Is Isaac getting better blocking than Smith? Data says….yes, through week 3 he clearly is.
Isaac has 61% opportunity rate, while Smith is getting 43% from the OL.
“Opportunity Rate is the percentage of carries in which the offensive line “does its job” and produces at least five yards of rushing for the runner. (Generally speaking, the first five yards are considered the line’s responsibility, the next five are split evenly between the runner and the line, and anything over 10 yards is all on the runner.) See Highlight Yards and Adj. Line Yards for more information.”
Isaac has much better highlight yards than Smith (after the OL has created opportunities beyond 5 yards) but that’s heavily based on one long run. Still, Smith’s is alarmingly low (1.8). Well, alarmingly if you weren’t already assuming what must of us already know about Smith – he’s not a big play game-breaking back, he’s a grinder. It’s reasonable to think that while the gap in highlight yards will narrow, it’ll remain in Isaac’s favor all season long.
I wonder how some of the Stanford backs graded out relative to their peers in that stat…
Data according to: http://www.footballstudyhall.com/pages/2015-michigan-advanced-statistical-profile
Stats explainer: http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2015/2/9/8001137/college-football-advanced-stats-glossary
