The Sterotype Isn’t A Myth

You know how stereotypes go? Often they aren’t true or at least, are applied without taking a little closer look. But you didn’t need to be a fan of the Big Ten as well as the Big 12 to know that each had its own identity when it came to the run versus the throw.

I still remember the happy days (as I like to refer to them) of the early Big 12 and much of the history of the Big Eight. it was a running league. But starting with Oklahoma winning a national title in 2000 with a super high-powered passing attack, the Big 12 became very much a passing league. Yes, even Nebraska, the one remaining traditionalist, abandoned the adherence to the option attack as well as their option coach at the time (Frank Solich) and went…west coast.

Yeah, still leaves a bad taste in my mouth, too.

But even I, someone who was pretty sure that it wasn’t a myth or some story which became true simply because everyone told it, was a bit skeptical about just how much the Big Ten differed from the Big 12 in regard to their commitment to the run.

And that is what you should take note of. It’s not how many times you run the ball or even how well you run it, a.k.a., average yards per carry and game. it’s a commitment to the run which is best illustrated in just how many running plays you call during the course of a game.

If you call close to the same percentage, that being 50/50, that’s balance. It’s what every coach says they want to do, but I don’t believe that for a second. Outside of perhaps former Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach, I honestly believe that if a coach knew he could run all day and be successful, that’s what he would do.

I don’t think Leach would. I think his penchant for the forward pass would compel him to throw it at least 40 times a game, even if the run was clearly better.

But there are very few teams out there, perhaps none, that can run the ball all day or at least, have a very identifiable trademark of the run, and have it work most times, regardless of the team they face. Now, we know Nebraska was going to run back in the day. If it didn’t work initially, they would keep running it until it did. To their credit, it usually did work out in the second half when their noted offensive lines simply wore down the defensive lines which were ill-equipped to stand up to four quarters of that kind of pounding.

But back to the commitment to the run, I did just a bit of research between the two conferences, looking at total plays and then looking at how many of those total plays were runs.

Now, it should be noted that there may have been some rushes which weren’t meant to be, i.e. quarterback scrambles, broken plays, etc. But then again, I am quite sure out of all the passing stats every team in the country compiled last year, not all of those yards and attempts came in the most conventional manner either.

But the following is a pretty telling comparison of just what you are going to see and more importantly, how serious the Big Ten is in running the ball, thus gearing themselves up to stop the run.

Indiana has a new head coach this year, so what they do might not be reflective of these stats. But that’s good news for them, because they were simply horrible last year.

Nebraska – 916 plays – 634 rushing attempts – 69 percent
Kansas State – 847 plays – 554 rushing attempts – 65 percent
Kansas – 823 plays – 470 rushing attempts – 57 percent
Iowa State – 828 plays – 455 rushing attempts – 55 percent
Colorado – 847 plays – 450 rushing attempts – 53 percent
Baylor – 939 plays – 468 rushing attempts – 50 percent
Texas A&M – 1,034 – 519 rushing attempts – 50 percent
Texas – 878 plays – 433 rushing attempts – 49 percent
Oklahoma – 1,211 plays – 578 rushing attempts – 48 percent
Missouri – 929 plays – 439 rushing attempts – 47 percent
Oklahoma State – 982 plays – 450 rushing attempts – 46 percent
Texas Tech – 1,054 plays – 437 rushing attempts – 41 percent

11,288 total plays
940.67 average of plays per team in the Big 12 (2010)

Illinois – 903 plays – 619 rushing attempts – 69 percent
Wisconsin – 860 plays – 584 rushing attempts – 68 percent
Ohio State – 896 plays – 547 rushing attempts – 61 percent
Michigan – 941 plays – 556 rushing attempts – 59 percent
Northwestern – 942 plays – 557 rushing attempts – 59 percent
Purdue – 796 plays – 442 rushing attempts – 56 percent
Iowa – 806 plays – 449 rushing attempts – 56 percent
Michigan State – 817 plays – 444 rushing attempts – 54 percent
Minnesota – 825 plays – 447 rushing attempts – 54 percent
Penn State – 873 plays – 448 rushing attempts – 51 percent
Indiana – 861 plays – 348 rushing attempts – 40 percent

9520 total plays
865.45 average of plays per team in the Big Ten (2010)