Franklin adapts and Tech finds an offense

The week of the Utah State game, I wrote a story about Tony Franklin needing to adjust to the personnel on his offense. It certainly appears he has done just that.

Against Utah State, Louisiana Tech amassed 427 yards of offense and Lennon Creer had a career high 120 yards on 18 carries and 2 touchdowns.

This past weekend during the homecoming game against Idaho, Franklin's offense really got going while amassing 683 yards. Creer surpassed his career high from the Utah State game with 23 carries for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns while averaging a staggering 7.8 yards per carry.

With the talent in the backfield at Louisiana Tech, it was only a matter of time before Franklin figured out how to best utilize that talent. Creer, a four-star recruit out of high school and Myke Compton a three-star recruit out of high school were both highly recruited. While Compton was recruited mostly in the Southeastern United States, Creer on the other hand was a national recruit as the number 6 running back in the entire nation in 2007.

Given the abilities of Creer specifically, Franklin installed a "wild dog" package to get him the ball moving more downhill against Utah State. Against Idaho, the philosophy changed a little bit. This time, a sort of pistol formation was installed with 2 blocking backs parallel to Ross Jenkins in the backfield and Creer lined up behind Jenkins. With the two blocking backs, it leaves the defense wondering which direction Creer will be running to.

Tony Franklin seems to have shown his adaptability as an offensive coordinator and will continue to come up with new ways to get the football in his talented running backs hands.