There's been a lot of talk about Jacquizz Rodgers. Saying how he is one of the finest running backs in the Pac10 this year. So, I decided to dig deeper into this "Quizz" fellow.
And guess what I found?
Jacquizz Rodgers is 1980s art legend Jean-Michel Basquiat.
Quizz domesticates the Arizona D! via www.octobergallery.com
It was so easy, I don't know why I didn't see this earlier. Firstly, the hair. Secondly, many people have referred to Quizz's running style as "Neo-Expressionist." Thirdly, I'm pretty sure that Quizz is dating Madonna. Can I get verification on this? I know US Weekly is reporting that they've been cannoodling recently.
Plus, Basquiat died in 1988. And when was this "Quizz" fellow born? Perhaps Basquiat has been laying low for the past 2 decades. Biding his time by graffitotagging SAMO on everything and anything. Then, BAM! he emerges in Corvallis, Oregon as one of the finest young running backs in the Pac10.
It all makes so much sense, I can't believe I didn't see it before. There we so many clues, too. I mean if this isn't Mike Riley, I don't know what is:
via www.interbook-artbooks.com
So, there you go. Now that we've revealed Quizz's secret, maybe we can get his eligibility revoked. He should be 48 years old. That can't be up to NCAA standards. Then again, Rudy Carpenter is 115 and is still going strong. So, what do I know?
Also, we've been doing that whole posting thing again. Check it: A look back at USC, Top25, USC Observations.
All numbers are from here.
TEAM STATISTICS OSU OPP
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SCORING....................... 303 197
Points Per Game............. 33.7 21.9
FIRST DOWNS................... 203 144
Rushing..................... 88 52
Passing..................... 101 77
Penalty..................... 14 15
RUSHING YARDAGE............... 1526 1008
Yards gained rushing........ 1726 1293
Yards lost rushing.......... 200 285
Rushing Attempts............ 351 295
Average Per Rush............ 4.3 3.4
Average Per Game............ 169.6 112.0
TDs Rushing................. 18 10
PASSING YARDAGE............... 2301 1649
Att-Comp-Int................ 294-188-10 259-134-11
Average Per Pass............ 7.8 6.4
Average Per Catch........... 12.2 12.3
Average Per Game............ 255.7 183.2
TDs Passing................. 19 9
TOTAL OFFENSE................. 3827 2657
Total Plays................. 645 554
Average Per Play............ 5.9 4.8
Average Per Game............ 425.2 295.2
KICK RETURNS: #-Yards......... 33-717 54-1061
PUNT RETURNS: #-Yards......... 28-241 12-132
INT RETURNS: #-Yards.......... 11-161 10-145
KICK RETURN AVERAGE........... 21.7 19.6
PUNT RETURN AVERAGE........... 8.6 11.0
INT RETURN AVERAGE............ 14.6 14.5
FUMBLES-LOST.................. 12-3 19-7
PENALTIES-Yards............... 61-523 67-624
Average Per Game............ 58.1 69.3
PUNTS-Yards................... 35-1298 51-2105
Average Per Punt............ 37.1 41.3
Net punt average............ 31.0 33.8
TIME OF POSSESSION/Game....... 32:39 27:21
3RD-DOWN Conversions.......... 52/123 35/119
3rd-Down Pct................ 42% 29%
4TH-DOWN Conversions.......... 7/12 6/11
4th-Down Pct................ 58% 55%
SACKS BY-Yards................ 23-172 9-65
MISC YARDS.................... 0 0
TOUCHDOWNS SCORED............. 39 22
FIELD GOALS-ATTEMPTS.......... 11-17 14-20
ON-SIDE KICKS................. 0-0 0-1
RED-ZONE SCORES............... 37-44 84% 23-27 85%
RED-ZONE TOUCHDOWNS........... 28-44 64% 13-27 48%
PAT-ATTEMPTS.................. 34-36 94% 19-20 95%
ATTENDANCE.................... 177296 331455
Games/Avg Per Game.......... 4/44324 5/66291
Neutral Site Games.......... 0/0
The first thing that jumps out here is that OSU doesn't run as much as you might think. The #1 player that jumps into most people's minds is Quizz, their stud freshman RB. That's because he shredded USC in, most likely, the only OSU game people have seen this year. However, note that they have 1,500ish running yards and 2,300 passing yards. So, this team is not quite as run heavy as you might have perceived. They still run for 170 yards a game. So, its not that they can't run. It's just more that they have a strong offense.
Another interesting note is that they are 42% on 3rd downs while they are holding their opponents to only 29%. Oddly, they have more 3rd down attempts than their opponents. Having done this series, I do not often see that. I'm not sure what that means, per se. In and of itself, it doesn't seem to mean much, but maybe somebody with more nolej of OSU can help educate us. It might relate to the fact that they are averaging about 5 minutes more with the ball than their opponents. Control the ball, have more opportunities to not get 10 yards within the first 2 downs.
Now, last week we looked at USC and noted that for all of their offensive razzmatazz, they only had 40 more plays than their opponents. A true quick strike offense. And how Cal's bend, but don't break D would work well against stopping that quick strike. Which it did.
OSU has about 100 plays more than their opponents, holds the ball more, and has a lot of 3rd down attempts. They are a bend and eventually break offense, it would seem. Does this play into Cal's hand? Perhaps not. The bend, but don't break defense is partially predicated on the fact that a lot more has to go right for the offense than the defense to move the ball.
If OSU is good at having long sustained drives, unlike USC, than Cal's D forcing them to have long, sustained drives might not be a huge hampering.
RUSHING GP-GS Att Gain Loss Net Avg TD Long Avg/G
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Rodgers, Jacquizz 9-8 228 1119 30 1089 4.8 10 33 121.0
Rodgers, James 9-9 26 257 29 228 8.8 3 55 25.3
McCants, Ryan 7-1 47 233 11 222 4.7 2 35 31.7
The Rodgers brothers! I wonder how James feels. Quizz has about 200 more carries than him. Of course, James is listed as a WR. So, it is impressive that he has 26 carries. Oddly enough, McCants was the RB I heard a lot about going into the season. Quizz sort of ran under the radar. And then the USC D! 228 attempts seems insane. Can he continue to carry that load? Or will he stumble down the stretch? For all of our sakes, I hope that the answer is stumble. But who knows?
He is averaging about 25 carries a game so far. That's a lot of punishment for a freshman. And he's about to take a ride on the Pain Train!
Jacquizz Rodgers via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
James Rodgers via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
Ryan McCants via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
PASSING GP-GS Effic Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Lng Avg/G
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Moevao, Lyle 8-8 139.69 152-240-8 63.3 1822 14 56 227.8
Canfield, Sean 4-1 170.65 36-52-2 69.2 479 5 75 119.8
My understanding is that Canfield is starting for this game. Moevao has been the starter and has been playing well. 15 TDs. Solid completion percentage. Good efficiency. But he is injured and isn't at 100%. Canfield's numbers are actually better, but in a much smaller sample size. Only 52 attempts. And 2 interceptions in those 52 attempts. Tough to really devine a lot about Canfield from his season statistics to date.
Lyle Moeavao via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
Sean Cafield via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
RECEIVING GP-GS No. Yds Avg TD Long Avg/G
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Stroughter, Sammie 9-9 50 659 13.2 6 55 73.2
Rodgers, James 9-9 42 553 13.2 4 75 61.4
Morales, Shane 9-6 39 529 13.6 6 25 58.8
Rodgers, Jacquizz 9-8 27 239 8.9 1 41 26.6
Camp, Brady 9-2 8 61 7.6 1 12 6.8
Catchings, Darrell 9-1 7 95 13.6 0 31 10.6
Reese, John 9-0 5 56 11.2 0 22 6.2
Croom, Howard 9-9 3 10 3.3 0 6 1.1
Well, Stroughter, when healthy is the big man here. He lost most of last year due to a lacerated everything. But now, hes back, hes playing all the time and hes a beast. 13.2 yards per reception. 73.2 yards a game. James Rodgers FINALLY has something on Quizz, getting a lot more receptions here. Note that on top of his 25 carries, Quiz gets 3 receptions a game. I honestly don't know a lot about Morales, but from the numbers he seems pretty good. The main guy here, the Mike Thomas, the Patrick Turner, is Stroughter. Keep an eye on him. SydGOD will probably be tasked with him.
Sammie Stroughter via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
Shane Morales via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
|--------Tackles--------| |-Sacks-| |---Pass Def---| |-Fumbles-| Blkd
DEFENSIVE LEADERS GP-GS Solo Ast Total TFL/Yds No-Yds Int-Yds BrUp QBH Rcv-Yds FF Kick Saf
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44 Laybourn, Greg 9-9 39 36 75 0.5-2 0.5-2 3-81 . . 2-0 . . .
32 Kristick, Keaton 9-9 29 30 59 11.5-38 2.0-10 . 2 . . . . .
59 Roberson, Dwight 9-0 23 18 41 5.0-12 1.0-4 . . . . 2 . .
90 Butler, Victor 9-9 16 23 39 12.5-50 4.5-36 . . 1 1-4 3 . .
58 Norris, Slade 9-9 16 22 38 11.5-88 6.5-57 . 2 . 1-0 3 . .
41 Cornell, Bryant 9-9 15 22 37 . . 1-11 3 . . . . .
35 Pankey, Keith 9-9 8 20 28 2.0-10 0.5-5 . . . . . . .
30 Hall, Austin 9-1 14 13 27 . . . 1 . . 1 . .
36 Hughes, Brandon 7-7 17 8 25 . . 1-0 10 . . . . .
6 Lewis, Keenan 9-9 18 6 24 0.5-1 . 2-4 6 . . . . .
54 Paea, Stephen 9-9 9 15 24 7.0-37 3.5-24 . 1 . . . . .
9 Afalava, Al 7-7 15 8 23 1.0-3 . 2-26 6 . . . . .
21 Clark, Tim 9-2 10 3 13 . . . 2 . . . . .
99 Booth, Pernnell 9-8 5 8 13 2.5-9 1.0-6 . . . 1-0 . . .
45 Pa'aluhi, David 9-0 6 6 12 3.0-22 2.0-20 . . . . 1 . .
Wow, another fierce rush for our makeshift O-Line. Kristick has 11.5 TFLs. Butler has 12.5. Norris has 11.5. And that doesn't include sacks. Norris has 6.5, Butler has 4.5. Hell, even lowly Stephen Paea has 7 TFLs and 3.5 sacks.
Now, Cal's O-Line was able to manage Oregon's fierce rush decently well. Not so good against USC. And they had problems with the snap count. Being on the road again in a tough environment, this might be why Tedford is going with Riley.
Note that their #1 tackler, Laybourn, is a safety. Layborun is a great player and has 3 interceptions to bot. Not to mention 2 forced fumbles. However, it's never the best sign when your leading tackler is a DB.
No matter how you slice it, though, these are some fearsome numbers. Lots of pressure behind the line is the most worrisome thing. But then again, compared to the USC D, this is a walk in the park! Hopefully, we'll score more than 3 points.
Greg Laybourn via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
Keaton Kristick via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
Victor Butler via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
Slade Norris via www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net
Final Thoughts: Well, the vivacity of OSU's passing game is what really stood out at me. Everybody knows about their great running attack. But I feel like we can shut down Quizz. We've held some great running attacks in check. MSU was shut down. Oregon got their yards, but not the scores. Same with USC. Of course, that was (mostly) at home. The fact that we were able to keep USC in check on the road gives me hope that we can do so on the road. This is a really efficient OSU offense. Not as explosive as USC. So, they are used to getting into 3rd down situations and then converting them.
Of course, that was with Moaevoauifiwef. Now, it appears Canfield will be in there. Not sure how that changes things. In limited time, he has played well. He has faced off against 3 teams so far. UCLA. WSU. ASU. Ok. Not sure how painful their train is, to be honest. This will be a different situation. Our train is chock full of pain. I think that we can generally contain Quizz. Our D is set up to contain running backs. That'll put pressure on Canfield to perform. Can he do so? That will be the key to this game.
If Canfield can make Cal honest against the pass, it'll be tough to slow the OSU attack. But if it's like Oregon, where we could just sit on the run, then I think we are in a great position to win this game. There are two great defenses here, so I think it's going to be another low scoring affair.
Even though we lost to USC, the toughness with which we played them gives me hope against OSU. Previously, I had minimal hope. I hadn't seen Cal play well on the road, save for WSU. That doesn't really count. But now that we've had a great, solid effort on the road, I believe we can do it again.
If we play as we did against USC, I think we win this one. Go Bears!