Bumped - P

I have noticed it last year watching games from the student section and this year as well. Lane Kiffin runs the ball the majority of the time when the Trojans have a 3rd and Long situation.

While many may say that running on 3rd and Long lowers the chance of turnovers, it also significantly lowers our chances of advancing the ball and even possibly scoring.

There have been may times during Kiff's time here at SC that he has essentially given up on the drive during a 3rd and 15 and ran the ball. I call this giving up on the drive because we do not have extremely explosive running backs that can consistently bust off 20 yards runs. Therefore running during a 3rd and Long situation will NOT result in a first down and essentially limiting the Offense to 2 down territory, where Barkley only has two downs to advance the ball and if a run play gets stuff and a pass falls incomplete, we're punting or kicking a field because 3rd down has become non-existent to Kiffin.

While I believe that it is appropriate to run on 3rd and Long if you are on your own 15 yard line or less, there were two examples today during the Cal game where we have position at mid-field, and due to penalties, we were backed up to 3rd and 15. Kiffin ran the ball, just like I thought he would and we would end up punting a play later.

Why won't Kiffin take a chance on 3rd down and let Barkley let loose a little? The best way to get Barkley started is to allow him a bit more control over the offense himself and make a few decisions on his own, but he won't get the chance to do that if we take every 3rd and 8(or more) away from him.

What are your thoughts?