Grinding it out

You must run the ball to win. That old statement doesn't ring as true as it once did, but an effective running game should equal positive results even in this "age of the spread offense".

If you read enough articles that are devoted to the UGA offense, you'll often see the word "balance" being used as a goal. Balancing the run with the pass is the objective, but the numbers in 2007 show that the desired balance was not achieved. While having 874 offensive plays in 2007, 509 of those plays were running plays, which puts the total at 58.2 %. Of course, the opposing defensive personel and the scoreboard have a large influence on those numbers.

Anyway, this entire line of thought got started when I looked at the 2008 schedule and wanted to see what our opponents' offensive balance has been. I'm factoring in the new coordinators and head coaches in the list.

Here's the breakdown of how often they ran the ball in 2007:

1. Georgia Tech 85.5 %


2. Georgia Southern 75.2 %


3. LSU 58.1 %


4. Vandy 57.5 %


5. Florida 57.4 %


6. Arizona St. 56.2 %


7. Alabama 50.9 %


8. C. Michigan 48.2 %


9. Kentucky 47.9 %


10. Auburn 47.2 %


11. S. Carolina 46.3 %


12. Tennessee 46.2 %

The first 2 on the list believe in the old saying "when you put the ball in the air, 3 things can happen, and 2 of them are bad". I think Paul Johnson will be forced to throw a little more often if he is to enjoy success in the ACC.

Central Michigan, Florida, and Auburn will run a spread option with the QB being a large part of the running game.

Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky like to spread the field also. They don't utilize the option, but use the pass to set up the run.

Alabama, LSU, Vandy, and Arizona St. will give more traditional looks the majority of the time. Arizona St will likely spread it out more than the others in this group.

The way the schedule breaks down, it seems that every week the opponents' offensive tendency's will shift from one extreme to the other. It's enough to make Coach Martinez pull his hair out.

I rest my case