Question for the people thinking we have good RB's....

[TR.sixpack]

Dixon has to do with his talent and potential. Also he rarely loses yardage on a play. Ducre' seems to be the most talented #2 back we've had since the late 90's and the two frosh were highly regarded coming out of HS. I would say the RB corps, as a whole, is the most <span style="font-style: italic;">talented</span> it has ever been under Croom

BTW, most people don't grade on curve, meaning the grade I give MSU RB's has little to do with the rest of the SEC. Just because Dixon and Co. gets a B, that doesn't mean 5-6 other schools don't get B's or higher for their RB corps.

 

[8dog]

your argument against Anthony Dixon is that he didn't play as well as the Heisman Trophy runner up, who played in a more creative offense, who played alongside the second best back in the conference and an NFL WR behind a line that had 2 1st team all sec players and 2 second team all sec players.

FOUR All SEC Offensive Linemen.

 

[HD6]

is starting calling him Dixons.

 

[Coach34]

but not finishing last in yards per carry in the SEC would. Any starting back in the SEC can carry it 287 times and get more yards than Dixon can

 

[rdhdawg]

AD carried the ball 287 times. He's a work horse who will be given less reps this year, which should translate into better explosiveness. The end zone stopped him 14 times... not tacklers. He avgeraged 82 yars per game even though every team we played had 8 or 9 people in the box. oh yeah, when he wasnt running through people or around people, he was jumping over them. The kid is a stud work horse.

We can run the ball on 3rd and long and get 1st downs.

We have 4 legit RBs now. Not 2.

We have the most talented LT to play at State in a long time, and maybe ever. PorkChop would be hard to beat, but Sherrod may be better than him when it's all said and done.

We have a stud LG. Our C is more talented than our starter last year. Our RG has underperformed his whole career, but reports are that he is stepping up. Our RT is a concern, but we have 3 guys who could fill that spot.

Our passing game should imporve with WC's arm strength.

Wilder will stretch the field.

One of our TEs is really a RB.

We will makes teams prepare for different things during the season b/c we will have the spread option wrinkled into the gmae plan, along with a few other new surprises.

 

[TR.sixpack]

Any starting back in the SEC can carry it 287 times and get more yards than Dixon can

 

[TDAWG.sixpack]

How many times did AD use a lead full back? If we had two break out recievers and an experienced QB how many hards per carry would he get?

Imagine this. If AD played for Kentucky last year, with there good passing game, how many defenses would feel comfortable with have 7 guys tops in the box, with 3 linebackers 3-5 yards off the line?

I understand what you are say coach, but you are comparing apples and oranges. Backs like McFadden are dynamic and needed to get open, but Dixon is one that is supposed to run between the guard and tackle and crush the outside linebacker( who are usually about the same size as Dixon)

All in All 3.5 ypc x 3 carries per drive = 10.5 yards (First Down Bulldogs!!!) This has been the mentality for a while. I dont particularly like it but if it keeps us in bowl scenarios then i will accept it

 

[seshomoru]

Valiant effort.

 

[patdog]

It's great that Dixon was able to handle 287 carries last year. But one of the reasons our offense sucked last year was that we didn't get good production from those 287 carries. We barely got 1,000 yards from it. As Rebel Bruiser pointed out, that's only 77 yards per game. Nothing spectacular at all. I realize our passing game sucked, but a lot of passing offenses in the SEC sucked last year (Mississippi, Vanderbilt, Arkansas and Auburn come quickly to mind). But they ALL ran the ball better than we did. Of course with Arkansas it's understandable. They had one of the best RB tandems in league history. But for Mississippi and Vanderbilt to both run better than we did with ****** passing games of their own doesn't say a hell of a lot for our running backs.

And BTW, Mississippi's "running QB" who took all the pressure off their running backs ran for a grand total of 155 yards last year. Obviously, the defenses were really geared up to stop him.

 

[Coach34]

i'm glad you guys love Dixon. I really like his toughness as well....

Buttttttttttttt, from an actual production standpoint- not so much. We have very average RB's and all the actual facts point to that.

 

[stevo1a]

Silly me.

 

[seshomoru]

We OBVIOUSLY should have been starting Ducre then, since he had a better ypc. There's a certain diminishing aspect to ypc when you carry the ball that many damn times. The best thing about Dixon is that he CAN handle the ball that many times. He had a funny way of finding the endzone, too. So, I'll take a 3.7 yards 287 times and top it off with 14 touchdowns. But that's just me.

 

[DowntownDawg]

...that's the only fitting punishment left for our mediocre All SEC back.

 

[HD6]

how does that affect Felix Jones versus McFadden, because Jones has the highest YPC in NCAA history, doesn't he?

 

[8dog]

d

 

[RonnyAtmosphere]

1. The Miss. State offense is horrible, hence anybody who takes MSU football seriously this season is a fool.

2. Dixon is vastly overrated, hence anybody who takes MSU football seriously this season is a fool.

3. We lost all of our best players, hence anybody who takes MSU football seriously this season is a fool.

4. "Crooms" is a one-hit-wonder joke, hence anybody who takes MSU football seriously this season is a fool.

5. Last year, it wasn't a matter of the Miss. State football team program improving; it was a matter of other teams screwing up when they played State. Hence (a) anybody who took MSU football seriously last season was a fool & (b) anybody who takes MSU football seriously this season is a fool.

6. My name is Coach34, and I have but one mission in life: To make at least 4 compelling arguments a day on the sixpackspeak.com board that anybody who takes MSU football seriously this season is a fool.

How many thousands of posts are you going to make trying to convince everybody that following MSU is an exercise in futility?

Ironic a guy who probably failed math in school tries to use math to plant the seeds of doubt & gloom. And uses data as a vehicle to undermine the premise of wins/losses.

If you are so convinced MSU football is nothing more than a long term scam, then please get lost. </p>

 

[seshomoru]

yuku

 

[TR.sixpack]

[No message]

 

[KDawg12]

If you are comparing them to Jones and McFadden then one point that needs to be thought is they both went as 1st round draft picks this year.

 

[patdog]

I remember some serious debate about that very thing right after the Kentucky game. Because he clearly performed better then Dixon when given the chance.

Touchdowns are obviously important, but Dixon's TDs are inflated because we gave him the ball so many times from the 2-yard line. And one of the reasons his yards per carry is so low is many times it would take him 2 or 3 tries to finally get over the goal line from there.

As for starting Williams or Smith, surely you guys aren't so dumb to not realize that any stats for players with so few carries are pretty much meaningless, good or bad.

 

[stevo1a]

So you'd rather have Norwood's 2005 season w/103 yards per game, 5.9 avg, and 6 TD over Dixon's 2007 w/82 yards per game, 3.7, and 14 TD?

Give me Dixon seven days a week and twice on Sunday.

 

[Coach34]

"He had a funny way of finding the endzone, too. So, I'll take a 3.7 yards 287 times and top it off with 14 touchdowns. But that's just me."

He was almost always in the game when we got in the red zone- so he gets all the TD's. aGAIN, if other teams left their starter in to score as much, they would have more than 14. We were 9th in the SEC in rushing TD's, yet are a predominant running team. aGAIN- no production

 

[patdog]

And possibly the most underrated one.

 

[DowntownDawg]

....it's his bread and butter. What some people don't seem to realize is that the knife cuts both ways. In American college football, there is something called a clock. The clock regulates the length of time in a game. And so when you have a player who is 3rd in the league in scoring touchdowns and is durable and is able to get tough, grind it out yards, you have a weapon. In other words, he scores alot, and he also runs alot of clock. Pretty damn good player. Not McFadden, and we'd all like to see his YPC go up, but durability is not to be scoffed at. Getting 3.5 yards on 3rd and 2 in the second half of a tight game is pretty damn important.

 

[HD6]

*</p>

 

[seshomoru]

ad is fat</p>

 

[TR.sixpack]

He was almost always in the game when we got in the red zone-

Sorry, but there's a chicken-egg argument here. Dixon was in the game because he was money when we get close to the end zone. State was also 6th in red zone scoring - because of the threat of Dixon.

 

[HD6]

I could list at least 20 great SEC backs before Felix Jones would even cross my mind.

 

[seshomoru]

He was almost always in the game when we got in the red zone- so he gets all the TD's. aGAIN, if other teams left their starter in to score as much, they would have more than 14. We were 9th in the SEC in rushing TD's, yet are a predominant running team. aGAIN- no production

So wait? That's a knock on him? The fact that our starting RB is durable and big enough to stay in the game to get the tough yards in the red zone is now a way to discount his talent?

</p>

 

[8dog]

"As for starting Williams or Smith, surely you guys aren't so dumb to not realize that any stats for players with so few carries are pretty much meaningless, good or bad."

So with Dixon, you just have to stick to YPC. That's all you can consider. But with others, you can take into account various factors.

The bottom line is Dixon has become really good in short yardage situations. We need a yard, he gets a yard and a half. The Auburn game is what really amazes me about him. There are numerous times that he could've gotten caught in the backfield but either got back to the line or got a yard or two.

You just can't look at YPC in a vaccum.

 

[Barkman Turner Overdrive]

you left out the fact that we have a ****** offensive coordinator and a head coach that keeps his incompetent ***.

I think our RBs have the talent, it's just the staff doesn't know how to loosen up the defense to allow the running game to fully develop.

 

[Maroontrout]

Bottom line is Dixon smells the endzone and scores in the redzone. That is an intangible which makes him good. Does anyone know how many recieving yards he had last year?

 

[Coach34]

I could list at least 20 great SEC backs before Felix Jones would even cross my mind.

</p>but he did have one of the best seasons in history- 133 carries, 1162 yards...and 11 TD's...thats a sic ypc average for a guy with 100+ attempts...

 

[seshomoru]

Bottom line is Dixon smells the endzone and scores in the redzone. That is an intangible which makes him good. Does anyone know how many recieving yards he had last year?

Only people who know about http://www.mstateathletics.com/

</p>

 

[patdog]

But I can look at the many many plays where Dixon just ran right into the tackler when there was plenty of room to run if he'd just take one step to one side or the other. And I can look at the many times he went down far too easily for a RB with his strength. And I can look at all of his fumbles and generally lazy attitude towards the game. And I can look at the fact that he sometimes showed up to play and sometimes didn't.

The funny thing is, pretty much all of you guys were bitching about him for those same things last year, but when he finally broke the 1,000 yard mark (after failing to get there in TWO games when he was less than 100 yards away), he suddenly became some kind of great back. I wonder how great you'd think he was if other players late-game heroics hadn't bailed his *** out from gaining only 26 yards against Mississippi last year. - Oh wait, I forgot. Those were all goal line carries so ypc doesn't matter. <sarcasm>

 

[HD6]

that's a function of him getting a ton of carries from the Wild Hog formation, where the direct snap to McFadden put all the attention on him. Personally, I think Jones has bust in the NFL written all over him, at least as far as first rounders go. I look at him as another Dave Meggett/Brian Mitchell type.

 

[1msucub]

Coach, did you ever consider the fact that essentially EVERY first down play was give it to Dixon up the middle and see what happens? Even the most casual observer knew what was coming, no matter HOW many people were in the box. When you are as predictable on 1st down as we have been, the YPC numbers are going to be atrocious for whoever is unlucky enough to be the back to get that carry. Don't get me wrong; if Dixon had Ducre's desire he would be dang near unstoppable. All-world he ain't, but to label him without taking into account our play-calling (esp on 1st down) may be a little short-sighted.

 

[AzzurriDawg4]

We can run the ball on 3rd and long and get 1st downs.

Until I saw this quote, I had almost forgotten about that GD draw play we kept running last year on 3rd and long. I kept thinking, "ok they know it is coming - there is no way it works this time" - and it would work again.

 

[patdog]

But he had to have been well above 5 ypc when McFadden wasn't even in the game. Like I said, he's probably the most underrated great RB the SEC has ever produced.

 

[Maroontrout]

Barkman: if we could somehow develop a passing game, there is potential to open up. we cannot continue to be a one dimensional team. We have improved in one area of the game every year, so if history repeats itself hopefully our passing game will be better this year