Running Game Observations/Questions

Grigsby 93 yards.... nice. Okay, I'll admit that he's better than I thought.

Madu seemed to be afraid to run it upfield and instead strung it outside (on his 1 run and on his short pass). He did have 2 other receptions that gave him some yards. Anybody else notice this?

Is Madu out as a runner?

Also, are we also afraid of power runs up the gut?
When we neeeded less than a yard we went from the shotgun. Why?

In answer to your last question, I believe they were tying something different so that it will keep DC’s guessing. It almost worked. Someone on the 5th quarter asked why they didn’t try a field goal instead. The (incorrect I believe) answer was that we didn’t want to run up the score - that Austin was too polite to do such a thing. Yet there was about a minute and a half left in the game. If Medlock missed it could have been run back for a TD. This is more likely to happen from a missed field goal than a punt because you have big lineman covering on FG’s and linebackers and DB’s covering on punts. So if the Allwets had run it back and then got the 2 point convert there would still be a minute or more left in the game with them being down be 8, followed by a possibility of an on-side kick… :wink:

Wow - a real football topic.

Mark, I noticed the same with Madu, I think he is more of an open-field runner rather than a power runner. He needs to get the ball in space to make his cuts and use his speed. I don't think he's "out" as a runner, he may just not be at 100% yet.

We have not had power runs up the gut all year. This is more a symptom of personnel on the O-line more than anything (missing Dyakowski and Wojt have hurt us all year). Gable can power through the line, but we have not had a true power runner since Avon Coburne.

As for short-yardage and the shotgun - I think it simply gives Collaros more options. He would run the read-option and either run a sneak, hand off to a RB (running at full steam), or pass the ball. For whatever reason, it works, and we should NOT f*** with it...