Quick thought while looking over season stats....

[HoopsDawg]

Dak led our team in rushing attempts. Nearly 20 more carries than J-Rob. If you are going to play QB for Mullen get ready to take a lot of hits. Amazing he stayed somewhat healthy most of the year. There's a reason he thanked the training staff at the Connerly presentation. And that's probably why we cut Virgil.

[maroonmania]

Dak led our team in rushing attempts. Nearly 20 more carries than J-Rob. If you are going to play QB for Mullen get ready to take a lot of hits. Amazing he stayed somewhat healthy most of the year. There's a reason he thanked the training staff at the Connerly presentation. And that's probably why we cut Virgil.

Probably got a few too many carries. Dak running the ball was much more effective the first half the year than the last half. Some of that was just better rushing defenses but a lot had to do with defenses keying on stopping the running QB and we never adjusted to it. We just kept ramming Dak into a brick wall when other options were available.

[Coach34]

Shirley nobody is surprised by this? You havent been watching us play the last 5 years if you are. I told everyone he was going to lead in carries. My guess was about 180- so I see he even exceeded that

Thats the way Mullen's offense works. Hell, Tebow had 220+ carries one season

[maroonmania]

Shirley nobody is surprised by this? You havent been watching us play the last 5 years if you are. I told everyone he was going to lead in carries. My guess was about 180- so I see he even exceeded that

Thats the way Mullen's offense works. Hell, Tebow had 220+ carries one season

Yep, and he does it whether its working or not. Was one of the reasons that a lot of Florida fans soured on him some there towards the end.

[FlabLoser]

Also contributing is that we limited J Rob's carries in games where victory was in hand. Dak pretty much played the whole season after Dan learned from LSU not to take his foot off the gas.

[HoopsDawg]

Not surprised but I was hopeful he wouldn't have 195 carries. As mania commented, most of those runs are right back up the middle and a lot of times there's not a lead blocker. So when teams like OM and Bama brought 6 guys up the middle it was just slamming our star QB into a brick wall.

I know it was Vandy, but that was the best our offense looked all year and that also happened to be Dak's fewest carries. Again, I know it was Vandy but i'm talking about the play-calling. We have weapons on the outside now with Bear and Ross and Gray is going to be a playmaker in the slot. Mullen really needs to evaluate himself and cut those carries down to 150-160.

Interesting, the tougher the opponent, the more he runs it and the less effective we are.

[msstate7]

I wish more of dak's running wasn't by design. I wish we rolled him out more on passes and told em to tuck and run if no ones open.

[sandwolf]

I wish more of dak's running wasn't by design. I wish we rolled him out more on passes and told em to tuck and run if no ones open.

Agreed.

[GreenheadDawg]

Yep, and he does it whether its working or not. Was one of the reasons that a lot of Florida fans soured on him some there towards the end.

It's obvious by now that Mullen will not change. It doesn't matter if running up the middle with the box stacked isn't working. I love Mullen but this is my biggest concern with him. He's so hard-headed he won't make adjustments when his gameplan isn't working. This is the reason we lost to Bama and OM. He needs to spend the offseason revising his offense and throwing in some wrinkles

[Todd4State]

Not surprised but I was hopeful he wouldn't have 195 carries. As mania commented, most of those runs are right back up the middle and a lot of times there's not a lead blocker. So when teams like OM and Bama brought 6 guys up the middle it was just slamming our star QB into a brick wall.

I know it was Vandy, but that was the best our offense looked all year and that also happened to be Dak's fewest carries. Again, I know it was Vandy but i'm talking about the play-calling. We have weapons on the outside now with Bear and Ross and Gray is going to be a playmaker in the slot. Mullen really needs to evaluate himself and cut those carries down to 150-160.

Interesting, the tougher the opponent, the more he runs it and the less effective we are.

My hope for next year is that with Shumpert emerging we can use him as another weapon in the running game and use some two back sets out of the gun. Shumpert is a better blocker than Robinson, which hopefully will help on the QB runs. Jameon being hurt also hindered the play calling some. Slot is a huge part of our offense and we will have Gray and Dear who can run those option routes like Bumphis was really good at. That's why IMO, the best we play called and looked was the LSU game which was not coincidentally the last game that Jameon was 100%.

[Todd4State]

I wish more of dak's running wasn't by design. I wish we rolled him out more on passes and told em to tuck and run if no ones open.

I do too. Tell him to slide, which he will have to learn in the NFL anyway, or run out of bounds. Conserving Dak to me is about the designed runs- not scrambling.

[Coach34]

George Bush say:

READ MY LIPS- Dakota Prescott will have another 180 carries next year no matter who the RB's are. I just wish we would have a blocker for him more often.

[Todd4State]

George Bush say:

READ MY LIPS- Dakota Prescott will have another 180 carries next year no matter who the RB's are. I just wish we would have a blocker for him more often.

I don't mind Dak running, but we need to be more creative with it. Having two backs in the formation will allow us to do some different option type runs. And he does need to scramble a little bit more than he does as well.

[klong-dog]

Yeah I agree with rolling him out in the pocket more. There is a big difference in meeting up with Dlineman and middle LB's than meeting up DB's and OLB's. I'd take Dak more times than not on the latter. Plus the roll out gives the ability to open up the field and buy time for our WR's, TE's, RB's to get open.

On another subject how about some screens for our RB's? We ran them a good bit with L Perkins in his fresh and soph years and haven't hardly since.

[blacklistedbully]

Actually, rolling out has some advantage, but "opening up the field" is not one of them. In fact, it tends to close off half the field.

[TUSK]

I wish more of dak's running wasn't by design. I wish we rolled him out more on passes and told em to tuck and run if no ones open.

I kinda like this idea... Dak's threat to run is what gives him the passin' numbers he has... additionally, he'd probably be safer than in the pocket...

[Irondawg]

George Bush say:

READ MY LIPS- Dakota Prescott will have another 180 carries next year no matter who the RB's are. I just wish we would have a blocker for him more often.

I thought one of our better plays early in the year was when wed use the rb as a lead blocker and dak would just run right behind them. We used it a fair amount the first few weeks but for some reason didn't use it much the 2nd half of the season