Big Ten rushes back to its roots with run game
is the B1G going back to being a smash mouth running league? Currently the league is running the ball on 60 percent of offensive snaps, a 17 year high.
Good article with lots of interesting facts in the Omaha World-Herald looking at why the B1G and CFB is seeing a revival of a rush oriented style after the rise of all the pass happy offenses. Thought it was worth sharing on the eve of two traditionally run first teams squaring off.
http://www.omaha.com/article/20111117/BIGRED/711179790
November 18th, 2011 at 8:50 AM ^
Times change what was new becomes old, what was old becomes new. Georgia Tech is all back to the future with the Triple Option Run game.
Decent article.
November 18th, 2011 at 9:10 AM ^
would "smash mouth running" be the same as "manball" running? in which case there is still half if not more of then half of the BIG teams running a spread/option offense where a majority of the rushing yards are coming from the qbs not from a power tunning back formation. It definitely is a running leage tho
November 18th, 2011 at 11:26 AM ^
lots of running QBs, not traditional manball.
November 18th, 2011 at 1:50 PM ^
I think the article proposed that B1G teams are moving to utilize their tailbacks more now as a sort of swing-back response to relying so heavily on running QBs to start with. the idea, I guess, is that this is motivated by a need to minimize the injury threat to the QB.
November 18th, 2011 at 11:38 AM ^
rather than implying a return to heavysets, but lots of running is a manball upgrade compared to all the pitch and catch that had been the general CFB trend. And its hard to argue with the author's other points, such as the B1G having 4 teams among the national leaders running the ball on first down, at more than 70%.
Nebraska fans identfy with run-first, whatever the scheme, and defense. Always have, always will. And I suspect many Wolverine fans feel the same.
November 18th, 2011 at 10:29 AM ^
Have you seen any of the quarterbacks in the B1G? You would run the ball too.
November 18th, 2011 at 2:04 PM ^
personnel problems more than it does seismic change in offensive philosophy.
That this is the weakest Big Ten in memory underscores the point, IMO.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:24 PM ^
November 18th, 2011 at 10:54 AM ^
Despite all the running, the Big Ten only has three teams in the top ten in rush offense and there's a huge fall off from there. It's really interesting. I was writing about the Big Ten in another forum I wrote on about the roots of the Big Ten in terms of playing style. I found it weird that there were only three top running teams when you do hear about guys like Dan Herrron and Leveon Bell fairly often. I attributed most of this to Herron's absence in the first five games, Penn State's inadequate quarterbacks (defenses keying in on the run), and strong defenses.
I don't know if I'd call it smash mouth football. For a lot of the teams, it's what's most effective. It's what moves the chains and puts points on the board. I don't think anyone would call Taylor Martinez or Denard Robinson smash mouth players, but guys like Rex Burkhead and Dan Herron definitely are. There definitely might be more of a shift towards a smash mouth style.
As far as the run first mentality, I think it's about the personnel and the coaches. You have the addition of Nebraska, who has a dual threat quarterback and takes advantage of his legs. Brady Hoke is a run first coach (not a huge change from before though). Then you have Ohio, whose most effective play call right now is to run the football because they've struggled passing. That's probably where a lot of it is coming from.
November 18th, 2011 at 3:11 PM ^