I was at the game tonight and I am beginning to think that Cain is just not the same guy as in 2019 and after his many injuries. The explosion is just not there….I hope I’m wrong.
Noah Cain
- Thread starter anotherman
- Start date
He is experienced and he protects the football. He also is the most reliable back to get 3 yards if the drive needs 3 yards. The hope is that as the season goes he finds his stride. Right now this is how the situation goes.
There has to be an injury still bothering him. He looks slower than he used to and I agree, the explosion is just not there. I think 10 may be our best RB right now. I thought the line opened a few holes tonight that should have gotten us 5-6 yards, instead we’d end up with 2.
I agree; he can't get those extra yds after contact now. He gets 2 yds and goes down. Lovett shows promise and Lee impresses more & more. Wish Lee would get more carries
Nope, was pussing footing around all evening.. I'd play Ford more myself, seemed to have the best burst of any of them..
It sucks with Cain because he was such a weapon. Fast, tough, secure with the football, the perfect back to take into Iowa next week and punish that defense. Something is indeed wrong, he is slow, indecisive, not breaking any tackles or delivering punishment to the defense. I know he has big time aspirations of being an NFL guy, he is going to have to really start moving in his career or he needs to truly get healthy and come back like his old self. I think Lee deserves more carries personally, I thought he had a lot to do with the 4 wins to finish last season.
I've always thought Ford would be the guy, and he barely gets any touches.
Conventional wisdom is/was it takes two years to recover...mentally as well as physically...from an ACL. Maybe the same will apply to Cain's foot injury.
I think that we have to accept the fact that we don't have a dominant RB right now. Somebody hopefully will become one.
Lee needs more than 8 carries. He is clearly your best back. Ford is more explosive catching the ball and Lovett is decent.
My impression about Lee is the same- but it's based on a pretty small sample size
Apologies for the terminology, but it seemed like all the “east-west” runs went nowhere while many/most of the “north-south” runs picked up positive yards, regardless of who was carrying the ball.
I’d also say the RB by committee thing is garbage. It does not let any back, whoever it is get into any sort of rhythm. Why, can Lee bust off two huge runs and then never see the field for what seems like an entire quarter.
I know Franklin said Cain is still battling injuries, but he looks like a fullback. Hey, problem solved.
Cain looked a bit faster than I remembered vs Wisconsin and Ball State.
The announcers said JF didn’t know if he would be able to contribute and that he has a nagging foot injury.
The announcers said JF didn’t know if he would be able to contribute and that he has a nagging foot injury.
Kind of reminds me of Aaron Harris, post ACL. We all want the old him back, but it feels like he really just needs a hug from the whole fan base while others get the majority of reps. His feet hardly move, making the first man to his legs the tackler. We never saw that as a freshman.
I also think Ford looks good, better than what folks on this board are stating.
We need to bide our time and do the best we can this year while we wait for the arrival of Nick Singleton.
Apologies for the terminology?
Just apologize for being a fan of the most hated college basketball program in all the land first!
No can do, my friend. But I did have to eat a lot of crow yesterday with my Carolina friends, of which I have many. As for hoops, I have high expectations for this season (like I do every season), but we’ll just have to see how things develop.Apologies for the terminology?
Just apologize for being a fan of the most hated college basketball program in all the land first!
As the season progressed last year I thought Lee did very well. IMO, he is our best running back but fumbles are the question for me about him. If he can put that behind him we’ve got a pretty good running back in Lee.
We have high expectations at that position after Barkley, Sanders, and Brown. We’ve been spoiled.
Lee should get more carries, Lovett is coming on a bit. Ford should be used a bit more out of the backfield. Cain is solid but I agree he seems to be a bit hesitant on hitting the holes and that is most probably related to previous injuries.
BINGO. Especially stupid running laterally on 3rd and 4th and short.
i agree...he has the best agility and acceleration of the bunch...if we want to run off tackle/to the outside he should be the man...only issue with him is his lack of size...he tries to run hard but just can't break tackles...he looks like he hasn't gained an extra pound of muscle since being on campus
Cain can block!
I saw a couple times where it was an outside zone play or a stretch play, where there was a hole for him to cut into, and he didn’t take it. That would indicate to me that he just doesn’t trust that he’s healed all the way. Doesn’t trust to make the cut. The “cuts” he DID make seemed rounded off turns rather than cuts. But give him the ball straight ahead and he’ll get those 2-3 yards. However as we’ve all discussed, inside running isn’t the strength of the line.
Seems like he just needs more playing time to be able to trust his legs. Might be why they force fed him the ball last night. Gonna need his reliability in the upcoming stretch.
Seems like he just needs more playing time to be able to trust his legs. Might be why they force fed him the ball last night. Gonna need his reliability in the upcoming stretch.
That was Lee. Lee missed the whole on 3rd and 2.
This^^
We are going to see a lot of "passes that work as runs" until the defense starts to respect Cliffords ability to dish the ball out quickly. Actually weird that we didn't seen any WR screens given Indiana's coverage.
Last night was not Sean's best, and it was clearly not the defense but his accuracy for some reason wasn't there. He had little touch on his pocket throws and just went wild low and left, right a bunch of times.
Seems like his adrenaline was too high to start the game and then he just used his feet a lot more. At least he did complete some very impressive touch throws on the run.
I do not recall Lee carrying the ball after he was stopped on the short yardage play.
I’m not taking about 1 specific time. It’s a trend I’ve seen with Cain the last few games. Getting better but not there yet. It’s like he WANTS to make the cut but there’s a block there in his brain. Like Charles Barkley’s golf swing. Knows how it’s supposed to be done but has the yips
the coaches seem to feel that Cain's issues are mental and not physical. his actual production YPC is not in line with the distribution of carries among the backs. whatever the cause, Cain is not remotely close to the same back as we saw in 2019. Phil mentioned on his show that Cain had been injured in the Auburn game. actually, Cain looks slower and weaker than he did in the Wisconsin game.
Battleships don’t make right hand turns. They turn to starboard!🥴
I feel for Cain or any player affected by injury. If he is the best blocker then his role should be passing downs. And that would be just about every 3rd or 4th down try. It is what it is.
Otherwise I'm not seeing anything that Lovett could not do. To me Lovett seems to be the most complete back. Not a superstar in any one thing, but serviceable.
Lee may be the best runner but if you look closely at times he puts the ball to his side, ripe for a strip. It seems like a habit that he is obviously working to break, as at other times you'll see both arms wrapping the ball.
I would like to see Ford more. I wish we'd just pitch it to Ford and let him run off tackle. He seems to have the most speed. Ford would benefit as an I-formation tailback. He needs to be on the field when there is an inside threat.
Yurcich seems open to using different formations, one of the reasons I really like this coach. Unlike predecessors that got some criticism here, Yurcich seems willing to adapt the offense to fit his players. It certainly fits Clifford much, much better, and he's not getting beat up.
Otherwise I'm not seeing anything that Lovett could not do. To me Lovett seems to be the most complete back. Not a superstar in any one thing, but serviceable.
Lee may be the best runner but if you look closely at times he puts the ball to his side, ripe for a strip. It seems like a habit that he is obviously working to break, as at other times you'll see both arms wrapping the ball.
I would like to see Ford more. I wish we'd just pitch it to Ford and let him run off tackle. He seems to have the most speed. Ford would benefit as an I-formation tailback. He needs to be on the field when there is an inside threat.
Yurcich seems open to using different formations, one of the reasons I really like this coach. Unlike predecessors that got some criticism here, Yurcich seems willing to adapt the offense to fit his players. It certainly fits Clifford much, much better, and he's not getting beat up.
i agree. mental. like he doesn't trust he's healed.
yeah, in 19 he was a hammer looking for a nail. he could just play the game and be an animal. he had no questions about his physical abilities. throw a few injuries in there, and now he's second guessing and thinking. and if he was dinged up against AU, i can absolutely imagine a little bit of "here we go again" crept into the back of his mind.
I think it's both. Haven't seen him carry anybody the way he did two years ago.
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