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Interesting Note on the Run Game (and Praise for Zach Carpenter)

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UMercury21 said:
if you remove lyle's 91 yard run garbage time run we averaged 2 yards per carry... they may not be letting people in backfield for TFLs but they aren't opening holes either.
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You are your record. No fair removing bad facts that undermine your point.
 
AtlAtty said:
Oline tend to get called for a lot more holding calls with schemes like the outside zone as the Oline have to move and sometimes reach to make their blocks, and then too often grab if the RB cuts behind their block.

Inside zone running should have a lot fewer holding penalties. Which goes to your point that not having negative plays or penalties maybe the most important thing.
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bingo. this is the reason mcvay dumped the ouside zone; IIRC he did a clinic or attened a practice under mario too. the WR tunnel screens and now the flare outs to 24 seem to function as our outside run game with much lower rates of drive killing negative plays
 
JamesQuall said:
If you remove Martinez’s 3 TDs he didn’t have any.

If you remove Lyle's record breaking (yes, that is a new school record) 91 yard run, he doesn't have any and the record stands at 90 yards.

If you remove Brown’s 76 yard TD, he didn’t have any either and Cam would’ve only thrown 3 TDs.

If you remove my uncle's balls, (s)he becomes my aunt.

All of these things happened. And the best part? They ******* count too! The score reflects that fact.

This is such a dumb argument in this situation. It’s one thing if we won the game 28-27 with Lyle's TD saving us. It's a whole other argument when we're blowing the doors off of teams. We're not a run heavy/run only team like Army or B1G team. We've shown just last year that if we NEED to run the ball (Clemson) we can and will.

The best part about this? We haven't needed to because we have the best QB in college football slangin that ****. Killa Cam is dealing.

So lock that BS up and save it until you need it.
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As formula 1 drive Max V said recently, if my mom had balls she'd be my dad.
 
Salt said:
if you read Mario's post game USF comments it seems teams gear up to stop the run by stuffing the box. He alluded to possibly testing the perimeter of the defense when they do that. Lyle's big run was when he bounced it outside when a defensive player shot through the gap he was supposed to run to. It was a great instinctive move by Lyle to avoid the defender that was shooting the gap.
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tbh the majority of the best runs this season are when we bounce outside.
 
JamesQuall said:
If you remove Martinez’s 3 TDs he didn’t have any.

If you remove Lyle's record breaking (yes, that is a new school record) 91 yard run, he doesn't have any and the record stands at 90 yards.

If you remove Brown’s 76 yard TD, he didn’t have any either and Cam would’ve only thrown 3 TDs.

If you remove my uncle's balls, (s)he becomes my aunt.

All of these things happened. And the best part? They ******* count too! The score reflects that fact.

This is such a dumb argument in this situation. It’s one thing if we won the game 28-27 with Lyle's TD saving us. It's a whole other argument when we're blowing the doors off of teams. We're not a run heavy/run only team like Army or B1G team. We've shown just last year that if we NEED to run the ball (Clemson) we can and will.

The best part about this? We haven't needed to because we have the best QB in college football slangin that ****. Killa Cam is dealing.

So lock that BS up and save it until you need it.
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Exactly. Do people think that if a team averages 5 yards per carry, they’re just getting five yards every single time? Of course not, there’s usually a bunch of two and three yard runs and then a back breaks one for 20 yards to bump the average up.

Miami ran 8 designed run plays in the first half against USF (not counting Cam taking a knee at the half). Three of those runs were goal line/short yardage situations. It’s really tough to put up great numbers when you’re getting almost half your touches in short yardage situations where plays are only designed to pick up one or two yards. Which, BTW, we converted every single time.
 
JamesQuall said:
This is the part that everybody who has been saying this has been missing. If we hgad been getting stuffed in these situations it becomes somewhat more valid. However, every short yardage situation where we've needed a couple to a few yards for a 1st or TD we've gotten. We're getting and taking what we need and leaving the rest to Cam and our receivers.
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What's nice is we are dominating with routine calls and reads. No Philly specials or HB passes in the snow to keep these games competitive. We just go out and run our simple **** that we dial up for a particular scheme or coverage and work the opponent like it's a scout team.
 
gogeta4 said:
Carpenter is physical as **** in the run game. Ive noted pancakes a few times with the guy.

Lee might have been overall better and getting to the next level with athleticism but Carpenter punishes guys when he is locked on.
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Wait, I thought he was a mediocre pickup from the portal?
At least this is what I was told by some of the Mel "knee bender" Kipers on this forum.
 
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Martinez in prob the better back when you need a for sure 2 yards. But when they pack the box I think Ajay would be the better back on avg. overall. He needs more carries.
 
UMercury21 said:
if you remove lyle's 91 yard run garbage time run we averaged 2 yards per carry... they may not be letting people in backfield for TFLs but they aren't opening holes either.
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multifactorial...WR blocking, RB vision, stacked boxes.
 
I think a couple things are true:

1) Teams seem to be loading the box more than you would expect, especially USF
2) We are often in very tight formations when we do choose to run
3) When we're spread we RARELY (if ever) run the ball. I would say it would be incredibly successful to run there but on the flip side, Cam is destroying the defenses with 15+ yard passes in those situations.
4) I think our expectations of Martinez and Fletcher need to change. I don't think this offense wants (or needs is probably better) them to get big chunk plays. This offense needs them to get 5 yards when they ask for it.

I think, going forward, we would do well do run the ball more out of the spread formations to keep defenses aware that it's possible. Cam hasn't needed it, so he hasn't used it. But he will need it eventually and Dawson needs to play the long game here to some extent.

I think that's the disconnect that fans have and the appearance of a running game that isn't there. They're foregoing runs in advantageous situations for passing, and it's working. I think if they were intent on running the ball you would see 50-100 yards more per game. It's just when and how they're choosing to run the ball, along with a backfield that hasn't been able to bust through on the more stacked boxes.
 
Given we've only use a fraction of the playbook, teams have been loading the box, and we are still having success (when we don't get called for dumb penalties), I think worrying about our ground game is premature. Let's see how Dawson and Cam call plays throughout the season and where we end up. My guess is the rush YPC will go up significantly.
 
I think we’ll see a lot more action in the run game Friday night. Virginia Tech isn’t usually a team that overloads the box to stop the run. They’re actually a much better pass defense than run defense and have one of the better pass rushes in college football so far. I would not be surprised to see Martinez get a lot more work as we try to punish them for overplaying the pass.
 
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I get the concern over the run game, but we are #2 in Total Offense at 605 yards/game and tied for #3 in Scoring Offense at 52.3 points/game. Through 4 games, we've scored 209 points, most in program history. As others have said, pick your poison!
 
DTP said:
I think we’ll see a lot more action in the run game Friday night. Virginia Tech isn’t usually a team that overloads the box to stop the run. They’re actually a much better pass defense than run defense and have one of the better pass rushes in college football so far. I would not be surprised to see Martinez get a lot more work as we try to punish them for overplaying the pass.
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That's not going to happen until Cam believes he can't complete a 15 yard downfield pass.

We are 1st in passing plays of 10+ yards, 20+ yards, and 4th in 30+ yards. We have 106 completions and 67 of them have gone for 10+ yards. That's 63% of our passes.
 
Carpenter has been really good. I also believe he has been every bit as good as Lee getting up to the 2nd level. My only real knock is I feel like his shotgun snaps need a touch more zip. Anyone else notice? they are always on the money though and a side note, isn't he a lefty?
 
hurricaneman said:
That's not going to happen until Cam believes he can't complete a 15 yard downfield pass.

We are 1st in passing plays of 10+ yards, 20+ yards, and 4th in 30+ yards. We have 106 completions and 67 of them have gone for 10+ yards. That's 63% of our passes.
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Dawson is going to take what the defense gives him. If Virginia Tech wants to drop a bunch of guys into coverage and play with a light box. He’s going to call more run plays.
 
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