Why are we fumbling the football at such a rate?

Balrog

Active Member
Sep 17, 2008
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Des Moines
Many of you know me. I am a huge Cyclone fan. I do not believe in calling out players or coaches. It serves no purpose. These young men sacrifice a lot to play a game that they love for ISU.

I am curious as to your thoughts regarding the frequency with which we are putting the ball on the ground. It wasn't that many years ago that we were hundreds of carries between fumbles.

GO CYCLONES:yes:
 
Because we aren't holding on to the ball hard enough to pop it.
Not saying every back has to carry it like Woody with 2 arms wrapped around the ball, but they do need to hold it a little tighter. Also, IIRC, James had the ball in the wrong hand on his first fumble. He was holding the ball in his right hand and the defender came in and just plucked it right out. If he was holding the ball away from the tackler, he would have had is body to help protect the ball.
 
Two words: Zone Read.

This. The zone read has the same risks that any option football has. While there isn't a pitch involved, the RB hits the line very quickly after receiving the ball. Since the QB needs to be able to pull the ball back, the handoff isn't as easy as a normal running play.
 
Two words: Zone Read.

I take this back. It's not just the zone read, we've fumbled much more this year than the previous years.

This year we've had 26 fumbles and 16 fumbles lost, with two games left to go.

The previous 6 years we've had 15-19 fumbles and 7-11 fumbles lost.

AA and Arob did a great job hanging onto the ball, in retrospect.
 
I don't think you can blame this all on the zone read. As bawbie points out, we have fumbled a lot more this season than the last few, and we were running the zone read then too.

Also, I don't have the exact numbers to back it up, but it seems to me like most of our fumbles this year haven't been at the point of exchange on the zone read. When you cough it up ten yards down field, that has nothing to do with the tricky handoff with the zone read.
 
I take this back. It's not just the zone read, we've fumbled much more this year than the previous years.

This year we've had 26 fumbles and 16 fumbles lost, with two games left to go.

The previous 6 years we've had 15-19 fumbles and 7-11 fumbles lost.

AA and Arob did a great job hanging onto the ball, in retrospect.

Yes Bawbie, I looked this up too before I started the thread. 2003 comes as close to this year (with 23), and on average since 2002 we are at 17 fumbles per year. This year we are currently at 26 with two games remaining. I had some difficulty getting stats previous to 2000, but I will wager there were years in the 90's that we were below 8-10 for the season.

GO CYCLONES:yes:
 
This. The zone read has the same risks that any option football has. While there isn't a pitch involved, the RB hits the line very quickly after receiving the ball. Since the QB needs to be able to pull the ball back, the handoff isn't as easy as a normal running play.

I like the zone read even with some of the fumbles, when it's on 1st down or when we need more than 2 yrds. It is a large part of the fumble-itis, but with experience they will have better communication and exchange, its effective when the DL isn't in the backfield expecting a run on 3rd and short or something

But when we only need 1 or 2 yards, IMHO the play call has to be a lot more straight give. Let woody concentrate on making a read and finding the two yrds, not finding the damn ball. Mix in a zone read every once in a while, but when KO and the rest of the line is healthy we have the beef to exert our will on most teams for 1 or 2.
 
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Running backs coaches have changed through the years too.

This is where I was going when I started the thread. I am sure there are multiple factors at work. Defenses are emphasizing the "strip" drill and the "punch-out" maneuver. We have garnered our share of fumbles from these tactics. I can understand when we lose the ball on an exchange, but losing the ball when clearly in control of the ball is disconcerting.

GO CYCLONES:yes:
 
Blaming it all on the zone read is way to simplistic. Off the top of my head there is only one zone read exchange that we have put on the ground this season. I'm sure there are probably a couple more that I'm forgetting, but it's not like ISU has put the ball on the ground 10 times this year as a result of the zone read exchange. Everybody has contributed to the fumble issues.
 
Cyclone fans were spoiled in the 90s. Didn't the RBs go 500 straight carries without fumble during one stretch? I guess it's the law of averages...
 
Well, White had that one carry and didn't play the rest of the game right. He was not injured correct?
 
Cyclone fans were spoiled in the 90s. Didn't the RBs go 500 straight carries without fumble during one stretch? I guess it's the law of averages...

Some of that was Mac's reluctance to play a RB who had even a slight case of fumbleitis. If you put the ball on the ground more than once in a blue moon, you were relegated to the bench to never again see the light of day. The names Jason Harris and David Brown come to mind.
 
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