I decided to dive into some of the rushing issues. The first thing that stood out to me when I thought about Tech's two ACC losses was how often they were off schedule on offense because of the inability to run the football on first down.
Here is an illustration of that.
In the FSU game Tech ran 17 times on 1st downs for 102 yards (6 yards per rush) with two drives that ended in three and outs.
Against Georgia State that improved to 19 for 119 (6.26 yards per rush) only two negative run plays. They had two negative runs and one zero yard rush against FSU.
In the Cuse game, it fell off a cliff with just 10 rushes for 21 yards for 2.1 yards per carry and they were having to throw the ball on every play in the 4th QT trying to comeback. Two three and outs from series where Jamal Haynes gained just one yard each time as well
The VMI game was better at 22 for 117 but they had three negative rushes in that game for -12 yards as well including on the first drive.
Things were off again against Louisville as Tech had 16 for 32 yards (2 yards per carry) on first down.
So in the two losses GT ran 26 times on first downs for just 53 yards. That is a big problem.
Jamal Haynes rushing stats illustrate the issues clearly. Using PFF data here are his rushes by direction
Left D-Gap (Left of TE) 13 carries 18 yards 1.4 yards 2 TDs
Left C-Gap (left shoulder of LT) 2 for 5 yards
Left B-Gap Between LT and LG 4 for 10 2.5 ypc 1 TD
Left A-Gap Between LG and C 4 for 16 4.0 ypc not bad
Right A-Gap between C and RG 10 for 28 yards 2.8 yards 1 TD
Right B-Gap 6 for 4 0.7 ypc
Right C-Cap 5 for 17 yards 3.4
The bulk of Haynes yards have been off the right edge or D gap 13-105 8.1 1 TD
He has one 35-yard on a jet sweep.
So let's look at his numbers from last year
Left D-Gap 28 for 282 1 TD 10.1 ypc
Left C-Gap 25 for 87 1 TD 3.5 ypc
Left B-Gap 21 for 110 1 TD 5.2 ypc
Left A-Gap 28 for 157 1 TD 5.6 ypc
Right A-Gap 20 for 108 5.4 ypc
Right B-Gap 11 for 27 2.5 ypc
Right C-Gap 17 for 40 2.4 ypc
Right D-Gap 22 for 235 3 TDs 10.7 ypc
Two jet sweeps 2 for 9
Since the rest of the rushing offense has been spread between Haynes King, Chad Alexander, Trelain Maddox and Anthony Carrie it wasn't worth crunching those numbers.
Essentially until they can get back to the 2023 type numbers running inside the box the offense is going to struggle as they did in the Cuse and Louisville game. I do think that Jamal's rushing numbers and Dontae Smith's a year ago increased in the second half of the season and I wasn't going to go back and study the first six games of last year to figure that part out, but I found this interesting and wanted to share it.
Here is an illustration of that.
In the FSU game Tech ran 17 times on 1st downs for 102 yards (6 yards per rush) with two drives that ended in three and outs.
Against Georgia State that improved to 19 for 119 (6.26 yards per rush) only two negative run plays. They had two negative runs and one zero yard rush against FSU.
In the Cuse game, it fell off a cliff with just 10 rushes for 21 yards for 2.1 yards per carry and they were having to throw the ball on every play in the 4th QT trying to comeback. Two three and outs from series where Jamal Haynes gained just one yard each time as well
The VMI game was better at 22 for 117 but they had three negative rushes in that game for -12 yards as well including on the first drive.
Things were off again against Louisville as Tech had 16 for 32 yards (2 yards per carry) on first down.
So in the two losses GT ran 26 times on first downs for just 53 yards. That is a big problem.
Jamal Haynes rushing stats illustrate the issues clearly. Using PFF data here are his rushes by direction
Left D-Gap (Left of TE) 13 carries 18 yards 1.4 yards 2 TDs
Left C-Gap (left shoulder of LT) 2 for 5 yards
Left B-Gap Between LT and LG 4 for 10 2.5 ypc 1 TD
Left A-Gap Between LG and C 4 for 16 4.0 ypc not bad
Right A-Gap between C and RG 10 for 28 yards 2.8 yards 1 TD
Right B-Gap 6 for 4 0.7 ypc
Right C-Cap 5 for 17 yards 3.4
The bulk of Haynes yards have been off the right edge or D gap 13-105 8.1 1 TD
He has one 35-yard on a jet sweep.
So let's look at his numbers from last year
Left D-Gap 28 for 282 1 TD 10.1 ypc
Left C-Gap 25 for 87 1 TD 3.5 ypc
Left B-Gap 21 for 110 1 TD 5.2 ypc
Left A-Gap 28 for 157 1 TD 5.6 ypc
Right A-Gap 20 for 108 5.4 ypc
Right B-Gap 11 for 27 2.5 ypc
Right C-Gap 17 for 40 2.4 ypc
Right D-Gap 22 for 235 3 TDs 10.7 ypc
Two jet sweeps 2 for 9
Since the rest of the rushing offense has been spread between Haynes King, Chad Alexander, Trelain Maddox and Anthony Carrie it wasn't worth crunching those numbers.
Essentially until they can get back to the 2023 type numbers running inside the box the offense is going to struggle as they did in the Cuse and Louisville game. I do think that Jamal's rushing numbers and Dontae Smith's a year ago increased in the second half of the season and I wasn't going to go back and study the first six games of last year to figure that part out, but I found this interesting and wanted to share it.
