Can Storm Woods be a 1200 yard rusher?

I believe he can and will surpass 1000 yards rushing this year.  As the primary back in Riley’s system we have to imagine he may get 55-58% of all carries.  Agnew may get 22-25% and Ward and Jenkins will likely split the last 20%.  For Riley’s hoped for 1800 yards rushing and balanced attack to come to fruition this season, Woods will need to be a 1000 yard rusher.  If OSU runs for 1800 yards as a team and Woods gets 55% of that he would fall at 990 yards.  1200 yards is the high end but possible and in that scenario if OSU could muster Riley’s 1800 target, Woods would be responsible for 2/3 of the running game.

These numbers represent a big boost from last years numbers where as a team OSU only ran for about 1067 yards.  It was obvious last year too as OSU was clearly way too pass happy and tried to claw back with a stategy that inherently had low odds of success based off statistical probability.  Nicholls St represents an opportunity for a quick start for Woods and a game where he should record 135+ yards of rushing.  Hopefully Agnew can tack on another 65, for 200 from our Top 2, and the other guys also contribute well.

There is a new commenter I recently came across who goes by JoeBeaver.  I can’t recall if I have seen him post on Angry’s site, but he believes OSU will beat Wisconsin.  I would love to see it, but I feel this is a case of too much orange-colored glasses.  He also thinks we will beat BYU on the road.  Like BDC he likes to state some of our successes over the past decade, but forgets that with those better years OSU accomplished little of much national importance.

If you take being on the cusp of two Rose Bowls, but then at the end capture the season’s end with 3 points in a Sun Bowl and an embarassing blowout loss to BYU in the 5th place Vegas Bowl, then what exactly did you really accomplish that season?  Couple that with following it with poor recruiting and a sharp dropoff and OSU fans have reason to be concerned about the state of the program.

The season is just about here and OSU needs a quick start.  Beat Nicholls St. by 4 touchdowns and then fans may sell out Reser for Wisconsin and truly feel they have a legit shot to take down a perrenial winner.  What we need to see this year is alot more fight, steady execution and smart leadership from Mannion and others who must emerge for OSU to make a decent bowl.  The players need to have fun, play with confidence and be led in such a way that we are looking to extend leads and not hang on at the end as is too typical of Riley.  Riley is supposedly contemplating his legacy, but it would be much better if he ever took the team to a Holiday Bowl or better.  That is asking an awful lot of this year’s team but a Vegas Bowl should be attainable if this team finds a winning spirit and purpose to the season early and then the will to sustain it.