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Message: [QUOTE="anomander, post: 3115833, member: 2766"] I admit I haven't looked at the comparable stats, but it seems our 3rd down conversion rate on defense and offense has taken a drastic hit? What gives? Here are my thoughts: Offense - Dungey was great at picking up a few yards out of nothing. Where TD is more likely to extend the play and look to pass, ED would take off after 1st glance. That tended to keep us ahead of our on the down. Seemed like we were always in 3rd and 3/4 last year, while this year is always seeming to by 3rd and long.. So losing ED's ability for those junk yards has effected us more than i would have thought. This can be fixed with better OL play, or keeping TD healthy while duplicating his play last game as far as it goes to called qb plays and improvised plays. The last point brings everything full circle. If TD is able to duplicate his ground game vs WMU and ED throughout his career, we are also increasing the likelihood be picks up an injury, like Dungey was year 1-3, plus games last year. I think it's safe to say if TD goes down, so does our season, so is it smart to have him run as much? Sure we loved what ED gave us on the ground, but all the games he was forced to miss, killed those seasons. As good as ED was when he played, him missing all that time was actually worse for the program. If you can't stay healthy you hurt the team. This decision on how to play can really have a huge effect on the course of the season. Defense - I really can't explain what's going on here? I knew we were best in country good last year on 3rd down %. This year we have seemingly been lit up, with an abnormally high conversation rate on 3rd and long. There had to be 3 or 4 along on Saturday. Only thing I can think of is that we are confident with Coleman and Robinson, so only rushing 4. It seems we blitzed much more, especially on 3rd down , last season. We always seem to do better when we blitz. I wonder if this is something we can improve on? [/QUOTE]

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