Comparing us with Alabama so far this year...

[TrueBlueHusky]

Cornell Brockington - 6'0" 181 lbs
Terry Caulley - 5'7" 183 lbs
Larry Taylor - 5'6" 157 lbs
Andre Dixon - 6'0" 185
Jordan Todman - 5'9" 180

Kinda OT
I liked all those RBs and Donald Brown, but I think one of the most exciting was Caulley. Shame he was never really the same after the ACL. If I remember correctly didn't he led the nation in rushing until his injury in the VaTech game?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Lyle is a great football player, he's just a guy in sprint league body, playing 1-A ball at the TB position.

I suspect that if we had a bigger TB that we could rely on, as a featured back - and that means in understanding pass protections, and blocking - not running - in such case, P wouldn't hesitate to put said larger back, into the game as the featured TB. As is, a 165lb TB that can at least get in the way of a rushing defender on a passing down, is better than a 210 lb back that won't even be in the area.

I agree, he is terrific. But watching the last Alabama game you couldn't help noticing the speed and power of their backs especially on short yardage situations. They moved the pile forward 4 yards after hitting the wall.

 

[UConnDan97]

LM's career to date has shown 5 ypc is the outlier game on the good side. His career average is more like 4.

Well, that's kinda my point. For all the complaining that I see on the BY about McCombs and getting another back a try, I will take a 4 yard average any day of the week. If you are averaging over 4 yards per carry, you are getting us a first down every three. That's good production...

 

[Jax Husky]

That's not necessarily true. UConn has ALWAYS been a successful running team, and for the most part, we have had small (or at least light) running backs, especially early in their careers. These are the numbers off of the UConn Huskies athletics site (all under 185 lbs):

Cornell Brockington - 6'0" 181 lbs
Terry Caulley - 5'7" 183 lbs
Larry Taylor - 5'6" 157 lbs
Andre Dixon - 6'0" 185
Jordan Todman - 5'9" 180

A couple of those players were able to put a little more weight on their frames as their careers went on, but for the most part we had some great running with smaller guys (Donald Brown was the 200 lb exception). I have absolutely no problem whatsoever in a North-South running scheme with Lyle McCombs, especially if he is going to average over 5 yards per carry like he did last game. Do I expect that we have Silas Redd or T.J. Yeldon here at UConn? No, but that doesn't mean that we should shy away from something that we have been successful at for more than a decade...

The OLine is a dumpster fire. It is not the RBs (although having 1 160lb guy running 40 times a game doesn't help). This is the worst OLine in the history of UConn-BCS.

 

[freescooter]

The OLine is a dumpster fire. It is not the RBs (although having 1 160lb guy running 40 times a game doesn't help). This is the worst OLine in the history of UConn-BCS.

Might not be the worst ever, but it is pretty messed up. This team reminds me of the the Pitt teams when Wanstadt came in. Except in reverse...He took over a team built for the finesse game and tried to convert it to play power football. Pasqualoni/Deleone took a power team and has tried to make it into a finesse team. In neither case do the parts really fit that well. Personally I don't have a beef with McCombs. He wasn't any bigger last year and he carried the load. It would be nice if we could spell him a bit, and I think 23 carries is a good number, and that's about what he's been getting. He isn't carrying the ball 40 times agame for heaven sakes. UMass 23/82/3.5ypc, NCState 20/60/3.0. MD 27/94/3.5, WMU 23/119/5.2. He averages about 23 carries for 88 yards 3.8 ypc. Not spectacular maybe, but solid. and he has been getting better each game I think.

 

[Kingspoint]

The OLine is a dumpster fire. It is not the RBs (although having 1 160lb guy running 40 times a game doesn't help). This is the worst OLine in the history of UConn-BCS.

Are you including the TEs in your statement?

 

[huskysupporter]

The difference between Whitmer and MCCarron is to the right of the stat line. mcCarron is asked to manage the offense. He has 0 ints. That is how you play within a system. It is all about limiting turnovers by the qb.

I like Whitmers completion % (should be 65 in this offense), dislike the turnovers.


Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[whaler11]

The problem with McCombs is that he isn't Brown or Todman. He's fine. Improvement at RB is about 15th on the list of things this team would need.

 

[Jax Husky]

Are you including the TEs in your statement?

Not really, but they dont stand out when it comes to blocking, which is what i am referring to with my comment on the OLine.

 

[UConnDan97]

Might not be the worst ever, but it is pretty messed up. This team reminds me of the the Pitt teams when Wanstadt came in. Except in reverse...He took over a team built for the finesse game and tried to convert it to play power football. Pasqualoni/Deleone took a power team and has tried to make it into a finesse team. In neither case do the parts really fit that well. Personally I don't have a beef with McCombs. He wasn't any bigger last year and he carried the load. It would be nice if we could spell him a bit, and I think 23 carries is a good number, and that's about what he's been getting. He isn't carrying the ball 40 times agame for heaven sakes. UMass 23/82/3.5ypc, NCState 20/60/3.0. MD 27/94/3.5, WMU 23/119/5.2. He averages about 23 carries for 88 yards 3.8 ypc. Not spectacular maybe, but solid. and he has been getting better each game I think.

You beat me to the punch, Freescooter. McCombs is averaging 23 carries per game, and he is averaging 3.8 yards per carry this year. For the people that think he should share some of this "load", I would really question why. Perhaps the real problem is that we aren't running the ball enough! (I'm sure everyone is going to lose their minds on that statement, especially since many have been asking for more passing for a decade).

The reason I say that is that 23 carries per game for a featured back is pretty standard actually, and in many cases, a little light. Maybe what the offensive line needs to be better is a little more of a chance to hit the guy across from them in the mouth a few more times. I'm not saying that it's the answer, but I'm suggesting that it might be part of the solution. But then again, I am a big fan of "Four yards and a cloud of dust"...