Total Attempts: 437
Total Yards Gained: 1513
Total Yards Lost: 610
Net: 903
Which yields an average of 2.1 yds/carry (903/437) or 75 yds/game.
BUT, if you remove Clausen and Sharpley and Jones from the equation the numbers look like this...
Total Attempts: 325
Total Yards Gained: 1309
Total Yards Lost: 152
Net: 1157
Which yields an average of 3.6 yds/carry (1157/325) or 96 yds/game.
If you want to know what accounts for that shocking difference of 1.5 yds/carry, and over 20 yds/game, it's Clausen's 284 lost yards and Sharpley's 163. That's right - Notre Dame quarterbacks were sacked so many times they single-handedly brought down the team rushing average 1.5 yds/carry!
If you look at individual statistics, Aldridge averaged 3.8 yds/carry, Allen 4.0 yds/carry, and Hughes 5.5 yds/carry. So it appears that when Notre Dame wanted to run, they could run. The problem was Weis' pass-happy offense combined with little experience on that side of the ball often left Notre Dame trailing early and they couldn't stick with the run.
So here's hoping that a new signal caller on the offensive side of the ball and a year of experience under the belt will make a difference this year. God knows my heart, and Zoe's rapid grasp of the English language, cannot take another losing season...
1 comment:
I don't understand why college football continues to count a sack as a rushing attempt. It should count against your passing yards, like it does in the NFL. It used to be that QB's were scramble first, throw second, so it made sense to have sacks count as rushes. But that's not the case anymore, with offenses like ND, USC, and almost everyone that doesn't have Tim Tebow as QB.
Colin, you're the commish. Get this rule change happening!
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