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Two things have caught my attention so far.
1. Turnovers. So far, our D has forced a total of 2 turnovers in 2 games, both of which were fumbles. BooBoo Gates recovered a first half fumble to end one of Tulsa's legitimate chances of scoring, and Kent's hopes of a comeback were sealed when they fumbled. No interceptions yet, which while that may seem a bit odd, we have played two run heavy teams so far. Indiana is a pass heavy team so I hope we see the season's first interception on Saturday. And second. And third. And so on ..
Flip side of the coin, we have turned the ball over once, and that was an interception Matt Johnson threw early in his playing time against Tulsa. We are very efficient on offense and I love it, and a huge part of that is taking care of the ball.

2. Jamel Martin. Where has he been? We have showed a lot of running back depth so far, but as of now no Jamel Martin or Jordan Hopgood. I know Hopgood has been injured and thus has only played on special teams, but as far as I know Martin has fully recovered from his injury last year. I have to wonder ... does Clawson have something up his sleeve he's not showing yet? Or is Martin not quite 100%? Or is he so impressed with Greene that he's going to continue using him as often as he does? Regardless, I find it curious that Martin has not seen the field, but I imagine that will not last much longer. Of what we've seen of Martin the past two years, I think consensus is he is an outstanding back.

Just a couple of interesting observations thus far.

And followup. For an interesting stat, Johnson's throw to Burbrink for a 92 yard TD in the second longest passing play of the season nationwide thus far.

In regards to the running backs, I am extremely impressed with Greene. He makes some amazing cuts and then powers over people if necessary. Givens seems to have the same amount of power but just slightly less agility. Coppet and Givens are somewhat the same. Houston has a ton of power and enough agility to be considered light on his feet. I'm happy with the running back situation.

I think Martin hasn't played because he is that far down the depth chart. Greene is explosive, something I don't ever recall calling one of our backs.

I know that people have a tendency to overrate their own players but Greene isn't powerful. He goes down almost immediately. But that's not really his role. He has solid agility and is able to sneak through cracks. Givens has way more power then Greene but is not as agile as you said. And Houston is solely a power back. IMO Coppett flashed way more explosive ability in his brief few carries then Greene has shown and Givens is nearly just as explosive. I think that Coppet and Givens are the guys who will eventually have the majority of the carries here. Givens had the nicest run of last game called back on a penalty and Coppet fired off two very nice runs back to back when he was given a chance.

Did Greene kick your dog? He has looked the best in both games. I think you tend to give Givens a little too much credit. Not sure where it comes from as he played sparingly last year. Now I do like Givens as he fits the mold of your prototype RB but Greene has looked better and it's not only the numbers that back it up.

Greene moves piles similarly to Willie Geter.

Givens is a quality back.

Coppet, I think, has the most tools- can catch, excellent pass blocker, shifty, fast, and powerful.

I'd like to see us hit the RBs on some more swing passes, screen passes, or sitting down in the zone like Pope used to do.

MarkL wrote:And followup. For an interesting stat, Johnson's throw to Burbrink for a 92 yard TD in the second longest passing play of the season nationwide thus far.

Also, this is the 3rd longest TD in BGSU history.

Givens is a quality RB...but he's about 20-25 lbs heavier than he was coming out of HS and I don't know that his frame can carry that without losing a bit of quickness. He's still effective, but Greene is better. Greene is impressive because he has that Dri Archer ability to make people miss in traffic, not just the open field and he's not afraid to run between the tackles.

Fred Coppet is going to be special

What's really scary about RB is we have Greene, Givens, Houston and Coppet with guys like Martin, Hopgood and Levy behind them. I do not recall EVER having a seven quality RB's on the roster.... but no.... I'm leaving out Eric Harrell who's a *** recruit apparently taking a RS year and Brandon English who will apparently grayshirt and was also a *** recruit. That's eight guys with another *** guy for next year....eight guys...it's an almost unbelievable pool of talent for a MAC school to drawn on at a single position.

VDub26Falcon wrote:

MarkL wrote:And followup. For an interesting stat, Johnson's throw to Burbrink for a 92 yard TD in the second longest passing play of the season nationwide thus far.

Also, this is the 3rd longest TD in BGSU history.

I'm going to guess that Anthon Samuel's 97-yard run against Miami a few years ago is #1

It was the third longest pass in school history, not play.

hey kdog,

Not sure if you saw my post after the Tulsa game where I mentioned I ran into Jamel Martin after the game and asked if he was hurt and why he didn't get on the field. He just smiled and shook his head and said, "Man, I don't know...I just don't know." I took this as either he DID know and didn't want to talk about it or he didn't know and was just done with the situation. Granted, he hasn't lit the world on fire with his play while at BG, but I figure with guys like him and Givens it would be RB by committee out there and everyone would get some touches.

But I will give Clawson credit not to fall into the trap of sticking with the upperclassmen and playing the best player, putting out the most effort and giving us the best chance to win!

CRUSH THE HOOSIERS...(whatever they are!!)

I do recall that now. There is no point of RB by committee IMO. You play the best talent and you can't worry who's feelings will get hurt.

kdog27 wrote:I do recall that now. There is no point of RB by committee IMO. You play the best talent and you can't worry who's feelings will get hurt.

I agree...same thing goes for the QB situation this year. So glad he pulled the trigger on Johnson!

I really like Greene a lot. A whole lot. He reminds me a lot of Anthon Samuel, except perhaps even more shift, and thus reminds me of a bigger Geter.

Another quick note ... Chris Gallon has made some big catches but nothing so far like Joplin. Joplin has been our big play guy thus far. I think it's just a matter of time until Gallon has some monster game for us, especially since we have seen Johnson has the ability to throw it deep. We've got the potential to have an outstanding offense this whole year with the big playmakers, great O line, and a QB who can make the whole thing click.