Buckner has definitely found his way on to Colts radar and that is huge, but Newton takes our running game to another level. Safeties never really had to worry much before because our backs weren’t getting to the third level often enough to draw safeties up. What Newton brings is that burst and slash ability to get past the 2nd level quickly demanding respect from the safeties. This opens up the middle for Buckner and allows for the deep ball. Tech kept safeties back and it cost them a 19 yard TD run with near breakaway’s on 3 different occasions.

Again close call, but I think Newton is the legitimate surprise.

Just because he has a different viewpoint doesn’t mean you have to attack his. He only stated that Newton isn’t the answer to our troubles. Our O-Line needs work, and we can all agree to that. He also stated that Newton deserves to the starter.

I think our offensive struggles have really made us fans on edge and quick to blame one thing or another. We’re especially prone to attacking our own guys lately on these threads which does no good. Same team bud. I think both of ya’ll comments are correct. He was taking away Newton’s long TD run because it padded his stats away from the average ypc. He’s not trying to discredit the guy. He’s only looking at it from a statistical standpoint.

1. “The school of the five star running back” which holds that if UT had only recruited [insert recruit’s name here] the run game would return to Ricky Williams, or at least Cedric Benson level. On some boards (not so much BON) folks are always calling for some running back who has had a good game but is not currently starting to save the running game.

2. “”http://barkingcarnival.com/2008/11/16/our-running-game/" >The school of the systemic problem", of which Circa is evidently a part (as am I) which believes that four per carry yards or above should be attainable with the talent on the roster in any given year with a more cogent OL scheme, better designed plays (my kingdom for a counter step) and commitment to said running game.

I’m very pumped about him emerging as the top back. I grew up less than a mile from Southlake HS and have been a fan of Newtons for a long time. My only point is that we need to tread lightly with the sudden ‘we have a running back!’ mentality. It is the skeptic in me I guess.

And I don’t feel sorry for taking away the TD run in looking at his overall performance. To look at it another way, if a running back had 15 carries for 100 yards, but had an 80 yard TD run, was that a good day for that back? Obviously not, because if you remove the anomaly then it becomes 14 carries for 20 yards. This is clearly an exaggeration of Newton’s performance, but I think my point is clear: removing the anomaly (a 19 yard run), and the performance becomes pedestrian. The plus side is that with Newton I believe we can count on a few of these anomalies a game, but I would rather have a back that will consistently get 4-5 yards, than a back who normally gets ~3 but occasionally busts a big one. Also, the TD run was from under center, and I’m not sure I’ve seen us call a passing play from under center yet this year, so a well coached defense would have probably stuffed that play.

And the reason they are the biggest surprise is both that nobody expected all that much from them, and they have contributed a ton so far. Nobody expected much of DJ or Tre either, but I would argue they have not contributed as much as the Achos. And we knew Chiles and Buckner were good already.