I do think we have tried to "hold on to leads" in both Louisville and WF games, rather than trying to continue attacking. This concerns me greatly. I would love to have a dominating offensive line that could allow us ot run out the clock and hold leads, but I don't think we're there (yet).
I'd love to know if this is Key's decision or Faulkner's? I gotta believe it is Key's.
There were some abused stats that said “teams that run the ball more are more likely to win”. The basis of those stats were that the teams that had a lead, and could successfully run, switched to running and ran out the clock (and kept scoring, but more slowly).
First, a generation of coaches learned “run the ball to win”. The next generation of coaches learned a slightly smarter lesson of “run to preserve a lead”. The real lesson is “If you’re ahead,
and you can run
successfully, it’s a good way to hold your lead”.
We’re not running well, and a more important coaching strategy is “don’t do what isn’t working”.
We need a run game, though. We need wins more.