Colonel_Reb
Hall of Famer
Sam just made a nice 34 yard catch and then his line broke down on the next play, stopping him for a loss. You can tell Sam is trying to go straight ahead. What a joke!
Sam McGuffie
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SuperSpeed23
Guru
C'mon sam, rush for some td's.
white lightning
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Sam will get better as the season goes along. They need to let him play the way he likes to. The coach's were telling him to only go north and south. Well for most guys that is the case but he has homerun speed. No one would ever tell Barry Sanders to not try to make the big play. He may lose yards sometimes but Sam is a threat to run for a td whenever he touches the ball. I hope next week they let him go back to his natural style of running. I'm just glad Rice hung on and won this game.
Riddlewire
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In three weeks, Rice plays SMU in C-USA conference action.
Two starting white tailbacks in the same game. When's the last time that happened in a D1A game?
Two starting white tailbacks in the same game. When's the last time that happened in a D1A game?
SuperSpeed23
Guru
Probably before i was born ill bet. Thats a game theres no way i can miss!
Sam is an electric runner who just happened to learn the hard way about a disciplined defense and containment assignments. That won't be the case all season with CUSA defenses. He has been trying too hard so far and the play calling and o-line play has not been to his benefit. He needs to be used more as a decoy for all the attention he draws...and then when the defense starts to forget about him....BOOM! Don't worry, brothers....he has a great attitude and really just needs to relax a little. As the OC tweaks a few things, we will see a huge breakout performance by Sam and then it will become normal.
whiteathlete33
Hall of Famer
So far this season he's only averaging 2.3 yards per carry.
SuperSpeed23
Guru
So far vs northwestern he has only 3 carriers but there for 21 yards so at least its a good average.
SuperSpeed23
Guru
wow i cant spell, but you get the idea
SuperSpeed23
Guru
I know he hasnt played well but the coach needs to let him run the ball more. I dont think he had even 10 chances in the game. He should easily be getting 20+ every game.
white lightning
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I agree that Sam needs to carry the ball alot more. The other thing to consider is that Rice has a bad offensive line and an average qb at best. Their receivers are nothing out of the ordinary either. In general, Rice is not a very talented team. It's too bad that this is where Sam ended up. He needs to keep fighting hard though. Hopefully they can turn it around as the season is still very young. I hope they have more talent around Sam for his final two years of college ball.
ToughJ.Riggins
Hall of Famer
What is up with these double posts? Read below- Sorry guys.Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins
ToughJ.Riggins
Hall of Famer
WL, Sam needs to step it up as a runner- or he will start to lose carries instead of having his workload increased. Rice might simply make him a 3rd down back and WR if he doesn't improve his YPC.
I worry the coach came down too hard on him for his creativity as a runner against Texas- where he looked pretty good other than that horrible 10 yard loss. Sam is a big play threat- and the coach should realize that losing yards- once in while- will happen with Rice's very average o-line and poor passing attack. The coach shouldn't have gotten on Sam for his 3 or 4 yard loss. He simply should have told him on his 10 yard loss- that there were 3 guys penetrating into the backfield and- in THIS CASE- making something out of nothing against one of the best defenses in the country wasn't going to happen and to just fight to fall forward.
He does need to try to go north/south in most cases "when the play calls for it", but IF there is NOTHING there- he shouldn't lose his urge to be creative and try to make "magic" happen.
Basically Sam needs to work on his decision making- and be more patient as a runner and let his eyes do better work for him. EVEN for LIGHTNING fast RBs, using patience and vision is VERY important.
If I'm coach, I give Sam basically the same amount of carries the next two or three weeks and give him encouragement, but if he doesn't improve- he is going to turn into Rice's Kevin Faulk (role player runner, but top receiving option).
I worry the coach came down too hard on him for his creativity as a runner against Texas- where he looked pretty good other than that horrible 10 yard loss. Sam is a big play threat- and the coach should realize that losing yards- once in while- will happen with Rice's very average o-line and poor passing attack. The coach shouldn't have gotten on Sam for his 3 or 4 yard loss. He simply should have told him on his 10 yard loss- that there were 3 guys penetrating into the backfield and- in THIS CASE- making something out of nothing against one of the best defenses in the country wasn't going to happen and to just fight to fall forward.
He does need to try to go north/south in most cases "when the play calls for it", but IF there is NOTHING there- he shouldn't lose his urge to be creative and try to make "magic" happen.
Basically Sam needs to work on his decision making- and be more patient as a runner and let his eyes do better work for him. EVEN for LIGHTNING fast RBs, using patience and vision is VERY important.
If I'm coach, I give Sam basically the same amount of carries the next two or three weeks and give him encouragement, but if he doesn't improve- he is going to turn into Rice's Kevin Faulk (role player runner, but top receiving option).
The team sucks. A runner has to have blocking. End of story. He decided to go to Rice and he will have to live with the decision. At a school like Michigan he was sure to have top line talent on the o-line, at Rice -not so much.
whiteathlete33
Hall of Famer
He's been doing well in the receiving department though.
Riddlewire
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jaxvid said:
It's not just the talent. It's the offense.
It's all over the place this year. That same cookie-cutter "Hurry-Up No Huddle" spread crap taken straight out of the pages of Gus Malzahn's infamous book. Every Coach from every CUSA, Sun Belt, and MAC school must've bought that stupid book in the past two years and decided that it was the future of football (even though the book itself isn't a playbook). Now they're all running the exact same offense that generates tons of passing yardage on quick 5-yard dumps (as long as they're not in the red zone) and almost no rushing yardage. Yeah, if you have a roster that's custom selected at every position to run it, then you might be ok with it. But most of these teams were poor to begin with, including undersized linemen and haphazard QBs.
And don't get me started on this "pistol" nonsense...
SuperSpeed23
Guru
I agree with what jaxvid said. Sam must have known that going to rice he wouldnt have the same level of blocking he would at michigan. Also their offense is pretty strange. If they ran more of the normal I back kind of formation sam would be more successful.
Leonardfan
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I wish he would be more productive in the running game but at least he is producing in the passing game.
How much longer do you think the spread offense will be all the rage in college football?
How much longer do you think the spread offense will be all the rage in college football?
ToughJ.Riggins
Hall of Famer
Yes, I agree with you guys on the offense and blocking being poor, but the bottom line is Tyler Smith is outproducing Sam in efficiency by 2 YPC. McGuffie NEEDS to lead the team in YPC to get noticed by the NFL as more than just a WR.
Actually, to compare to a more favourable situation for us CFers- right now Sam is looking like Jerome Harrison and Tyler Smith is looking more like Hillis with his hard nosed rushing. I'm just stating the facts. Sam will probably only get a few more games to evenly split carries- if he goes back to producing a YPC like he did in the first two games while Smith is averaging 4.8 YPC (I know in the first game- one huge 10 yard loss really hurt his stats and he played much better than the stats looked against a really tough D though). I don't want to see Sam turn into basically a receiving/3rd down RB- who is no more than a role player runner- like Kevin Faulk, but it could happen if he doesn't step it up.
Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins
Actually, to compare to a more favourable situation for us CFers- right now Sam is looking like Jerome Harrison and Tyler Smith is looking more like Hillis with his hard nosed rushing. I'm just stating the facts. Sam will probably only get a few more games to evenly split carries- if he goes back to producing a YPC like he did in the first two games while Smith is averaging 4.8 YPC (I know in the first game- one huge 10 yard loss really hurt his stats and he played much better than the stats looked against a really tough D though). I don't want to see Sam turn into basically a receiving/3rd down RB- who is no more than a role player runner- like Kevin Faulk, but it could happen if he doesn't step it up.
celticdb15
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I think we're making excuses. Truth be told McGuffie may be no more than a Reggie Bush type RB that is more of a natural pass catcher and can be a threat out of the backfield. From watching Sam this year he dances around a lot and is indecisive..
Right now with Rice's pathetic version of the spread, McGuffie is better suited for receiver. They just aren't good enough at runing the scheme, it is similar to his first year with Michigan, the blocking took some time to gel, they didn't have a quarterback who was a threat to run, he wasn't getting that great of blocking, so a bigger back like Minor was able to get a few extra yards going north and south. If he were there now with Denard Robinson he would be doing great, they sure could use him, because the backs for Michigan are averaging 3 yards per carry last time I checked. The coordinator has no clue as to what he is doing, he is wasting McGuffie's talent. If the coaches did know what they were doing Sam would be putting up numbers comparable to Harvin when he was at Florida. I don't think we are making excuses. There are plenty of players who suffer from poor scheme/coaching/surrounding talent. If he were at Michigan right now he would probably be putting up insane numbers. He is a scatback, the running scheme/surrounding talent doesn't utilize his ability to the fullest. Besides, last game he had a decent 5 ypc , he just didn't get that many carries. Smith, had 3 carries for -6 yards. Sam didn't look hesitant when he was at Michigan, maybe sitting out an entire year hurt him and his ability to trust his instincts. I think as time goes on he will get better as a runner. I don't think it is time to write him off after 3 games when he still has 2 more years of eligibility left after the end of this season.
Edited by: snow
Edited by: snow
i call it like i see it,you guys know damn well if the pigmentation of smith and mcguffie was switched<div>we would be bitchin about how it was unfair that the more productive back wasn't getting the lions share</div><div>of the carries. I was a pretty fair rb back in the day and i do not like what i see out of sam, i think the reggie bush comparison is appropriate,the slot may be a better position for him.</div><div>rex burkhead and brandon wegher seem to be the cream of the crop for white rbi's,we will have to see what happens with brandon.</div>