Question for the gurus - why don't our break away runs take it to the house more

I had this exact question on another post. LF's long run should have been a TD if he had the elite speed everyone says, but he got caught.

I like our RBs but they don't have breakaway speed.

I caught the replay of the Alabama vs Auburn 1982 game yesterday when another freshman -Vincent 'Bo' Jackson - broke a long run up the same left sideline from about the same position on the field as LF did last night.

Bama DB Jeremiah Castille - who BTW played some in the NFL himself - had a similar angle to what the A&M DB had on LF - and also caught him.

I think LF is "average fast" for D1 college football but his size-speed ratio is well above average.

I hate to say it, but Fournette is not as good as advertized. He had several openings last night that somebody like Melvin Gordon probably would have taken to the house.

The thing most all of our backs, except for Hill, is they don't cut back to the middle of the field from the sideline. Even though Hill wasn't as fast as Fournette, he would cut to the middle of the field on a run like that taking away the angle from the DB and would have scored or gain extra yards.

quote:

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I'm not turning nega. I promise. But it has struck me this year that a lot of our break away runs don't go all the way as we've seen in past years and as we've seen other teams do.

First, is my perception somewhat accurate? And, if so,

Second: Why is it? Do our guys this year just not have the tip top elite speed as in past years? Are defenses just in playing deep to stop it? Something else?

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Not reading the entire thread, but Dural not blocking the DB cost us a long TD last night

Buga looked to be about the same speed as the DB who tackled him. The guy didn't run him down, but Buga was unable to open the gap as the DB closed the angle. RBs are usually slower than DBs, so based on this one example, I'd say Buga is damn fast.

Lack breakaway speed. Not a knock at all on the RBs. but they can't outrun a DB. That's one thing we are missing from Hill. Dude had amazing breakaway speed for a RB.