First of all Scott looked good in the limited carries we saw last night. I watched the game at home with 6 of my friends and before the game got into a debate over whether Scott was as good as projected because up until last night we hadn't seen much of him coming out of the back field. Last night he had 12 carries for 85 yards with a 32-yard run and another good looking run for around 15. Pretty good when you consider that was ALL in the first half.

I sifted through the play-by-play summary on Espn and what I found was absolutely astonishing. How many run plays did run in the 3rd quarter? 2. Two. Dos. Our first rushing attempt came on the fourth play of a drive that started with 4:51 left in the quarter. I don't want this stat to sound worse than it is. We did run only 9 plays in our first two possessions and scored on one of them. The problem with our first rush attempt of the half? It was a Matt DiLallo fake punt that he ran for a first down. Our second attempt of the half wasn't even a run play. Espn labeled it a "rush" because Hawkins fumbled the snap.

"1st and 10 at TOL 16 Cody Hawkins rush for a loss of 10 yards, fumbled, recovered by ColoCody Hawkins at the Toledo 26"

http://espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=292542649&period=3

I remember when Helfrich left and Kiesau took over and he made a comment along the lines of us playing "smash mouth" football and using our stable of talented running backs. Of course that would get Buffs fans excited. So what do we do in the first two games of the season? Let's go to the numbers. Last night Hawkins had 64 passing attempts while our running backs had 17 carries. There are four "carries" for Hawkins for -21 yards and 1 carry on the fake punt. Excluding the latter two, 17 of our 81 plays were runs. 21%. That's it. With 0 in coming in the Second half. Look at the CSU game; Hawkins had 40 attempts. Our running backs got 16 carries. 28.5%. Sure looks like we are pounding the ball.

Obviously the CSU game was closer and we could have used the passing game to get back into it and possibly win. But last night? Why not open up the playbook a little? Get Scott and Lockridge some carries. Get them some confidence and let them get some swagger going for the season. Which brings me to the Quarterback situation. After the 61 yard TD run by Toledo to start the 4th quarter last night the game was over. We're down by 30 on the road. Why not bring Lobato in at some point? Maybe after Hawkins first or second INT? Get our current backup a few snaps and let him hand it off to our running backs that desperately need carries for both confidence and sanity.

What's the worst thing that could come out of this season? We have a horrible season in the win/loss category and we lose more of our talent to programs that will use them (i.e. Josh Smith). I'm sure since his junior year in high school that Scott has seen himself suiting up on Sundays. It's one thing to get 20 touches a game, not perform and come to the realization you just don't have it. But when you get 12 touches in a half, average over 7 yards a carry, and then not get a touch the entire second half. That has to start eating at him.

At some point Dan Hawkins and company have to except that what they are doing isn't working and changes need to be made. Let's get something positive out of this season. Get some young backs the carries and confidence they need and find a strength we can go to on the offensive side of the ball. I am still to angry/confused/enraged to even talk about our defense. We'll save that for another day.