Except he had multiple runs of over 20 yards and over 10 yards. Besides, do you think that any of the great NU backs would have beaten Helu's record had they had as many carries. It is not moving the goal posts. It is football 101. Would you rather have a RB who ran the ball for five yards every play or one who had 19 yards on 19 carries and 1 run of 81 yards. Both yield the same average. One would be far more effective to an offensive coordinator. So, since the information is actually out there, lets examine his game against NW before we retire his number.
I will only list the exact runs by Grant since it would be a waste of time to list anything else. 1st Drive: First run, 2 yards, second run 4 yards. Average: 3 yards.
3rd Drive: 1 yard, 8 yards, 2 yards. 2 yards Four runs, 13 yards. Average almost 3, but three of the runs were below the average you need.
So first quarter 6 runs 19 yards. This is significantly less than you need to run an offense.
Second Quarter: 1 yard, 1yard. Two rushes for 2 yards. Significantly below what an offense needs.
Second Quarter 6:15 drive 1 yard 8 yards, 1 yard. Still below the 3.33 needed to get a first down on three rushes.
Total 2nd Quarter production 4 carries 11 yards. No where near what is needed to produce an effective offense.
His 3rd Quarter was then his best quarter. I will space the drama 8 carries for 68 yards. But it started out with runs of 2, 3, 6 and 3. So without the 48 yard run he is finally just barely meeting what an OC needs his starting RB to get.
4th quarter. 1 Rush 3 yards. So for 3 quarters of the game he averaged less than an OC needs on a rushing play to make play calling easier. And this is the starting RB.
So crown him if you want. His game against NW was not very good.
If we were to take his 3rd quarter out of the game he would have had 13 carries for 38 yards. That would fall under the category of really bad for a starting RB.
