"Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated" - The Rivalry Thread

[smokymountainrain]

Devontae Heisman is 15th in the nation in rushing yards (845) and he is averaging 4.8 yards per carry with 8 touchdowns.

Let's compare that to some other Heisman candidates:

Leonard Fournette: 1st in rushing yards (1352), 7.7 YPC, 15 touchdowns
Ezekiel Elliot: 3rd in rushing yards (1130), 6.6 ypc 13 tds
Derrick Henry: 5th in rushing yards (1044), 5.8 ypc, 14 tds
Dalvin Cook: 6th in rushing yards (1037), 8.16, 11 tds


So clearly he is not anywhere close to being in the elite class of running backs. Even the next wave with McCaffrey, Royce Freeman, Shock Linwood, and CJ Prosise, he doesn't stack up.

But how about some random cats that most of you have never heard of?

Matt Breida from Georgia Southern: 953 yards, 9.6 ypc, 11 tds
Joel Bouagnon from Northern Illinois: 863 rushing yards, 5.1 ypc and 14 tds
Ray Lawry from Old Dominion: 830 rushing yards, 6.1 ypc and 8 tds
Darius Jackson from Eastern Michigan: 799 rushing yards, 5.5 ypc, 12 tds
Marcus Cox from Appalachian state: 777 yards, 5.7 ypc, 8 tds

He is on par with this group of no-namers with regards to total yards, but he is still well behind when it comes to YPC.

In fact let's just take the top 85 running backs in college football, every guy with over 500 yards rushing this year. How many do you think have a lower YPC than Booker?

If you guessed 7 you would be correct. Out of 85 running backs, he has 8th lowest yards per carry.

(Since this is a rivalry thread, for comparisons sake, Algie Brown has exactly 100 fewer carries than Booker, He would need to average 3.8 yards per carry and score 1 touchdown over those 100 carries to equal what Booker has done, basically turn in to Nate Carter for 100 carries)

Does Booker have a 70 yard TD run this season?

[MartyFunkhouser]

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[Omaha 680]

Look at the Ute offense. We have a bad QB. I'm not sure that you can find me another P5 school with a worse group of WRs than Utah. It is just awful.

[TripletDaddy]

Booker is not a Heisman candidate. Booker is also an awesome running back. Look at the Ute offense. We have a bad QB. I'm not sure that you can find me another P5 school with a worse group of WRs than Utah. It is just awful. Our best WR is a true freshman midget slot receiver. He is a good true freshman midget slot receiver, but if he is your best you have problems. It is so bad that a senior WR on BYU that has never even scored a TD on an FBS team is better than any of Utah's WRs. The only way Utah would have a decent WR would be to move Booker there full time. Utah has an oline that is really good at pass blocking, but is a poor run blocking. In short, Booker gets pretty much no help from his team. He is the entire Ute offense. When Utah has success passing the ball, it is basically because teams are focusing on Booker. Booker has suffered through 2pac trials with the Ute offense.

Look at the amount of yards that Booker has after contact. He has to fight for nearly every yard he gets. He isn't a Heisman candidate, but to argue he is anything other than an elite RB is ridiculous. IMO, he is the best RB that Utah has ever had and that is including backs that had pro careers like Jamal Anderson and Mike Anderson.

Do people keep track of that?? Since when?

[smokymountainrain]

Booker is not a Heisman candidate. Booker is also an awesome running back. Look at the Ute offense. We have a bad QB. I'm not sure that you can find me another P5 school with a worse group of WRs than Utah. It is just awful. Our best WR is a true freshman midget slot receiver. He is a good true freshman midget slot receiver, but if he is your best you have problems. It is so bad that a senior WR on BYU that has never even scored a TD on an FBS team is better than any of Utah's WRs. The only way Utah would have a decent WR would be to move Booker there full time. Utah has an oline that is really good at pass blocking, but is a poor run blocking. In short, Booker gets pretty much no help from his team. He is the entire Ute offense. When Utah has success passing the ball, it is basically because teams are focusing on Booker. Booker has suffered through 2pac trials with the Ute offense.

Look at the amount of yards that Booker has after contact. He has to fight for nearly every yard he gets. He isn't a Heisman candidate, but to argue he is anything other than an elite RB is ridiculous. IMO, he is the best RB that Utah has ever had and that is including backs that had pro careers like Jamal Anderson and Mike Anderson.

how many yards does Booker have after contact? and how does that compare to other decent RBs in the country?

[falafel]

how many yards does Booker have after contact? and how does that compare to other decent RBs in the country?

Dude, he told you to look.

[smokymountainrain]

Dude, he told you to look.

I looked all through his post, even read over it twice and still didn't see it so I'm asking him to help me out.

[MartyFunkhouser]

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[smokymountainrain]

Article is a few weeks old, but over the past 2 season he had the most of any player. At the time of the USC game, he was 2nd to Fournette on this season.

Fournette is easily better than Booker. I'm not going to argue he is better than Fournette. He also isn't better than Elliot, but he is an elite back.

http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_...-blows-in-2014

Interesting, though I do disagree in part with this KW comment:

“Anyone can get blocked yardage. Blocked yardage, I can do it,” Whittingham said. “But the real barometer, in my opinion, or one of the main barometers in judging a running back is yards after contact.”

There is something to be said for a running back with vision who can see holes, is patient and follows his blocking - some guys are much better at getting blocked yardage than others. Also, the ability to make people miss and avoiding the contact all together may be more important than getting yards after contact. But sure, it's one of the barometers.

[TripletDaddy]

Anyone can get blocked yardage? ha didnt look like it on Saturday night, whit. :usc:

[MartyFunkhouser]

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[MartyFunkhouser]

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[Jeff Lebowski]

Devontae Booker discussions.

[MartyFunkhouser]

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[Jeff Lebowski]

I just can't win.

I talk about BYU or the LDS church and I'm just trolling. I talk about the Utes respectfully and it is boring.

Have you thought about starting a hockey thread?