Derrick Green should be the starter next week against Notre Dame.
There is a serious case to be made here. While I agree that Green could use a little more time with Wellman to get things toned before he's an All American, he is still the best RB on the team. He led the team in rushing yesterday, and also looked the best doing it.
The Notre Dame defense is relatively small, and I believe we definitely could benefit greatly from having such a big option pounding the rock at all times. We definitely don't want to rely on the arm of Gardner this week(interceptions killed us last year against ND), and can easily win this game with an effective ground game.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:33 PM ^
Think you're jumping the gun a lot. Green may not have looked better than Smith, and certainly did not look as good as Fitz.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:41 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^
You're kidding, right?? Fitz looked tentative and ran as if he was trying to avoid getting hurt. All of the RBs need to do a better job of hitting the holes and less dancing.
September 1st, 2013 at 2:01 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 2:07 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 2:40 PM ^
If anything you could argue that maybe Fitz was trying to hard to get north/south and missed some cut backs. For sure was tentative though.
September 1st, 2013 at 2:17 PM ^
I remember him plowing someone for his first TD...looked good to me.
September 1st, 2013 at 2:38 PM ^
Boom, Mason'ed
September 1st, 2013 at 2:45 PM ^
acbaby....I dont sling insults here easily...but your comment was assinine. What game did you watch? Point out the plays that Fitz was tenative on please.
September 1st, 2013 at 3:20 PM ^
wait what? lay off the peyote
September 1st, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
He was good, and that's good. But he didn't do one thing to show that the coaches decision on Fitz was wrong, not one. His one long run was through a hole the size of an old cadillac that any decent RB would do well on. Don't get me wrong, he showed enough that he made a good argument for #2, but nothing at all to say he's #1.
September 1st, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
Green = 11 carries for 58 yards and TD which is more than 5 yards/carry
Smith = 7 carries for 12 yards which is less than 2 yards a carry
September 1st, 2013 at 5:34 PM ^
We know. Stats don't tell the whole story. Green's 30-yard run probably would have been 40 for Smith, since all that run required was speed, which Green is a bit lacking in right now.
September 1st, 2013 at 9:11 PM ^
Even at 5-10-15 pounds "overweight," Green is still faster than Smith. I'm not sure what you've been watching for the past couple years, but Smith is slow.
September 1st, 2013 at 3:24 PM ^
Take away Green's 30-yard run, and he still had 10 carries for 28 yards. Leave Smith's longest run in there, and he had 7 carries for 12 yards.
There's no question that Green looked better.
I think Smith was more ready to break a few tackles, but we've always known that. Unfortunately, Smith isn't very fast, and that one zone stretch (IIRC) to the left where he had his shoulders facing the sideline on contact was kind of pitiful.
September 1st, 2013 at 4:29 PM ^
I think Smith is better at a role right now than any single role Green might provide. I think Green is better all-around. I think Smith can do some things as a power back, he keeps his legs churning and gets his knees high, lowers his shoulders, dips at the hips, and is hard to get a clean hit on. But he, plain and simple, should not be running outside zones yet. His a between the tackles guy all the way. Green can potentially do both.
September 1st, 2013 at 10:23 PM ^
September 2nd, 2013 at 12:36 AM ^
Yeah, agreed. For a 240-pound dude, you'd expect Green to be able to pound forward when hit. All I saw was him almost bouncing off backward. He needs some work.
September 1st, 2013 at 8:33 PM ^
please explain to me how Green may not have looked better than Smith. I like Smith he was running hard, but it was obvious to me he lacks any vision right now. Fitz looked solid, he didn't have the holes the 2nd team was opening for Green. I will take Green over Smith easily right now.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:34 PM ^
Derrick
September 1st, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
Riddick
September 1st, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 2:45 PM ^
Agreed. Fitz may have started yesterday, and will probably start next week, but that doesn't mean the workload won't be balanced. Our stable had 14, 11 and 7 carries, thats what I want to see. Regardless of who starts.
September 1st, 2013 at 5:02 PM ^
Is that there were holes! Holes! To run through. I'd still like to see more push, but it's an improvement over the last couple years.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^
I think Green should get more carries than yeasterday, but Fitz is our best back right now.
Maybe Green gets more against ND and their big line, but overall, Fitz is our best back.
September 1st, 2013 at 5:07 PM ^
D'OH!
September 1st, 2013 at 1:35 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 1:56 PM ^
There is no next year vs ND
September 1st, 2013 at 2:01 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^
Ahh, yes, last home game vs ND.
I stand corrected.
September 1st, 2013 at 2:13 PM ^
quick, edit your post before anyone sees that.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:37 PM ^
think he still need a bit more conditioning to be an every down back although he was in good in the reps that he did get. I think Smith is ahead of him for now.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:41 PM ^
Green definitely needs some time in a conditioning program, as it appears that he came into school at least 20 pounds overweight. However, you'd think that with him being in the program only a small amount of time, his conditioning should continue to get better each week during the season.
I say make him the starter, and definitely have Fitz available as an option whenever Green gets gassed.
Rawls also looked better than I've ever seen him yesterday. He appears to be much improved from looking rather pedestrian last year.
September 1st, 2013 at 1:50 PM ^
We should make all personell decisions and evaluations based on the respective 15 or less carries each back had against an overmatched MAC team. Forget the coaches opinions from the past 6 months... and do we really need to see these backs get carries against a quality opponent?.... I say no! aaamichfan has assessed the situation based on the CMU game. We should go with his clearly expert opinion.
September 1st, 2013 at 4:19 PM ^
This. I can't believe that we're making drastic roster decisions based on the opening game against a team that he beat by 50. People do realize that personnel adjustments can be made in-game, right?
September 1st, 2013 at 1:51 PM ^
Agreed. You make many convincing points. I just want to add that Pipkins should start over Washington on the DL. If we are starting Green, then ND's backs will try to copy his greatness, and Pipkins will give us extra size on the DL.
September 1st, 2013 at 2:14 PM ^
Man, sometimes i hate message boards..Listen, RB is not just about running..did you notice we didnt pass while Green was in ? barely if at all...RB has to pick up blitzes or your QB can get killed...Fitz is the starter
September 1st, 2013 at 2:31 PM ^
By the time Green was in all M wanted to do was run the ball and kill the game clock. Green's ability to pick up blitzes is probably not what caused the offense to move away from the passing game. Agreed, that Fitz should definitely be the starter though.
September 1st, 2013 at 3:19 PM ^
I was just trying to play along with this joke of a thread
September 1st, 2013 at 2:25 PM ^
September 1st, 2013 at 4:30 PM ^
This thread is ridiculous and the comment that Green should be the starter is even more dumb. Do you know ANYthing about football? Honest question. Do you realize you have to know the plays? Do you realize a RB has to block? Do you realize that was one game? Do you realize it was CMU? Do you realize Fitz played vs. starters and Green played vs. CMU's 2nd team? I don't know where people get these snap judgements from and truly think they're right. It's a blog and it's opinion, but it at least should be debatable. Should we move Gardner back to WR and put Shane in at QB?
September 1st, 2013 at 5:55 PM ^
You've been succesfully trolled by aaamichiganfan.
September 1st, 2013 at 5:27 PM ^
When none of our RB's rush for over 50 yards against ND you will prob think we need to recruit more too
September 1st, 2013 at 8:07 PM ^
I'm all for evaluating players as they currently are, not necessarily on past biases (e.g. Rawls running better than last year, though MAC-cakes warnings everywhere). But To suggest that 10-15 carries by a couple of backs in a game decided in the 1st quarter informs logical roster changes is just silly.
September 1st, 2013 at 2:44 PM ^
Green was 11 carries for 58 yards and a TD while smith was 7 carries for 12 yards. You seriously think Smith is better????????? I want whatever you're smoking.
September 1st, 2013 at 2:48 PM ^
...actually the jury is still out on that. Smith had good blocking on only one of his carries. On all other carries there were defenders on his back right away and he didnt go down easy.