New rushing stardard

[mpt]

In the past, a RB was considered a top running back if he broke 1,000 yards.  With adding games to the schedule, should that standard go up to around 1200-1300 yards ?

[MuskogeeHogFan]

In the past, a RB was considered a top running back if he broke 1,000 yards.  With adding games to the schedule, should that standard go up to around 1200-1300 yards ?

The counter being, with better and more developed athletes playing defense coming out of high school and more ready to play at a higher level sooner, should more be expected of RB's when most offenses have transitioned to passing more than emphasizing a power run offense?

[Smokehouse]

The counter being, with better and more developed athletes playing defense coming out of high school and more ready to play at a higher level sooner, should more be expected of RB's when most offenses have transitioned to passing more than emphasizing a power run offense?

And as RB committees become more common.

[Hoggish1]

No reason it shouldn't.  I see 12- 1,300 for two in our immediate future and going up from there.

[arkmark]

In the past, a RB was considered a top running back if he broke 1,000 yards.  With adding games to the schedule, should that standard go up to around 1200-1300 yards ?

I don't know if you can consider a 1,000 yard rusher a "top" running back, certainly a darn good back, but consider:

In 2014 57 backs in the top division ran for more than 1,000 yards.  Melvin Gordon from Wisky led the group with 2587 yards and there were two, including Gordon, who rushed for 2,000 yds +.

18 backs rushed for between 1500 and 1999 yds last season.

37 backs rushed for between 1000 and 1499 yds.  Arkansas' duo was in this grouping with Collins tied at 44 and JWill at 36.

Muskogee may have a point in the coming years about the influence of better defensive play.  But in terms of what consititutes the "top" backs, keeping in mind the state of the game presently, I think there is an argument that the cut off is more like 1500 yards representing in 2014 the top 20at the position.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

I don't know if you can consider a 1,000 yard rusher a "top" running back, certainly a darn good back, but consider:

In 2014 57 backs in the top division ran for more than 1,000 yards.  Melvin Gordon from Wisky led the group with 2587 yards and there were two, including Gordon, who rushed for 2,000 yds +.

18 backs rushed for between 1500 and 1999 yds last season.

37 backs rushed for between 1000 and 1499 yds.  Arkansas' duo was in this grouping with Collins tied at 44 and JWill at 36.

Muskogee may have a point in the coming years about the influence of better defensive play.  But in terms of what consititutes the "top" backs, keeping in mind the state of the game presently, I think there is an argument that the cut off is more like 1500 yards representing in 2014 the top 20at the position.

With 2 RB's that are pretty doggone good in a run based offense, if each gains 1,200 yards in a season that is really pretty exceptional. Problem is, with a lot, if not most of college offenses passing the ball more than running, if a guy earns 1,000+ yards in a season he should be considered elite, let alone 2 guys doing that out of the same backfield. If we find a way to pass the ball effectively this coming season, we may see greater numbers out of this backfield even against pretty steller SEC level defenses, but we aren't likely to see 1,830/DMac, 1,160/F-Jo like numbers, that the two of them generated in 2007.

I'll be happy to see two RB's exceed 1,200 each this coming year along with an efficient passing game that racks up 220 or so per game.

[PORKULATOR]

Let's have 2 go for 1400 and win a NC.
WPS

[gawntrail]

Considering today's game, is the bar raised for qb play too?

[MissippHog]

In the past, a RB was considered a top running back if he broke 1,000 yards.  With adding games to the schedule, should that standard go up to around 1200-1300 yards ?

Guess it depends on what teams they are playing on.  1,000 yard backs will be common for us because of our style of play.  On a team chunking it all around the lot, not so much.  Maybe breaking it down to YPC would be a more telling statistic of how good a back is.

[wikipedia brown]

I could definitely see us breaking 3000 yds rushing next year if our line can be able to pull and run the outside sweeps as well as inside runs. A legitimate passing offense will open up the long runs. We werent really seeing 30 plus yard runs last season like dmac and felix were gashing in their day. There were alot more 6-11 yard runs when we broke into the secondary.

[ballz2thewall]

if they average 4 ypc they'll be considered top backs.  at that rate, the wins will pop up.

a higher ypc average is not good.

[gmarv]

if they average 4 ypc they'll be considered top backs.  at that rate, the wins will pop up.

a higher ypc average is not good.

I don,t understand.so doing more is not good.

[hawg66]

if they average 4 ypc they'll be considered top backs.  at that rate, the wins will pop up.

a higher ypc average is not good.

I guess Chubb sucked then.

[MissippHog]

if they average 4 ypc they'll be considered top backs.  at that rate, the wins will pop up.

a higher ypc average is not good.

Please explain. 

[MuskogeeHogFan]

if they average 4 ypc they'll be considered top backs.  at that rate, the wins will pop up.

a higher ypc average is not good.

Everyone in the SEC averaged 4 yards or more per carry last season except for Tennessee and Vanderbilt. We averaged 5.1 per carry last season, same as Alabama. Georgia averaged 6.0. Not sure how averaging more yards per carry is a bad thing?

[Bacons Rebellion]

Should it? Yes.
Will it? No.

Keep the bar low and the media / SID / coaches etc. have more stars to talk about and they all want that -- and they control the benchmark. 1,000 is such a round number that it won't change.

But it never has been a very good benchmark anyway. It's more a measure of style of offense, depth, and survivability than running back ability. (Not that there are any bad 1,000 rushers).

[ballz2thewall]

I don,t understand.so doing more is not good.

a higher average can bring a team-wide diminishing margin of return.  4 ypc is a good number that squeezes the most plays inside an effective drive that keeps the opposing defense on the field.

in essence; offensive clock time.

[razorbacker3]

a higher average can bring a team-wide diminishing margin of return.  4 ypc is a good number that squeezes the most plays inside an effective drive that keeps the opposing defense on the field.

in essence; offensive clock time.

I don't think many folks on here will agree with you on this.

[gawntrail]

To me, a 4 - 4.5 ypc avg is good.  Knowing every time you give one of the guys the rock, they're gaining the yardage that keeps the next play call on the sheet.  More than that is gravy. 

But, the other tangible I watch for is 2nd-3rd-4th & short conversion.  I know the OL is much of that stat, but, really high conversion means your running game is clicking.  OL does its job and opens a hole, RB should see it, hit it, and get all the yardage, while securing the ball.  If, the defense plugs up with good run fit, then RB needs to see it, look for a crack, get some heavy lean, and thunder it up, while securing the ball.

Nothing is more confidence building than consistently moving the chains.  It never hurts for the QB to move a stick or two with his feet or arm either.  I think by game 3 or 4, but, definitely by 5, we should be a well oiled chain moving machine.  We'll probably see quite a few breakaways this year too. 

[MuskogeeHogFan]

a higher average can bring a team-wide diminishing margin of return.  4 ypc is a good number that squeezes the most plays inside an effective drive that keeps the opposing defense on the field.

in essence; offensive clock time.

We are already one of the SEC's best at that based on Offensive Plays to Defensive Plays.

Average Plays Per Game
                       Off         Def         Diff
Alabama           72.7        67.5        5.2
Arkansas          70.5        63.2        7.3
Auburn             72.2        70.3        1.9
Florida              70.1        72.4       -2.3
Georgia             67.5        69.6       -2.2
Kentucky          70.8        74.0        -3.2
LSU                  69.0        65.0        4.0
Ole Miss            69.5        70.4        -0.8
Miss St             77.0        75.2         1.8
Missouri            68.1        71.8        -3.6
S. Carolina        72.8        69.5         3.3
Tennessee        75.2        68.6         6.5
Texas A&M        71.9        76.3        -4.4
Vanderbilt          61.7        70.3       -8.7     

[southarkhog06]

a higher average can bring a team-wide diminishing margin of return.  4 ypc is a good number that squeezes the most plays inside an effective drive that keeps the opposing defense on the field.

in essence; offensive clock time.

Me thinks you are trying too hard to sound like you know something that nobody else does. there is no way, in any universe, CBB is going to tell our backs "I know you could avg 5 to 5 1/2 yds per but im gonna need you to bump that down to 4 cuz ya know we may score too fast."

[Hoginsavga]

a higher average can bring a team-wide diminishing margin of return.  4 ypc is a good number that squeezes the most plays inside an effective drive that keeps the opposing defense on the field.

in essence; offensive clock time.

I prefer backs that average 10+ ypc and score every time we get the ball. I don't care how quickly we score. I am not a proponent of managing the clock as much as scoring at every opportunity. Also I hate 3 rd and two because the defense is typically going to load the box. With that said, managing the clock during the last five minutes in a close game is important.

IMO we may have lost some games last year by trying to managing the clock too early in the second half.

[ballz2thewall]

.

[bennyl08]

I think 1000 yards per season is still a fine qualifier. It has never, at least in the past 25 years, been the measure on an ELITE back or not. It is the standard bearer for whether or not a good back has had a good season. So the top third of teams in the country having a back reach that threshold sounds about right.

What about passing teams? Look at Baylor and okie state. Both are teams notorious for their passing, but both teams have success in the running game. Very few coaches (mike leach) just ignore the running game. Even the NFL in all of it's pass happyness still has had a lot of running back success.

What about committees? While entirely not a 1:1, I think back to the line about playing 2 quarterbacks means you don't have 1. Obviously with running backs, even Adrian Peterson was rested during the game. However, I feel like if you have have a really good back, he is going to dominate the carries. If you have multiple backs dominate carries, then it either means they are both very good or both only solid, but not great. A great case study here is LSU. They somewhat famous for using a runningback by committee approach. However, look at when they had Steven Ridley or Jeremy Hill. Most years you will typically see 3+ backs at LSU with over 600 yards or so. However, both of those backs once they developed dominated the carries and broke 1000 yards.

I would say that 1000 yards is a good threshold for a good season. 1400 yards is a great season, and 1800+ is a phenomenal season. Of course, offense, conference, and how much you share carries comes into play with this as well.

[ballz2thewall]

We are already one of the SEC's best at that based on Offensive Plays to Defensive Plays.

Average Plays Per Game
                       Off         Def         Diff
Alabama           72.7        67.5        5.2
Arkansas          70.5        63.2        7.3
Auburn             72.2        70.3        1.9
Florida              70.1        72.4       -2.3
Georgia             67.5        69.6       -2.2
Kentucky          70.8        74.0        -3.2
LSU                  69.0        65.0        4.0
Ole Miss            69.5        70.4        -0.8
Miss St             77.0        75.2         1.8
Missouri            68.1        71.8        -3.6
S. Carolina        72.8        69.5         3.3
Tennessee        75.2        68.6         6.5
Texas A&M        71.9        76.3        -4.4
Vanderbilt          61.7        70.3       -8.7     

and we need to stay that way....

[DLUXHOG]

Ah... heck.. Make it 2,000

[Smokehouse]

a higher average can bring a team-wide diminishing margin of return.  4 ypc is a good number that squeezes the most plays inside an effective drive that keeps the opposing defense on the field.

in essence; offensive clock time.

No effective offense is going to try and optimize time of possession to the point that they consider the ideal ypc to be near the minimum required to keep a drive going. One play that falls below the average and your drive stalls.

You can average 6 ypc and win time of possession easily. In fact, you probably will win time of possession with 6 ypc because there's less of a chance that you'll be stopped.