the running game

[hungry]

I know a lot of us want to jump on the Derrick Green/Deveon Smith train. I feel myself wanting to, also. I've been there all year, well, at least with Green. I was impressed with Smith yesterday, too, though. BUT what if it was just because they were playing NW? I expected Michigan to have a better running day, because it's NW. Is the line getting better or is it just because they were playing northwestern?

 

[rumseyhouse77]

How can we tell unless they play Green/Smith the next two games? Green definitely had more drive after the hit than Fitz has shown all year. It seemed Green was getting positive yardage on most of his carries on first down, which has not been the case for most of the season. I hope they will play Green/Smith for the next two games, maybe giving Fitz a few carries here and there.

 

[bamf_16]

Don't look at the numbers. Look at the type of runs these two backs had. They ran harder towards the line, made one cut, and ran downhill after it. As a result, they were being tackled while running near full speed with their head down facing upfield, and fell forward as a result.

Fitz pussyfoots into the line, doesn't see and make the one cut, and again, is too small to be a power back, too slow to be a speed back, and lacks the "wiggle" of a back who can consistently make LBs miss. What does he do well?

How many times this year did we see Fitz take a loss b/c he missed a hole? How many times has his vision been called into question?

How many times yesterday did Green or Smith miss the hole? My support for the end of the Fitz Toussaint era of Michigan football isn't just because of numbers.

 

[hungry]

How can we tell unless they play Green/Smith the next two games? Green definitely had more drive after the hit than Fitz has shown all year. It seemed Green was getting positive yardage on most of his carries on first down, which has not been the case for most of the season. I hope they will play Green/Smith for the next two games, maybe giving Fitz a few carries here and there.

I agree. Although, it did look like Green fell down very easily after running about 6 yards. I'll take 6, but on a few of those plays, it looked like he was ready to go down. I don't know if it was for ball control reasons or not, but I was stuck thinking, "Man! it looked like he could've got a couple more yards there."

 

[hungry]

Don't look at the numbers. Look at the type of runs these two backs had. They ran harder towards the line, made one cut, and ran downhill after it. As a result, they were being tackled while running near full speed with their head down facing upfield, and fell forward as a result.

Fitz pussyfoots into the line, doesn't see and make the one cut, and again, is too small to be a power back, too slow to be a speed back, and lacks the "wiggle" of a back who can consistently make LBs miss. What does he do well?

How many times this year did we see Fitz take a loss b/c he missed a hole? How many times has his vision been called into question?

How many times yesterday did Green or Smith miss the hole? My support for the end of the Fitz Toussaint era of Michigan football isn't just because of numbers.

OK, but was the line getting a better push, because it was NW?

 

[wheels002]

A lot of this teams issues trace back to the OL. If we cant pass block or open a whole for the RB you cant win.

 

[rumseyhouse77]

I agree. Although, it did look like Green fell down very easily after running about 6 yards. I'll take 6, but on a few of those plays, it looked like he was ready to go down. I don't know if it was for ball control reasons or not, but I was stuck thinking, "Man! it looked like he could've got a couple more yards there."

I think there may have also been a confidence factor. This will improve if Green is given the ball more. Those 5-6 yard runs will turn into 7-10 yards with more carries and confidence. The future of the running game looked good yesterday (and the week before for that matter). I assume the O line will be better next year too. Now, if we can just get new O coaching. Have they offered Mike Hart a job yet? They better get on him before someone else does.

 

[rumseyhouse77]

The other thing that concerned me in this game was Gardner's throwing. Jeez, there were some throws that looked like he was throwing the ball to the NW back. Just plain lucky that their backs sucked so much that they couldn't hang on to the ball.

 

[wlvrnstlr4life]

OK, but was the line getting a better push, because it was NW?

You do realize that they should have beaten Nebraska. The same Nebraska team that held us to minus yds rushing.

 

[hungry]

I believe i was quite vocal about that, but Nebraska's d-line is probably a bit stouter than NW's.

 

[alonzomoseley]

Don't look at the numbers. Look at the type of runs these two backs had. They ran harder towards the line, made one cut, and ran downhill after it. As a result, they were being tackled while running near full speed with their head down facing upfield, and fell forward as a result.

Fitz pussyfoots into the line, doesn't see and make the one cut, and again, is too small to be a power back, too slow to be a speed back, and lacks the "wiggle" of a back who can consistently make LBs miss. What does he do well?

How many times this year did we see Fitz take a loss b/c he missed a hole? How many times has his vision been called into question?

How many times yesterday did Green or Smith miss the hole? My support for the end of the Fitz Toussaint era of Michigan football isn't just because of numbers.

On UM's first drive, Green got to the second level, and was tackled by the safety after gaining about 8 yrds. But it was one of those tackles where you get trucked and just hang on and the guy you're tackling falls over you for 2-3 more yards. I thought, "that safety is really going to get tired of trying to tackle that kid". I feel bad for Fitz. But he just can't do what Greene can do. If Fitz was super quick or fast and even though most of his runs go nowhere he was a threat to go the distance on any given carry, that would be different. But Fitz is not fast, quick, shifty, etc. And he doesn't ever run over anyone.