It’s not difficult to find the trend in University of Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo’s plan of action last week against the University of Mississippi.
Georgia handed the football to freshman Isaiah Crowell and let the rest of the nation see why the Bulldogs were so excited when the five-star tailback signed his National Letter of Intent.
Mississippi State will get a chance to see Crowell up close at 11 a.m. Saturday (Fox Sports Net South) when it plays Georgia at Sanford Stadium.
“When you have a back like we do and getting yards after contact, that’s going to open up our offensive playbook,” Bobo said.
Crowell, rated the nation’s best tailback recruit in last year’s class by Rivals.com, has had at least 16 carries in each of his first four games. Last week in a 27-13 victory at Ole Miss, Crowell had a career-best performance with 147 yards in 30 carries. In his first two Southeastern Conference games, Crowell has 265 rushing yards on 46 carries and a touchdown.
Crowell, a 5-foot-11, 215-pounder from Columbus, Ga., is second in the Southeastern Conference in rushing with 132.5 yards per game and 5.8 yards per carry.
“He’s a legit, big-time kid,” Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen said. “He’s the real deal, and that’s translated in college.”
MSU is allowing an average of 163.5 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry this season. It already has allowed Auburn University’s Michael Dyer to rush for 150 yards. Mullen is 9-2 as a head coach at MSU when the opponent rushes for less than 100 yards.
But there isn’t an easy answer to stop Crowell. If MSU loads the line of
scrimmage like Ole Miss in an attempt to stop Crowell and a power rushing attack, sophomore quarterback Aaron Murray will have openings to showcase his play-action skills.
“They have a home run hitter at tailback that can be physical but also make you miss and turn on the jets,” Mullen said. “When you concentrate on their receivers and tight ends, they have a lot of weapons. You have to pick your poison to stop them.”
Crowell has given Georgia (2-2, 1-1 SEC) an element it didn’t have last season in a 24-12 loss to MSU in Starkville, which means Murray won’t have to shoulder the entire offensive burden this season.
Crowell, who has nearly 50 more carries than anybody else on the
Georgia roster, is helping the Bulldogs mix the run and the pass.
“I think we are still a very balanced football team, but now with a different pace and a different tempo, which I think is very good,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “I like the energy the young players have been bringing to this season. We have been some key freshmen and redshirt freshmen doing some big things for us.”
Georgia has instituted a no-huddle offense that has allowed it to generate more pace in an old-school offense in formation style.
“I know South Carolina didn’t line up on one of the little screen passes to Isaiah (Crowell),” Georgia All-America center Ben Jones said. “They were still in the huddle when we threw the pass, so that’s an advantage of having the no-huddle.”
Georgia ran 83 plays two weeks ago in a 59-0 victory against Coastal Carolina. It ran 82 last week at Ole Miss. Those are the two highest play totals for a Georgia offense since the team needed 84 plays to beat Purdue in overtime in the 2004 Capital One Bowl.
“I think it comes down to our tempo in practice, how hard we’re practicing, how much extra time guys are putting in to study film, and just executing better,” Murray said. “The past few weeks we’ve executed better when it comes to blocking, route running, and things like that. We’ve just done a tremendous job at understanding the game plan and executing come game day.”
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