Saturday Update

And the thing is, it's not as if defenses are just ruthlessly stacking the box to take away the run. They'll sneak a safety down sometimes, but by and large defenses have played it safe on the back end to keep from getting burned on vertical passing plays.

They ran it 34 times for 138 yards at Georgia Tech while throwing it 48 times. While you do have to understand that some of the quick underneath passing stuff is essentially part of the running game, it is still odd to see a team passing that much when it's that far ahead.

Against Troy they threw it 53 times with the offensive line struggling to run block. And in this one, they often went to the pass in the second half when they were trying to salt away the game.

You get the sense that they're searching right now, trying to figure out what this offense's identity is going to be. The inside zone has not been nearly as productive as it was last year, and surely most of that goes on an offensive line that's struggled to hold blocks and suffered from poor communication at times.

With that big a lead in the second half -- and greatly needing confidence in the running game heading into the Louisville showdown -- you'd have thought they'd have resolved to pound Gallman almost every play. They ran it 13 times and threw it 13 times after halftime, and that's good balance. But when you're up big you'd like for there to be a decided imbalance in favor of the run as you take over the way we thought this offense would be able to take over.