Do we have a running problem?

[ProudUte]

According to KW the answer is yes.

Whittingham expects Rising to get anywhere between 6-10 designed runs in a game, but there was a big gap between his starting quarterback and the next highest rusher. Micah Bernard finished with 19 yards on six carries, Jaylon Glover had 18 yards on six carries, and Thomas finished with 13 yards on six carries. In short, it was not enough.

Those are some very poor rushing numbers.  50 yards on 18 carries is terrible for us.  Can this be fixed?  I suspect it can and I hope we do it this weekend.  I hope that Tavion plays with a vengeance.

 

[NarfUte]

Oregon State is a QB away from being a REALLY good team. I expect Utah finds it easier to run the ball this Saturday. Jonathan Smith is doing impressive things in Corvallis – they better hope they can keep him with all the P5 jobs open this year.

[ProudUte]

I agree with you on coach Smith and the Beavers. 

We need to get more than 50 yards from our top 3 RBs against the best of defenses IMO.  I know we got like 165 yards, but most of that was Rising and Dixon.  There is something wrong.  Maybe it’s as simple Tavion getting his head in the game.  I really don’t know.

[Larry B]

Furlong wrote an interesting article about our running game. The numbers suggest that we’re actually doing ok.

[ProudUte]

Rushing numbers are misleading because Cam is running for a lot of yards.  Also, having big leads led to us running the ball late to just get the game over.  Our top RBs are all averaging less than 5 YPC.  That is telling.  Last year we had 3 RBs who averaged over 5 YPC.

[Tony (admin)]

Oregon State has an excellent run defense. That’s a big factor. That said, we need more on first down runs than a yard or two. Seems like TT has been tentative lately.

[UteFanatic]

I wouldn’t characterize Oregon State’s run defense as excellent. They are 83rd in rushing defense, allowing 153 yards per game. Well below the FBS average.

[UtesRule]

Couple of points that I think play into this:
1. We lost two significant guys from last year who were huge for our run OHfense: 1. Big Bam Olesini and 2. Nick Ford.

2. Oregon State was Utah worst running game of the Pac12 season last year. They schemed very well to stop the run last year AND this year. AND we still had well over 100 yards against them this year and scored 35 offensive points. That’s not that bad!

3. The loss of Brandt Kuithe for our running game was probably felt more than many realize last week. BK was a VERY good run blocker. One of my favorite plays from the Utah vs Oregon game in SLC last year was on a TD scoring running play (where I think Cam walked in completely untouched) featured Kuithe completely driving his man not just off the line but clear into AND out of the end zone.

I think we see a much better running game performance starting this week against fUCLA!

[BD]

Kuithe was out. Solomon Enis was out. Both are very good run blockers. Also, Oregon State was selling out to stop the run.

Good news is that Ludwig with Rising were able to be effective with what OSU was giving them – good thing the offense can go to Plan B, Plan C, Plan D, etc. Bad news (Plan B/C, etc.) is that Rising doing the most effective running is risky – he very well could get injured. Also, it took until the 2nd half to really figure it out. That would be too late for more elite teams. I am sure the staff is aware of the issues. Can they figure it out? Hope so.