What is Running Wrong?

We are now five games into the BYU football season. Yes, as sad as it can be football's regular season is almost half way done. There are two things that we have learned about BYU football, at this quasi halfway point that slap the face of the preseason predictions: First, BYU's pass protection is awful, and Second, the three headed running game is not close to the driving force it was supposed to be this season.

The protection has been awful for Max Hall in this his rookie Quarterbacking campaign. Although week in and week out he has been taking huge bone jarring hits, it has not affected his overall performance for the Cougars. Yet, key plays in the two loses that BYU occurred in the 2007 campaign can be trace directly back to protection issues. In both on drives, during crucial juntcions the defense was able to get to Hall forcing fumbles. Now a lot of this can point to Hall holding onto the football to long, or the fact that on every snap of the UCLA drive he stepped up in the pocket except for the one were the ball was stripped. Yet, if BYU fans want Hall to make it through this year healthy something must change.

The running back issue I believe goes deeper then just not having talent at this position. Anyone that has seen Unga, Tonga, or Vakapuna knows that they have talent to compete on the D-1 level of football. Yet, BYU is 95th in the nation in yards per game. I know that I cringe every time we hand to ball off in our current offensive set. Looking at our three runners they all have one thing in common, they are man freaks for their abilities to run over defenders. They run North and South. That is why when we run out of the shotgun and try to run around the corners it kills me. I understand that every once and a while we need to run out of the shotgun to keep defenses honest, but running out of the shotgun as the main source of our rushing offense just won't work.

Running out of the I-formation is the answer. We need to establish running between the tackles with a fullback in front and use that four to five yard average yards per carry to kill these smaller Mountain West defenses. It will also give the oppertunity to BYU to establish the play action game.