I watched Ohio's win over UNLV on the treadmill Christmas morning. The Bobcats won their seventh bowl win in a row with a strong running game. Over the season, Ohio ran for 3178 yards and 32 (!) rushing TD's.
Another factoid was Ohio was one of nine college football teams to have every offensive lineman play every snap in 2025.
In 2025 UMass rushed for 989 yards and 6 rushing TD's (2 of the 6 were by QB Grant Jordan). I have no idea how many offensive line combinations we used.
In UMass' 1998 national championship the Minutemen rushed for 3024 yards and 32 rushing TD's.
In 1998 the UMass OL was:
LT Bolden, LG Wynne, C Hagood, RG Lauback, RT Hill.
Over 15 games that's 75 potential starts. How many UMass OL starts were missed?
One. Cliff Bolden missed the first UConn game.
UMass needs a bell-cow RB and offensive line talent and continuity in 2026. Fixing the run game needs to be a top priority for 2026.
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The MAC is in another bowl game today at 1:00 when run-heavy Central Michigan meets Northwestern.
If you can run the rock, you've got a good lookin' offense..
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