][/tr]

[tr][td]FORD,Mike 7-0 71 299 10 289 4.1 5 17 41.3 [/td][/tr]

[tr][td]PLANCHER,Moise 7-4 49 248 11 237 4.8 4 34 33.9 [/td][/tr]

[tr][td]TAYLOR,Jamar 8-2 43 237 16 221 5.1 2 25 27.6[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]WILLIAMS,Benja 8-4 32 158 7 151 4.7 2 45 18.9 [/td][/tr]

[tr][td]KELLY,Richard 8-0 19 104 0 104 5.5 1 14 13.0[/td][/tr]

[tr][td]BOGAN,Dontavia 8-0 2 23 0 23 11.5 0 20 2.9 [/td][/tr][/table]

GREGORY,Grant 6-0 6 17 1 16 2.7 0 9 2.7

ALCIN,Edner 4-0 1 11 0 11 11.0 0 5 2.8

PADILLA,Mike 2-0 4 10 0 10 2.5 0 6 5.0

LOVE,A.J. 8-7 1 10 0 10 10.0 0 10 1.2

CANNON,Shawn 4-0 3 7 0 7 2.3 0 5 1.8

MITCHELL,Carlt 8-0 1 7 0 7 7.0 0 7 0.9

DANIELS,BJ 2-0 3 10 8 2 0.7 0 7 1.0

JOHNSON,Taurus 8-2 1 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0

TEAM 5-0 5 0 7 -7 -1.4 0 0 -1.4

Total.......... 8 327 1590 220 1370 4.2 17 45 171.2

Opponents...... 8 251 877 225 652 2.6 7 35 81.5