Mario's Role From Here...

[djsimp]

Well, I hate to tell you guys but I can almost guarantee you that Mario will get his game time. The guy is a nice weapon to have catching the ball on wheel routes and out in the flats.

[No Huddle]

From the outside looking in, keep him off the field. It should be the Dyer and Newton show from here on out.

[djsimp]

I'd be willing to bet Fannin, Dyer and Smith will all three be toting the football around all week this week because all three fumbled.

[Snaggletiger]

I'd be willing to bet Fannin, Dyer and Smith will all three be toting the football around all week this week because all three fumbled.

Great point.  Non conference foe you should handle with relative ease...I know that's a big assumption..but...

If we do have the game in hand, that's exactly what should happen. Pound Fannin and Smith all day and let them get some confidence.  I'm not a big fan of Mario at RB any more but you can't overlook the fact that we aren't exactly rolling 5 deep at that position...unlike some teams.  There may come a time, sooner than you think, that Fannin is forced back into the #1 ROLE.  O-Mac is not an every down back, unless you want him broken in half by halftime.

[Ranger12]

Since Mario did not get another touch Saturday night, you have to wonder if CGC has had enough. I decided to look up Mario's stats since he has been playing back in 2007, noting all his touches, not just rushes, because he has been a good RB at catching passes:

2007 4 fumbles (led team), 84 rushes 5 TDs, 18 Rec. 2 TD, 19 KR 0 TD
2008 1 fumble, 54 rushes 1 TD, 20 rec. 2 TD, 11 KR 0 TD
2009 3 fumbles (tied for third…Ben Tate was second with 4 fumbles on 263 rushes and 20 rec) 34 rushes 0 TD, 42 rec. 3 TD, 14 KR 0 TD, 1 PR 0 TD
2010 2 fumbles (leading team), 9 rushes 0 TD, 6 rec. 0 TD

So, Mario has led the team in fumbles in a year that he was not even the starter, but was also the year of his most carries. He was one fumble less than Ben Tate in 2009, though Ben carried the ball nearly 8 times more than Mario did (Todd led the team with 8 fumbles that year). This year he is already leading the team though he has significant less carries than Newton, Dye, and McCalebb. It is interesting to see his number of carries have decreased quite a bit each year since his first year. I honestly thought he had more fumbles than that, and to hear many other AU fans talk, I would venture to say that most of his fumbles have probably happened at critical times (like Saturday night), which makes it more memorable to fans and coaches. Even then, compared to the other RBs, for the most part the stats do support the popular notion that he has had a problem hanging on to the ball with the exception of 2009 when he was #4 in number of carries behind Tate, Lester, and Burns.

It sucks, because Mario is one of those guys that can create big plays, especially when he swings out in the flat. Though I remember his fumbles, I also remember him making up for them sometimes by taking a short pass and turning it into a huge gain. Yet, three of his four years, his fumble to carry ratio is not exactly something the will get him on the good side of the pro scouts and apparently not sitting well with CGC. I don't know what an acceptable ration would be, but with the weapons we have now, is it too late for him even if he was to improve that aspect of his game?

[GH2001]

According to Ranger's stats, Mario has 10 fumbles from approx 180 carries. A fumble every 18 carries @ 230 lbs. Good grief........thats not good. Dyer has 1 fumble from 62 carries.  Dyer's fumble was almost unavoidable considering he was thrown into the air for a 180.  It seems that if an opposing player stomps their foot at Fannin, the ball hits the ground instantaneously....just saying.

Also, as Ranger eluded to, Fannin's fumbles seem to happen at critical times.

[CCTAU]

MF did not get any touches because Cam kept the ball. MF was in there, but the DE was attacking the RB, so Cam kept it. Probably a good thing, but the coaches did not keep the ball from him.

[djsimp]

MF did not get any touches because Cam kept the ball. MF was in there, but the DE was attacking the RB, so Cam kept it. Probably a good thing, but the coaches did not keep the ball from him.

No, but after the fumble Cam may have been thinking the same thing. Something is wrong with Fannins shoulder and if you guys watch the replay, you can see he had the ball in his left arm and was hit in the left shoulder. So I guess if Cam can throw the ball to Fannin on the left side of the field we should be ok.

[Townhallsavoy]

I don't care if he has fumblitis. 

I don't care if he has a bum shoulder.

I don't care if he has nubs for fingers.

He shouldn't be touching the ball very often anymore.  Maybe a few pass plays.  He also should be taught to run in a straight line and then just fall down.

Whatever the reason, the guy has trouble holding onto the football and staying healthy.  Sorry, Mario.  Maybe you should have trained for track and field.

[Ranger12]

Just an FYI...I got those stats straight from the AU Athletics site. They don't put the fumble stats front and center, so I had to dig around a little for them. For some reason they did not have the individual fumble totals for the 2008 season or at least I did not find them, so I had to look at the game by game stats to get the individual totals for that year.

I would agree that a fumble for every 18 carries does not sound like a ratio that any coach would be happy with. Coach Chizik referred to Fannin's ball protection problems a couple of times last year, so it would not surprise me that CGC finally had enough after the fumble Saturday night and decided that he three guys in the backfield that is getting good yardage and protecting the ball for the most part. I only recall seeing Mario in the game one more time after that, on a fake reverse, but he might have been in more than that.

If his shoulder is bothering him enough that he can't hold on to the ball, then he does not need to be in the game period. He is a RB for crying out loud, so I would think CGC would not let him touch the ball, especially since he has problems when he is healthy, if he was not 100%.

[JR4AU]

Well, I hate to tell you guys but I can almost guarantee you that Mario will get his game time. The guy is a nice weapon to have catching the ball on wheel routes and out in the flats.

At a certain point, they'll deem him not worth the risks based on the other talent they have...his playing days are numbered, if not already passed. 

[djsimp]

At a certain point, they'll deem him not worth the risks based on the other talent they have...his playing days are numbered, if not already passed.

Well, if I was a coach, I would be thinking about the same. I would limit his touches if I have someone to put in place but I highly doubt we will see the end of Mario. The game this Saturday could tell us a lot I would think by who is played and played early.