Can Clinton Carry the Load?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by BDBohnzie

For the offense to be successful, Portis needs to get the ball 25+ times, and Campbell needs to be around 60% on pass completion. Betts needs to be a 1-2 play breather, and 4th quarter mop up duty from here on out.

I gotta weigh in on this kind of analysis. Not to pick on you, BD, because I see it all the time all over the papers and all over the TV, and something just has to be said.

Saying that "in order to be successful, Portis needs the ball 25+ times a game" is exactly backwards. The proper way to say it is that in order to give Portis the ball 25+ yards per game, he needs to be successful.

It's no secret that our coaches want to run the ball a buttload. But in games when we haven't run much, it's not because the coaches weren't trying. It's because they handed the ball off, the runs got stopped, and we had to punt.

When a RB is ripping off 6 yards on most carries, and sustaining drives, then certainly the RB's carries will get up nice and high, because the team keeps making first downs, and the coach will keep feeding him the ball. But if the run is getting stopped, then we get into passing situations on 3rd down, and the other team gets the ball.

In other words, you can't just say "hand the ball off 30-35 times a game" and we'll be successful. If the run game is going nowhere, you have to try something else.

This is to say that coaching philosophy or playcalling has never been a problem. Execution has been the problem. If the line opens the holes, then feeding Portis 25 carries looks like a genius move. If the line gets stonewalled, then feeding it to him 25 times looks idiotic. Whether it's injuries or whatever, it's on the offensive line. If we want to win, we need them to smash face.

25+ carries are the cart. Don't put them before the hogs.