Hate to tell you this, but if you're going to do that much work than you need to go a step further and figure out avg. carries per game since there can be such a disparate number of games each season. Hester had 14 games to get those carries last year.
Good point. Those carries by Hester in 2007 were in fact over a period of 14 games. Here is the update on the stats (done very quickly, without use of a spreadsheet, so could have mistakes, which is always the case) So if we re-consider the list of the top 20 LSU rushers-by-carries since the 1995 season... 248 -- Faulk (1996) -- 11 games (22.5 carries per game) 230 -- Toefield (2001) -- 12 games (19.2 carries per game) 229 -- Faulk (1998) -- 11 games (20.8 carries per game) 225 -- Hester (2007) -- 14 games (16.1 carries per game) 205 -- Faulk (1997) -- 9 games (22.7 carries per game) 193 -- Davis (2002) -- 13 games (14.8 carries per game) 187 -- Addai (2005) -- 13 games (14.4 carries per game) 174 -- Faulk (1995) -- 10 games (17.4 carries per game) 170 -- Mealey (1999) -- 11 games (15.5 carries per game) 165 -- Toefield (2000) -- 10 games (16.5 carries per game) 154 -- Vincent (2003) -- 14 games (11.0 carries per game) 142 -- Broussard (2004) -- 12 games (11.8 carries per game) 137 -- Cleveland (1995) -- 11 games (12.5 carries per game) 123 -- Davis (2000) -- 11 games (11.2 carries per game) 121 -- Vincent (2005) -- 13 games (9.3 carries per game) 116 -- Toefield (2002) -- 9 games (12.9 carries per game) 112 -- Mealey (1997) -- 11 games (10.2 carries per game) 114 -- Addai (2003) -- 12 games (9.5 carries per game) 103 -- Mealey (1996) -- 11 games (9.4 carries per game) 101 -- Addai (2004) -- 12 games (8.4 carries per game) ...from the above list, this would be the top 11 when it comes to carries per actual games played: 22.7 -- Faulk (1997) 22.5 -- Faulk (1996) 20.8 -- Faulk (1998) 19.2 -- Toefield (2001) 17.4 -- Faulk (1995) 16.5 -- Toefield (2000) 16.1 -- Hester (2007) 15.5 -- Mealey (1999) 14.8 -- Davis (2002) 14.4 -- Addai (2005) 12.9 -- Toefield (2002) Regarding the last two seasons, if you want to rank it by carries per actual games played: 2007 Rushing Attempts per Games Played 16.1 -- Hester (225 yards in 14 games) 5.0 -- Williams (70 yards in 14 games) 4.1 -- Holliday (53 yards in 13 games) 3.2 -- Scott (45 yards in 14 games) 2.5 -- Murphy (35 yards in 14 games) 2006 Rushing Attempts per Games Played 8.4 -- Williams (76 yards in 9 games) 7.4 -- Broussard (74 yards in 10 games) 7.2 -- Hester (94 yards in 13 games) 6.6 -- Scott (46 yards in 7 games) 4.4 -- Vincent (57 yards in 13 games) 1.2 -- Holliday (14 yards in 12 games)
I agree. If you look at dependability, or how complete a RB is, Hester was the best RB last season. My hope is that someone will step up this year and become that complete RB like Hester was.
I like John's "stats" on the carries. It matches LSU's "new philosophy" on Turnover Ratio football. There were some great articles about this recently, and Terry Bowden did a statistics analysis over the NC teams and where they were relative to "key statistics". It was a great read (March 2008) and I lost the link. Anway, the key reason LSU has hung at the Top of College FB since Miles arrived has been our ability to hang onto the FB. Hester showed he wouldn't fumble, and he got the carries. That's after being killed in practice. The others fumbled and didn't get as many carries. It was that simple. They are all almost as equally talented and are SEC caliber backs. The differences at Championship level are small, and LSU is counting and watching those closely. In 2008, any RBs in Les' stable will get the FB as long as they don't fumble. Keiland is the best back, but he sat in the Spring game after a fumble. The ones who fumbled in practice last year before a game didn't see the field that week. :milesmic: doesn't allow fumbles, and will bench a fumbler, and will maintain a positive turnover ratio no matter what. That's good football philosophy. Let's hope the new DCs can accomplish and maintain the level of turnovers that Pellini set. That would be a good statistic to show since 2000 at LSU. Turnover Ratio and Fumbles. Who fumbles the most, probably carries the ball the least. It's the way it should be. It's damn smart coaching!
It appears my assumption was correct. The coaches are raving about Scott in Fall practice. He's working very hard & doing whatever it takes to help the team, including being the 2nd string FB. I stick by my prediction that Scott will be the primary RB this year.
I just want to give a shout out to JohnLSU.....that's some severely in depth analysis and research you do to support your posts. Of course, I can really appreciate that. Cajdav had a good point about going the extra step, but great job, nonetheless. You look at the 2006 and 2007 seasons and the one glaring difference was we had an "identity" with the running game in 2007, much moreso than the 2006 season. I feel it's important we get that same kind of identity again this season, which in turn will help us succeed that much more offensively. It's like Danielson kept showing on the CBS telecasts when he would show the list of RBs and their roles. Crowton uses his RBs in which the situation calls for, therefore putting players in position to ultimately succeed. There is no reason to believe we can't be just as successful offensively as last season, especially now with the emergence of Mr. Murphy.
I agree with CP about Scott being the primary back, because of his balance of power and speed, he's the new Hester. I agree with Stacey, I'd like to see Williams reach his potential, he's got that home run speed. I hope "seeing the hole" and running to it correctly are coachable and not pure instinct, so Williams can be better this year than last. Murphy was the leading ground gainer in the spring game, and of course we want him to reach his potential also. I just know less about Richard than the other 2 backs.
