Bring Back the Running Game (RG)Hey, coach, use the Trojans' formula for RG
By: Malamute, 4 January 2003
To bring back the running
game, the Huskies should use this season's Trojan formula for success, as
implemented by offensive coordinator Norm Chow.
Last season, as I remember, Troy ran for -7 yards against Utah in the Las Vegas
Bowl, with tailback Sunny Byrd--a cloned mixture of all the UW running backs’
DNA mixed with his hippie parent’s DNA--lugging the pigskin, along with
himself, for little yardage. Ploddingly slow and hardly a whirling dervish, but
nevertheless game, Byrd provided little challenge for anybody’s front four,
even the Ute’s.
In the 2001 season, USC finished dead last in rushing
offense in the Pac-10, averaging 95.5 yards per game. Troy finished the season
6-6.
This season, in the Orange Bowl against Iowa, which
sported the number 2 rush defense in the country, SC ran for an embarrassing
amount of yards, 205. And Byrd scored the last touchdown.
So, what’s the difference between this year’s Trojan team
and last year’s? I'll put on my math cap; it’s the Norm Chow formula for a running game (RG),
RG = SM + JF + WJ
In English:
- A healthy Sultan McCullough (SM).
- The comeback kid, Justin Fargas (JF),
who would have starred in the movie, “Tailback U,” if he could have played in
the seventies.
- Winston “the truth” Justice (WJ), 6-6,
305, out of
Polytechnic High school in Long Beach, just a freshman.
Fargas’ comeback from debilitating injuries and the play of Justice
on the offensive line are phenomenal
stories in themselves.
In the Orange Bowl, along with some other notable games
this season, McCullough, Justice and Fargas inspired an erstwhile lackluster
offensive line into achieving “greatness,” at least compared with last year’s
effort for them. Indeed, football is a game of emotion, the kick in the butt
kind, the kind that Bear brought to Junction, the kind that the "Big Fella"
brought to Montlake.
So, how come the Trojans lost to WSU this year? Answer: The
Cougars may have purloined the Trojans’ formula, out-rushing them, 201 to 72 yards. In
the other loss, against KSU, El Roberson did an imitation of Marques Tuiasosopo.
QB Cody Pickett is no Tuiasosopo and can't be because of
an injury to his throwing shoulder, so we can forget the power option that
worked so well in the 2K season.
With 16 of 22 position players back and a relatively soft schedule
after the Ohio State opener, the Dawgs have a chance to achieve some national recognition
in 2003. Not playing ASU and getting USC and Oregon at home will help the
conference cause.
Like USC in 2002, the Dawgs will field an experienced team
in 2003, with four fifths of its offensive line returning to protect a
veteran quarterback and to open holes for a senior running back, Rich Alexis,
who wants to be the 18-wheeler runnin' down hill that he was in 2K.
It would be a crime against Dawgdom to have it all spoiled
by a wimpy running game, especially with senior quarterback Cody Pickett roping
the bulls.
To make the formula work for themselves and for 2003, the Dawgs
will need a healthy Rich Alexis plus a Reggie Bush (looks like he's gone), or someone of his ilk, and
a 5-star offensive lineman to add some brio to the wide bodies' push off the
line.
The Montlake running-game formula may require the repositioning of some
variables and the adding of a constant or two. Will offensive lineman Francisco Tipoti (pictured above),
running back Kenny James, and a redshirt-freshman
lineman step to the fore?
The other part of the deceptively simple-looking formula, which is missing
but implicit, is Talent, with a capital T.
Holding out optimism for next season's play may lack
merit. Rick Neuheisel, the NCAA's biennial bad boy, has not recruited on a
level playing field in two of his four years at Washington thanks to NCAA
restrictions imposed on himself and his assistant coaches. He has only himself
to blame if the talent is lacking.
The 7-6 finish this season, ironically, is remarkably like
Jim Lambright's finish in '98 (6-6), both coaches suffering humiliating bowl
losses. Lambo ended up at Washington, 43-24-1 (64% of them wins). At this
juncture, Neu is 33-16 for his coaching career at Washington (67% of them
wins).
Is a paltry three-percent bonus in wins worth all the
bonus money Barbara Hedges added to Neu's contract in January--$2.5 million
over the next six years.
Assuming she doesn't fire him, it will cost someone $2.1 million to come in and wipe the
egg off her face, if she should end up in a food fight with Neu next year
because all the eggs he lays smell like sulfur dioxide. (If Neuheisel should leave
Washington on his own volition before his current contract expires, he would
have to repay a $1.5 million loan and provide for a $600 thousand buyout of his
contract).
That aside, assuming the Huskies' running game is
non-existent in 2003, will fans be
interested in watching reruns of the Dawg’s 2002 hit parade? I'm not sure.
--------------------
The Pac-10 went 2 for 5 in bowl games this season.
In all of its losses, the Pac's teams, all of which were out-rushed by their
winning opponents, averaged just 39.5 yards on the ground. Frankly, I'm loath
to criticize any team's defense-- especially when it plays lights out in the
early going--when its offense can't run the ball and create some positive
time-of-possession to give the defense a rest. You know, the KISS formula: Get
the engine running first and then worry about the air bags.
Table 1. Pac-10 teams that lost in their 2002/3 bowl games
and their rushing stats for the game.
Team |
Rushing Yards |
TOP |
Score |
Oregon State |
8 |
29:40 |
Pitt, 38-13 |
Oregon |
125 |
25:26 |
WF, 38-17 |
Arizona State |
17 |
31:27 |
KSU, 34-27 |
Washington |
42 |
25:36 |
Purdue 34-24 |
WSU |
4 |
22:46 |
OU 34-14 |