Running Back Situation/Ground Game

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upnorthkid

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I know it's just one game at this point, but I really came away underwhelmed by Kirkwood (probably not his fault based on the blocking) and Williams (just doesn't have the lateral quickness for the open field or vision IMO). Cobb seemed solid in his cuts and Edwards has some speed to burn and showed some surprising toughness. Going forward, do you think we're going to see more of Cobb and Edwards and less of Kirkwood and Williams? At least away from the goal line?

Also a side note on the running game- WTF was up with our power running game? I get they were blitzing repeatedly so I don't know who exactly that falls on, but when we lined up in the heavy set, there was no room whatsoever. Is that on Mitch for lack of audibles? Blocking not picking guys up? Coaches for poor playing calling? Just seemed like it killed us at times early in the game where the spread running attack was generating far more room.
 

EI was selling out on every run. There is usually a man left unblocked. Probably just the coaches not wanting to show too much (yes, this is a real thing) and using it as a "gut check" test for the offense.

I would imagine if we are in the Big House and that happens, we suddenly get a bit more creative.
 

I liked how they rotated the RB's for the most part. Would like to see more Berkley and no Kirkwood (sorry Donnell). Williams obviously doesn't do much side-to-side but I thought he showed good power and and some surprising shiftiness on that screen pass to get the first down. One thing Berkley needs to work on is catching the ball, he can be a real weapon out there on those bubble screens.

EIU showed some interesting defensive schemes, that's for sure. I'm not sure if Leidner has the power to check out of a play if the defense is showing blitz or not. If he does he needs to recognize it and audible to play action. Bottom line, show teams you can beat that type of defense in the passing game and they'll stop doing it.
 

jaymil said:
I liked how they rotated the RB's for the most part. Would like to see more Berkley and no Kirkwood (sorry Donnell). Williams obviously doesn't do much side-to-side but I thought he showed good power and and some surprising shiftiness on that screen pass to get the first down. One thing Berkley needs to work on is catching the ball, he can be a real weapon out there on those bubble screens.

EIU showed some interesting defensive schemes, that's for sure. I'm not sure if Leidner has the power to check out of a play if the defense is showing blitz or not. If he does he needs to recognize it and audible to play action. Bottom line, show teams you can beat that type of defense in the passing game and they'll stop doing it.
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I could be wrong, but I thought the reports out of camp were that he is good at catching the ball. Probably just a little overly excited/nervous for his first game.
 

GophersInIowa said:
I could be wrong, but I thought the reports out of camp were that he is good at catching the ball. Probably just a little overly excited/nervous for his first game.
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He also dropped on right in his hands in the spring game and also in the one full length game on YT vid of Chelsea he dropped one straight in his hands as well. He definitely doesn't seem as fluid as you would like him to be catching the football IMO.
 


GophersInIowa said:
I could be wrong, but I thought the reports out of camp were that he is good at catching the ball. Probably just a little overly excited/nervous for his first game.
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Didn't he just have the one drop?
 

I saw some good runs tonight. First game of the season means there is still some rust. I could not be less worried. Cobb is a known quantity and Edwards did some good/great things. If you've got two good running backs who cares about the others.
 

Wow, I think the RB position is as rock solid as it's been in forever. They're fine, were getting hit in the backfield quite a few times. Our O Line kinda sucked tonight and that's a concern I don't care how many players were coming. The comments on Williams are just plain stupid. He had a couple of very nifty moves tonight.
 

The RBs getting blown up several times was mostly a result of poor blocking by the OL and FB.
 



We were missing Mike Henry out there tonight.
 

I was much more concerned with the run blocking, than the runners tonight. Kirkwood only had two carries and one of them he had zero chance on as he was met in the backfield for a loss almost as soon as he touched the ball. The bigger concern is the Oline not being able to bulldoze Eastern Illinois on the goal line in the first half. If this is a running team in the B1G, they drive a FCS Dline backwards in that situation. Again, just one game, but I am sure the coaches were not happy with that.
 

upnorthkid said:
I know it's just one game at this point, but I really came away underwhelmed by Kirkwood (probably not his fault based on the blocking) and Williams (just doesn't have the lateral quickness for the open field or vision IMO). Cobb seemed solid in his cuts and Edwards has some speed to burn and showed some surprising toughness. Going forward, do you think we're going to see more of Cobb and Edwards and less of Kirkwood and Williams? At least away from the goal line?

Also a side note on the running game- WTF was up with our power running game? I get they were blitzing repeatedly so I don't know who exactly that falls on, but when we lined up in the heavy set, there was no room whatsoever. Is that on Mitch for lack of audibles? Blocking not picking guys up? Coaches for poor playing calling? Just seemed like it killed us at times early in the game where the spread running attack was generating far more room.
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Going forward, the running backs who will play the most will be the running backs who stay healthy, don't get banged up, can stay on the field and play through the nagging injuries and HANG ON to and protect the football. It is entirely too early in the season to try to anticipate which ball carriers will be standing, healthy, durable and NOT be in the dog-house with the coach and his staff when my Gophers get through these tedious and meaningless out of conference crème puff games and into the heart of the conference schedule.

We will have to see just which running backs will survive, be left standing and be "in the running" to be a factor in the CONFERENCE games.
 

BarnBoy said:
EI was selling out on every run. There is usually a man left unblocked. Probably just the coaches not wanting to show too much (yes, this is a real thing) and using it as a "gut check" test for the offense.

I would imagine if we are in the Big House and that happens, we suddenly get a bit more creative.
Click to expand...

Bottom line is that every team we play is going to sell out to stop the run until we prove we can beat them with the passing game. I am sure the coaches held stuff back (EIU clearly was not a major threat at any point in the game) but they can't be happy about the number of times the backs got hit in the backfield.
 



Our FBs are a major, major step down from Henry. I don't think we'll go into the B1G season with either of them back there. Don't know what they'll do instead but I can't see either being a positive addition to running game. It was game one, but they don't seem to stick it up in there very hard at all.
 

I think Rodrick Williams is better than most give him credit for. He's a lot faster & shiftier than most realize. I think of him as sort of a poor man's Earl Campbell, not just a guy who runs into the pile for 3 yards. I watched him closely & didn't see the horrible blocking others have mentioned. He doesn't carry a reputation as being a bad blocker either. I heard someone reference that in another thread & thought it was unfair. Cobb also missed a block badly. Plsek missed one badly. Hartman missed one badly. Plenty of missed blocks tonight. Those can be fixed.
 


You can bet the Gophers are going to do a lot of tweaking. Good learning game. All the holes need to be patched up.

Someone needs to step up or step into the FB position.

We've got to get Streveler game ready for the B1G.

I am worried the most about injuries. The Gophers have depth, but not that deep for B1G play, a long eight game season.
 

There didn't even seem to be an option to audible on some plays. They showed blitz and we'd run a draw right into it.
 

I love David Cobb.

He is so damn efficient in the box.

He's also strong as hell without being a particularly violent runner. Just old school strong.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Bottom line is that every team we play is going to sell out to stop the run until we prove we can beat them with the passing game. I am sure the coaches held stuff back (EIU clearly was not a major threat at any point in the game) but they can't be happy about the number of times the backs got hit in the backfield.
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Agreed. Here are our rushing totals from last year's NC games, and tonight. Given all the hype about the O-line, we should have been bowling them down.

221 - UNLV
342 - New Mexico St
213 - W Illinois
353 - San Jose St.

182 - EIU
 

The issue last night was that eIU was run blitzing and we weren't picking it up nor were we changing into better plays. Their line was also slanting often. In that situation you have to be able to throw the ball effectively to make teams pay and we didn't for the most part. Down by the goal line they simply blitzed off the edges as we were trying to run up the gut and our FBs and HBs weren't quick enough or able to recognize the blitz.
 

BarnBoy said:
Agreed. Here are our rushing totals from last year's NC games, and tonight. Given all the hype about the O-line, we should have been bowling them down.

221 - UNLV
342 - New Mexico St
213 - W Illinois
353 - San Jose St.

182 - EIU
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Cutting back on QB runs has a lot to do with these numbers though. If you subtract QB rush yards from those games last year they would look differently. The run game has changed this year and the players need to adjust. We ran what, one read option last night with Leidner? That's a big difference. I'm not thrilled with the blocking last night but trust me, we NEED to keep teams honest in the passing game. That will be a big help. It's not easy to block all of those run blitzers.
 

oleboy41 said:
The issue last night was that eIU was run blitzing and we weren't picking it up nor were we changing into better plays. Their line was also slanting often. In that situation you have to be able to throw the ball effectively to make teams pay and we didn't for the most part. Down by the goal line they simply blitzed off the edges as we were trying to run up the gut and our FBs and HBs weren't quick enough or able to recognize the blitz.
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Yep. Mitch has to be given the opportunity to audible out of a run play if he sees a run blitz, and he needs to recognize it.
 

Does anyone know what the run/pass ratio is for the game?
 

hungan1 said:
Does anyone know what the run/pass ratio is for the game?
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http://www.gophersports.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2014-2015/14game01.html#GAME.SCO

Code: 
Eastern Illinois                       Minnesota

Down               RUN PASS  Total     Down               RUN PASS  Total

OVERALL..........   36   60     96     OVERALL..........   38   20     58
1ST DOWN.........   15   23     38     1ST DOWN.........   20    7     27
2ND DOWN-SHORT...    3    3      6     2ND DOWN-SHORT...    5    0      5
2ND DOWN-MIDDLE..    2    6      8     2ND DOWN-MIDDLE..    3    0      3
2ND DOWN-LONG....    7   11     18     2ND DOWN-LONG....    4    7     11
3RD DOWN-SHORT...    2    2      4     3RD DOWN-SHORT...    4    0      4
3RD DOWN-MIDDLE..    2    0      2     3RD DOWN-MIDDLE..    0    1      1
3RD DOWN-LONG....    2   13     15     3RD DOWN-LONG....    2    5      7
4TH DOWN.........    3    2      5     4TH DOWN.........    0    0      0

Eastern Illinois                       Minnesota

Formation        RUN PASS  Total       Formation        RUN PASS  Total

...............   36   60     96       ...............   38   20     58


Code: 
Minnesota (Sorted by Play type)

1ST DOWN RUN  (20 RUN, 7 PASS)                                   1ST DOWN PASS
1-2  E02 #20  -3 [    ]                                          1-10 E43 #7  to #14     - [     ]
1-10 M28 #27   8 [    ]                                          1-10 M40 #7  to #32     - [     ]
1-10 M04 #27  10 [    ]                                          1-10 M38 #7  to #4      - [     ]
1-10 M14 #27   1 [    ]                                          1-1  E01 #7  to #83     - [     ]
1-10 E37 #27   7 [    ]                                          1-10 M45 #5Z to #86    12 [     ]
1-10 E17 #27  -3 [    ]                                          1-10 E44 #7  to #88    32 [     ]
1-10 M24 #27   7 [    ]                                          1-10 M48 #7  to #88     - [     ]
1-10 M27 #27   2 [    ]
1-10 M29 #27  11 [    ]
1-10 E12 #32  11 [    ]
1-10 M50 #35  -1 [    ]
1-10 M37 #35  13 [    ]
1-10 M10 #35   2 [    ]
1-2  E02 #35   0 [    ]
1-10 E40 #35   6 [    ]
1-10 M34 #5Z   7 [    ]
1-10 M19 #5Z   5 [    ]
1-10 E43 #5Z   1 [    ]
1-10 E47 #7   10 [    ]
1-10 M41 #TM  -1 [    ]

2ND-SHORT RUN  (5 RUN, 0 PASS)                                   2ND-SHORT PASS
2-2  E02 #20   0 [    ]
2-3  E30 #27  13 [    ]
2-3  M31 #27   0 [    ]
2-1  E01 #32   1 [    ]
2-3  M41 #5Z   4 [    ]

2ND-MIDDLE RUN  (3 RUN, 0 PASS)                                  2ND-MIDDLE PASS
2-4  E34 #35  -1 [    ]
2-5  M24 #5Z   4 [    ]
2-5  E05 #7    5 [    ]

2ND-LONG RUN  (4 RUN, 7 PASS)                                    2ND-LONG PASS
2-10 M38 #27   9 [    ]                                          2-12 M26 #7  to #27    12 [     ]
2-9  M15 #27  -4 [    ]                                          2-8  M29 #7  to #32     2 [     ]
2-9  E42 #32  42 [    ]                                          2-11 M49 #7  to #4     10 [     ]
2-10 M48 #4    0 [    ]                                          2-13 E20 #7  to #4     12 [     ]
                                                                 2-10 M40 #7  to #83     - [     ]
                                                                 2-8  M12 #7  to #88    25 [     ]
                                                                 2-10 E43 #7  to #    SACK [     ]

3RD-SHORT RUN  (4 RUN, 0 PASS)                                   3RD-SHORT PASS
3-1  M47 #27  10 [    ]
3-1  M28 #32   6 [    ]
3-1  E08 #7    4 [    ]
3-2  E02 #7    2 [    ]

3RD-MIDDLE RUN  (0 RUN, 1 PASS)                                  3RD-MIDDLE PASS
                                                                 3-3  M31 #7  to #17     - [     ]

3RD-LONG RUN  (2 RUN, 5 PASS)                                    3RD-LONG PASS
3-10 M40 #27   0 [    ]                                          3-10 M48 #7  to #14     - [     ]
3-13 M11 #7    5 [    ]                                          3-18 M49 #7  to #27    10 [     ]
                                                                 3-6  E46 #7  to #35     6 [     ]
                                                                 3-5  E35 #7  to #4     35 [     ]
                                                                 3-6  M31 #7  to #       - [     ]

4TH DOWN RUN  (0 RUN, 0 PASS)                                    4TH DOWN PASS
 

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