They had one drive late in the game where they ran the ball 5 straight times and moved it like 70 yards. Our lines are not in the same atmosphere when it comes to physicality as the top teams. UF and ND were the two that stood out yesterday when comparing them to us. On both sides of the football, their lines dominate. We are laughably behind them in that regard.
Excellent points. You really have to give credit to Brian Kelly and Will Muschamp. I've been watching the relevant numbers all year. Notre Dame has jumped all the way up to 40.5 rushes per game, from below 33 and 32 in Kelly's first two seasons, and Muschamp has Florida at 42.
For reference purposes, we're at 30. That's all the difference in legitimately being able to compete at the line of scrimmage late in games, or being stuffed like USC at the goal line last night. USC somehow became preseason #1 despite ranking 98th in rushes per game in 2011. That's sheer ignorance, by the voters and public opinion.
I've followed that rushing attempt category for more than 25 years. Only two teams have made BCS bowls while ranking at the extreme bottom of the rushing attempt category -- Hawaii in 2007 and Cincinnati in 2009. I salivated to bet against both of them. And those games were among the most lopsided first half destructions in major bowl history, with Georgia and Florida trying not to laugh. If Mike Leach and Texas Tech had made it to a BCS bowl in 2008 they would have suffered a similar mangling. Instead, Mississippi routed Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl as an underdog.
I'm very surprised Kelly is running the ball so often at Notre Dame. His Cincinnati teams won despite low rushes and more often than not a coach will be arrogant enough to transfer the same approach regardless of results. Early in his Notre Dame tenure the rushes were very low, and Notre Dame often suffered in the trenches, like when Navy embarrassed them. As other have pointed out, his interior defensive personnel is outstanding. It enables the more physical approach on both sides of the ball.
In Florida's case, they've been one of the more underrated teams in recent memory. Basic blue collar excellence. After watching how they took apart Texas A&M on the road in the second half it was surreal they were underdogs at pantyhose Tennessee. The +7 yesterday at FSU was absurd. I guess fans actually believe the nonsense that simply because a low scoring team doesn't rout undermanned foes they will get torn up by top opponents. Reminds me of 2002 Ohio State.
Muschamp will probably run the ball less often once the skill position players catch up. But he made a brilliant choice this year.
As always, Larry and Lu took care of many of the valid points. I wanted to specify the rush attempt numbers.
