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Food for Thought: What Could Troy Davis Do With This Team?

UnCytely

UnCytely

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Sep 24, 2017
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Council Bluffs, Iowa
Pick your hypothetical scenario: time travel, cloning, whatever. Whatever scenario you pick, junior Troy Davis ends up available to play for Iowa State next year. What could he do with this team, given that we are much, much more passing-oriented than when he played for ISU? How many yards could he get per game or over the season playing with this team?
 
Not really sure Troy is built for the type of oline blocking we have. Everyone likes to run zone over traditional power blocking these days. Troy was more of a one cut down hill runner, than a scat back who would bounce it outside. He would still get his yards, especially after we threw it down field a few times to loosen the safeties. Probably around 150 a game. Still great but not amazing like he was when he was all we had.
 
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I would say less yards with a caveat. TD had eight defenders in the box almost every single play, and what he accomplished was phenomenal!! Not sure our current O-Line could block the same way as those (underappreciated) guys, but if we had a passing threat back then, a lot of TD's runs for 6-10 yards could have easily turned into 15-20 yards. I like the hypothetical though! Someone as good as TD with a passing threat to match would have been lethal...Can't imagine what a QB throwing for 3,000 yards and a RB running for 2,000 yards would have been, but it would have been special!!
 
CyBlock said:
I would say less yards with a caveat. TD had eight defenders in the box almost every single play, and what he accomplished was phenomenal!! Not sure our current O-Line could block the same way as those (underappreciated) guys, but if we had a passing threat back then, a lot of TD's runs for 6-10 yards could have easily turned into 15-20 yards. I like the hypothetical though! Someone as good as TD with a passing threat to match would have been lethal...Can't imagine what a QB throwing for 3,000 yards and a RB running for 2,000 yards would have been, but it would have been special!!
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I wonder when or if that has ever happened in college? Any stat nerds know the last team with 3k passer and 2k runner?
 
Would that depend on what kind of shoulder pads he would be wearing? I bet with the ones we have now not bouncing up and down on his shoulders sending a message to potential tacklers to get the hell out of the way, wouldnt he be slower?
 
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Fewer yards due to fewer touches. However, the chance at 13 games instead of 11 would equalize it some.

ISU ran 763 offensive plays in Troy's junior year -- 524 rush (402 by Troy) and 239 pass.
This year, to compare: 837 plays (385 rush, 452 pass)

1996: 69.4 plays per game
2019: 69.7 plays per game
So the number of plays is a wash

1996: 47.6 rush attempts per game (36.5 by Troy)
2019: 32.1 rush attempts per game
Troy averaged more carries per game than ISU does now as a team

Assume he still gets the same 5.4 ypc, but averages 25 carries in the modern offense.
25 carries * 5.4 ypc * 12 games = 1,620 yards
That would put him right around 5th in FBS this year

For comparison, Chuba Hubbard is averaging 25.75 carries per game, but at over 6.2 ypc.
 
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BWRhasnoAC said:
Not really sure Troy is built for the type of oline blocking we have. Everyone likes to run zone over traditional power blocking these days. Troy was more of a one cut down hill runner, than a scat back who would bounce it outside. He would still get his yards, especially after we threw it down field a few times to loosen the safeties. Probably around 150 a game. Still great but not amazing like he was when he was all we had.
Click to expand...

A one cut, down hill runner is the perfect zone RB.
 
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Darren Davis was pretty good too. I think he would have thrived in ISU's current offense. He didn't put up eye popping numbers as a pass catcher but he definitely had that ability. I was at the game in Boulder where he caught that long pass in the end zone against a top 10 CU team.
 
UnCytely said:
Pick your hypothetical scenario: time travel, cloning, whatever. Whatever scenario you pick, junior Troy Davis ends up available to play for Iowa State next year. What could he do with this team, given that we are much, much more passing-oriented than when he played for ISU? How many yards could he get per game or over the season playing with this team?
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Troy would win a conference title with this team. Montgomery may have as well.
 
UnCytely said:
Pick your hypothetical scenario: time travel, cloning, whatever. Whatever scenario you pick, junior Troy Davis ends up available to play for Iowa State next year. What could he do with this team, given that we are much, much more passing-oriented than when he played for ISU? How many yards could he get per game or over the season playing with this team?
Click to expand...
Nobody GAF what you're wondering hok.
 
herbicide said:
As great as Troy was, as @BWRhasnoAC said Troy wouldn't be Troy with the OL we have today.

Those guys were really good and really underrated at what they did.
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Hard to say with the difference between eras, but that OL was pretty darn good, with a couple of maulers that created gaps that Troy could sneak through. I would rate this years OL as slightly above average, most of the time, but they just stunk against 8 man fronts like Troy faced. AKA the KSU game. Passing game is light years better than Troy's teams, so hard to say what would happen.
 
CyCloned said:
Hard to say with the difference between eras, but that OL was pretty darn good, with a couple of maulers that created gaps that Troy could sneak through. I would rate this years OL as slightly above average, most of the time, but they just stunk against 8 man fronts like Troy faced. AKA the KSU game. Passing game is light years better than Troy's teams, so hard to say what would happen.
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I would say at least run blocking wise, they were one of the top 5-10 lines in the country at the time. 2 or 3 of them had NFL careers.
 
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David Montgomery got 258 and 257 carries his sophomore and junior years. He averaged 4.4 and 4.7 yards per carry. With that type of work load and a legitimate passing attack its not too out of line to think Troy could have averaged 6 yards per carry even if the line wasn't quite as good (he averaged 5.8 and 5.4 on 345 and 402 carries). So around 1,500 yards would be my guess.

Troy lined up against what today would look like a short yardage or goal line defense every play and would still get 4+ yards on almost every play. If he had top end speed he probably would have rushed for 2,500+ both years.
 
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