Organization: Penn State University
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 19:37:34 EDT
From: Spiro the Spiny Goldfish <MXD118@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college
Subject: Re: Faulk, 299 yds rushing vs. BYU
 <92258.105239MXD118@psuvm.psu.edu> <68163@hydra.gatech.EDU>

In article <68163@hydra.gatech.EDU>, mm42@prism.gatech.EDU (Mark Mitchell) says:
>
>MXD118@psuvm.psu.edu (Spiro the Spiny Goldfish) wrote:
>}
>}                                     - in a CLOSE game, Paterno will of
>}course rush his best back quite a bit. But looking back when we had Blair
>}and Curt, in the few blow-outs we had, they got the hook when the game was
>}reasonably out of reach.
>
>For starters, in Penn State's blowout win over BYU last season, RB Gerry
>Collins carried the ball 27 times, and in Penn State's 1989 blowout win over
>BYU Blair Thomas carried the ball 35 times - exactly the same number that
>Marshall Faulk had last Thursday.

For finishers, look at how often he carried the ball after the game was put
away. I remember that game turning into a blowout well after halftime,
not early on.

>Your point - apparently - in bringing up all this crap about whether or not
>Paterno keeps the starters in the game is that the so-called "typical"
>performance of Marshall Faulk against BYU (35 carries, 299 yards, 3 TD's)
>will not be equaled by any PennHeads on the field because the game
>will not be close enough, thereby not allowing them the requisite number
>of carries.  However, history has shown quite the opposite - that even
>given a very large number of carries against BYU, the Pepsi State
>RB's can't come *anywhere remotely close* to this allegedly "typical"
>performance.
>
>Witness:
>
>1992:  San Diego State at BYU
>        Marshall Faulk      35-299  = 8.5 yards/carry
>                             3 TD's = 1 TD / 12 carries
>1991:  BYU at Penn State
>        Gerry Collins       27- 99  = 3.7 yards/carry
>                             1 TD   = 1 TD / 27 carries
>        entire team         67-292  = 4.4 yards/carry
>                             3 TD's = 1 TD / 22 carries
>1989:  Penn State vs. BYU (Holiday Bowl)
>        Blair Thomas        35-186  = 5.3 yards/carry
>                             1 TD   = 1 TD / 35 carries
>        entire team         54-249  = 4.6 yards/carry
>                             3 TD's = 1 TD / 18 carries

Of course, also notice that this 1989 game *was* close (a very high
scoring game on both sides) and was against a much better BYU squad
than this year's sorry bunch.

>Although I've always considered Blair Thomas an excellent ballplayer,
>I'm forced to conclude that he is in fact only 62% (186/299) of a
>typical player, in other words well below average.

Yards per carry is hardly the whole story. J.T. Morris averaged somewhere
around 13 yards a carry at a point last year because in two games he
was brought in to mop-up, and broke 70-80 yard runs.

>Of course it's possible that BYU's defense is worse this year than
>it was in 1989 and 1991, but that would still leave us with
>your ridiculous claim that Faulk's performance was a "typical"
>one against a WAC team.  Since Pepsi State has failed so pathetically
>in 2 attempts at achieving a "typical" day, would you care to name one
>team or back which has done so in the past 10 or 20 years?  If you can't
>produce a single one, perhaps you'd care to classify your "typical
>performance" remark as the utter bullshit which it is.

You really have a chip on your shoulder about the WAC, don't you? If you
want to bring up strawmen to knock down, go argue with yourself. I don't
care squat about yards-per-carry unless they're against the *same* team
and the back is running in a similar offense. How well do you think
Faulk would do in a run-em-up-the-middle offense like Pepsi State's?

And of course, you bring up strawman number two - Pepsi State's performance
in a wide-open Holiday Bowl (where both teams scored over 45 points) after
I clearly said that Paterno pulled backs in a rout.

It's obvious that logic is the first thing to go after hair when you get
old...

>}Again, mark my words - Pep$i $tate'$ total rushing yardage against BYU
>}will be greater than that of SDSU.
>
>Time will tell - so far we have data points from 1989 and 1991
>which say that Pepsi State has failed to even exceed the yardage
>of Mr. Faulk *all by himself* in 2 tries against BYU with a much
>larger number of carries.

Heh heh heh. Two completely different situations, my geezer friend. The
more recent was a blowout against a stronger BYU team than this year's
sorry bunch, and Penn State's backs last year were in my opinion pathetic.

And of course the less recent was a game against a strong BYU squad, in a
year that Pepsi State could have fit right into the WAC (except for Blair
Thomas) with their medicore defense and passing offense.\

>And even if Penn State should happen to exceed SDSU's total rushing yardage
>by some small amount, I seriously doubt they can come close to Faulk's
>"typical" 8.5 yards/carry average.

Paterno sure won't be keeping the back in once the score skyrockets.

>lein@base.UUCP (John Leinaweaver,,RRC-4A720,699-2322) wrote:
>}
>}even with Blair or Curt, they rarely carried more than 25 a game, only when
>}the game was close, Faulk would rarely gain more than 150 a game if he played
>}for a PSU, ND, Michigan... there's more talent to share the ball with.
>
>Well Blair Thomas carried the ball *more than 25 times* in 7 of Pepsi
>State's 12 games in '89.  Is that "rarely"?  He also carried the ball
>more than 30 times in 4 of those 12 games.  And he carried the ball
>exactly 35 times against BYU in '89, gaining 113 fewer yards and scoring
>2 fewer TD's than Faulk did last week.  (Again, it's possible BYU's
>rushing defense is worse than normal this year.)

Remember that little qualification about "close games", fogeymeister.
----
Mike Dahmus       MXD118@PSUVM  or  dahmus@cs.psu.edu
TEAM OS/2