With his newfound national status, how much should Denard play the next two weeks?

Just enough to put the games in the bag.

Play him in the first half against UMass and then against Bowling Green until the game is in the bag.  While I am all for Denard making a push for the heisman, I want him as healthy and rested as possible heading into the Big Ten season.  Plus we need to see what Devin can do, and how far Tate has come in his second year to make sure we will be okay if Denard should miss a series or two.

So basically at the end of the 1st quarter Truth is he will likely go into the 3rd but the running backs will be working a lot of that

in any form.

I have nothing to contribute to this discussion but just wanted to reply using the new Mgoblog app. Carry on.

None. We have other QBs that can lead the offense to win and we can't risk him getting injured before Indiana or even MSU.

Put him in for the first couple of drives, let him get 14 points, then let Devin get game experience.

His status isn't the issue. The issues, in order:

1. winning

2. limiting the abuse Robinson takes

3. getting Forcier (and Gardner if we can't still finagle a redshirt year*) some reps

In both games, I would keep him in as long as we have a lead of 16 points or less.  

*As I understand it, players can take medical redshirts if they play 2 games or fewer. If Forcier is indeed the #2 now and Gardner the #3, I would not play Gardner if a redshirt is still a possibility, but I'm not sure that the NCAA would or should accept an exaggerated claim of an injury for Gardner. 

My guess is that Denard will play the entire first half and the first series of the second half in both games if they are the blowouts they have the potential to be.  I definitely hope, as Geaux_Blue projected, that the RB's are carrying a little more of the load. 

As for Denard's stats, about which he apparently doesn't care, it shouldn't take nearly as many plays to amass them as it does against better teams.  I could envision a 350-yard first half with a big play or two. 

If DR were to sustain an injury against a Div1AA school or whatever the hell they call it, RR would never hear the end of it. Tate and Gardner need the work, and so do our RBs.

these games will be like live scrimmages in which they can try EVERYTHING. And they should. Just dazzle us with the RichRod playbook and get everybody in the mix, dudes.

going away which would allow us to bring in Tate/Devin for significant reps.  If the games are close, he will have to play more.  The next few games should be interesting from a time of possession/number of plays perspective.  These games would be the perfect time to run 90% jet and see if we can blow the doors off opponents early enough to allow for significant back up PT.

I've got it! All of our QBs go in on every play and we split the reps! See, that way, they all go into the game, we use motion and play action calls, they all get a few snaps, all get to experience "game speed", the defenses are completely confused, and our B10 opponents shit themselves studying the film! What's not to like?

How can we possibly predict how much he will play until we see how the game actually unfolds.

Would you have expected that we would have gone to the wire with Toledo?  Lost to App State (whom UMass is on par with in 1-AA)? 

I don't think that RR is taking anything for granted after the last two years, nor should we.

We should win comfortably, but so should have VT against W and M.

The top 1-AA teams are, as you have seen, capable of beating BCS programs so lets not get cocky kid.

going to a rotation over the next couple weeks. Denard will start but Tate and Devin wll get a series or 2 early..if we blow them out early the Denard won't go back in...if the game is still in question he will come back in after the gang has had a couple posessions each.

I think we come out like gang busters from the first snap, just like we should against any team.

If we do that, we'll build a 21+ point lead sometime in the first half, and then you can start giving Tate/Devin some series.

If things continue to go well, then Denard is done for the day. If it get close at all, he comes back in.

At the end of the season a W this week will count the same as every other W, making it equally as important.

I just hope people don't freak out if DRob were to get hurt in this game. NO ONE benches their starting QB for a whole game just because of the opponent. In a lot of ways its disrespectful to UMass.

Bottom line is that if Denard gets injured because he has to stay in the game for 2-3 quarters, the blame will fall more on the team as a whole IMO because it will mean that they did not take care of business from the start. 

1st we know we don't want DR hurt but we don't want him losing the edge he currently is playing with. 2nd I know RR is smart enough to protect his #1 commodity but padding DRs stats a little in the hopes we have a breakout year and potentially getting his star player the coveted He16man and in turn drawing more attention to the program for future recruiting. You can't get better pub than being a He16man developer. So what would be a reasonable amount of padding for a team like UMASS? IMO would be to rack up 150 on the ground and 200 in the air by half and then get him outta there If those are his numbers then we know a few things: the game should be in hand with a comfortable lead and the defense is doing their job and putting a number of 3 and outs on the books After half let Devin have a qtr and Tate have a qtr - essentially run the same plays and see who executes the playbook better in a game situation

Its going to be just like Delaware St. Denard will play the first series, Devin the next 3 or so, Tate and JFK the rest.