Oklahoma Football: Lincoln Riley’s Running Back Conundrum

Nov 13, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A general view of a East Carolina Pirates helmet on the sidelines at Nippert Stadium. The Bearcats won 52-37. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports

Riley’s System Has Plenty of Rushing Punch

An analysis of East Carolina’s 2014 stats reveals the Pirates were certainly a pass first team: out of 6,929 total yards, 2094 of those were rushing yards. So, about 30 percent of East Carolina’s offensive yardage output was from running the ball.

Assuming the 2015 Sooner offense generates similar rushing yardage totals, that’s 2094 yards to be largely shared by Perine, Mixon and Ross. Assuming Perine gets 70 percent of those yards, that’s still a 1,465 yard sophomore season. Not as great as 2014, but close.

In terms of touchdowns, there is slightly more balance: the Pirates had 28 rushing TD’s and 31 passing TD’s in 2014. So, slightly less than half of the touchdown offensive output was from running the ball. Again, assuming Riley’s system is able to generate similar numbers for the Sooners in 2015, it’s safe to assume the majority of those TD’s will go to Perine, especially in short and goal-line situations where his power can dominate.

So, assuming OU’s 2015 offense generates similar numbers, one can predict that Perine’s yardage totals will be less in 2015, but his TD totals may be the same or greater. Still a great season by any measure. But, given Riley’s considerable offensive acumen, chances are that he will fully utilize Perine even as he restores the OU passing attack with his version of the Air Raid.

If the passing game clicks straight out of the gate, that means more opportunities for Perine to break big runs, because defenses will not be able to zero in exclusively on the running game and ignore the passing attack.

Next: Riley Will Use the Talent in Hand