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The running game -- a breakdown

Posted on 10/2/24 at 3:52 pm
Posted by dominantD
Member since Sep 2017
311 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 3:52 pm
Is anyone else wondering why the RBs are not a bigger part of the overall offense? Here's my breakdown of it through 4 games.

Between Jam and Justice, they are only averaging 14.75 carries per game. Barely over 7 carries each. By contrast, Milroe is averaging 13 carries per game by himself. Milroe is averaging 5.3 YPC, while Jam and Justice are gaining 8.0 YPC.

Understanding that opposing defenses have to focus a lot of effort to stopping #4, this is opening opportunities for the RBs. But how many of you would agree that we would be better off in the long run to start handing the ball more to the RBs and taking some of the load off of #4? I would gladly trade a couple less YPC for the RBs to reduce the likelihood of an injury to Milroe. Lose him and the season is in jeopardy.

At this point in the season, I am beginning to lose hope that the above will actually happen. For whatever reasons, the coaches seem determined to force feed Milroe runs, seemingly at the expense of the other RBs getting touches. And if this continues, Justice is going to be seriously looking at the portal after the season. That's the world we live in.
Posted by Night Vision
Member since Feb 2018
19315 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 3:59 pm to
How many running option RPO's have we called and Milroe has pulled the ball and ran vs letting the RB keep it?
Posted by mistaken4193
Member since Jan 2017
29573 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:02 pm to
idk. It frustrated me watching them widen out to stop Milroe around the edge in the second half and us not adjust by feeding our backs inside where there should naturally be more room. Maybe that's on Milroe by keeping the ball on some of these read options
This post was edited on 10/2/24 at 4:03 pm
Posted by RollTide33
Member since Sep 2019
4292 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:03 pm to
quote:

How many running option RPO's have we called and Milroe has pulled the ball and ran vs letting the RB keep it?


No way to know unless they tell us. A read-option where Jalen decides to keep it probably doesn't look any different than a designed QB run where he fakes the hand-off to Jam or Justice.
Posted by dominantD
Member since Sep 2017
311 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:03 pm to
I don't have any idea and not going to do a deep dive into the replays to figure out that part of the equation. You would have to know the actual play call to truly know the answer. I go on the assumption that Milroe isn't advanced enough in his "reading" ability to be truly proficient with RPOs anyway. Probably north of 50% are pure called plays for him to keep.
Posted by Funky Tide 8
Bayou Chico
Member since Feb 2009
55979 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:10 pm to
I mean, I would like to see the RBs get more carries, but its hard to complain with the way things are going.

Are Young and Hill healthy? It might be a depth concern? idk
Posted by tide06
Member since Oct 2011
20499 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:14 pm to
UW did an outstanding job of keeping teams honest with a very physical running game.

I’ll be shocked if we don’t see some of that this year, particularly against top teams.

Keep in mind we hadn’t seen the UGA offense until the UGA game. I don’t think we’ve seen the full playbook yet.
Posted by Marktastic86
Pismo Beach, CA
Member since Dec 2020
20966 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:22 pm to
Even with limited snaps, both guys made their impact vs UGA. Haynes had a huge run on the first drive and Miller had that great catch for a TD.

Both need to work on their short yardage though. Miller not putting his shoulder into the pile and at least attempting to power forward for that 1 yard, then Haynes doing the same on the second to last drive of the game just made you shake your head.

You know Gillespie was in their ear and will be replaying that for them during film review and practice.
Posted by dalefla
Central FL
Member since Jul 2024
3238 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:23 pm to
quote:

How many running option RPO's have we called and Milroe has pulled the ball and ran vs letting the RB keep it?


Too many. He calls on own # too often. Understanding that watching on TV gives you things he can't see, there were some missed handoffs that would have gained yards.
Posted by Funky Tide 8
Bayou Chico
Member since Feb 2009
55979 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:35 pm to
quote:

then Haynes doing the same on the second to last drive of the game just made you shake your head.


I couldn't believe that he was stopped short on that play. Inexcusable.
Posted by aspiclark
Member since Jul 2014
3773 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:38 pm to
Nope.
Posted by labamafan
Prairieville
Member since Jan 2007
26608 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 4:42 pm to
quote:

How many running option RPO's have we called and Milroe has pulled the ball and ran vs letting the RB keep it?


This is the answer. Josh Patr broke it down and said second half Jalennpulled a few that should have been given and made bad reads on those which was one reason the offense slowed down. Georgia adjusted and we kept running the same plays. We never changed what we were doing. He also said that he believes the reason why we are snapping. All with 20secinds is because OC can talk to Jalen up until 15sec and can help him if defense makes a last minute adjustment.
Posted by Sauron
Birmingham
Member since Dec 2015
1098 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 5:15 pm to
quote:

He also said that he believes the reason why we are snapping. All with 20secinds is because OC can talk to Jalen up until 15sec and can help him if defense makes a last minute adjustment.


I understand the rationale, and supposedly DeBoer hasn't bled the clock too much in his career (although I have no real data on that -- just what I've read here), but ... dadgummit, that kind of time mismanagement can cost you a game. Almost did against Georgia, in fact.

That's the only real complaint I have thus far: Let the clock run down when we've got a lead in the second half. Being aggressive is one thing, but you've got to reduce the amount of time an opponent can have when they're trying to come back.
Posted by Riseupfromtherubble
You'll Never Walk Alone
Member since Jun 2011
39586 posts
Posted on 10/2/24 at 11:28 pm to
I have a hunch our head coach is a damn savant so I’m just rolling with what he thinks is best until proven otherwise.

It’s very unlike me.
Posted by AlterDWI
Pattern Noticing, Alabama
Member since Nov 2012
6034 posts
Posted on 10/3/24 at 7:12 pm to
KD said last night on his radio show that the new two minute timeout will change end of game strategies evidenced by 5 change of possesions in the last 4 minutes. He said he was focused more on playcalling & offensive rhythm instead of trying to bleed clock.

He also suggested they were of the mindset that if they scored 1 more TD the game would be out of reach which turned out to be correct.
This post was edited on 10/3/24 at 7:14 pm
Posted by BasedCrimson
Member since Jun 2024
1019 posts
Posted on 10/3/24 at 10:48 pm to
I watched a lot of Washington film in the offseason to get an idea of what the DeBoer offense was.

He's simply not big on the run game (in the traditional sense).
For starters, everything is out of shotgun. Most of his run plays at Washington were done in 4 WR sets.

If you're wanting an offense where a back gets 20-30 carries between the tackles, that's just not what DeBoer does.
Posted by JIB
Member since Sep 2013
2440 posts
Posted on 10/4/24 at 8:12 am to
In 2 years at Washington DeBoer's teams were ranked 118th and 131st in rushing attempts per game. However, they were ranked 15th and 26th in rushing TDs per game.
Posted by Gideon Swashbuckler
Member since Sep 2019
8834 posts
Posted on 10/4/24 at 2:18 pm to
quote:

Both need to work on their short yardage though. Miller not putting his shoulder into the pile and at least attempting to power forward for that 1 yard, then Haynes doing the same on the second to last drive of the game just made you shake your head.


Maybe their carries suffered because of these plays. The 1st down 22 didn't get because he stopped running for some reason was huge.
Maybe DeBoer is sending them a message. Run hard or not at all. I know that was a pass and not a run, but hopefully if he was sending a message it was received.
Posted by Kcstills17
Member since Nov 2017
12645 posts
Posted on 10/5/24 at 11:28 am to
Yep there were some plays that had some great blocks to set up the handoff. Bernard had another jet sweep in the 2nd half that could have been a td too if Milroe gave it up
Posted by tide06
Member since Oct 2011
20499 posts
Posted on 10/5/24 at 3:01 pm to
2023 Rushing Stats:
Bama: 561 att / 2413 yards / 4.3YPC
UW: 411 att / 1776 yards / 4.3YPC

So clearly Bama ran more than UW, but UW had a pass first QB whereas Bama had Milroe running the ball consistently.

If you take Milroes numbers out you end up with:
Bama: 400 att / 1883 yards / 4.7YPC
UW: 411 att / 1776 yards / 4.3YPC

UW doesn’t beat Oregon or Texas last year without an effective run game.
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