forums

Gore vs Mcgahee.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter deleted4697
  • Start date Start date
D

deleted4697

Guest
Dont know if this topic was ever discussed on this board, but it was a hot topic in the best offensive player in the U history thread.

I said before gore during his freshman yr(pre-injury) was amazing....aside from that fluke fumble vs boston college (ed reed game) dude had a remarkable yr spelling portis. He murdered west virginia and he **** on Syracuse that yr too. Maybe if he didnt injure both his knees he would had been the best cane in history....biiiig maybe. Just sucks we gonly got to really see a shell of his former self those 03-04 yrs. He was good...better than some of the dudes he had in recent past, other than miller 11 and duke last yr.
Now mcgahee, i am showing favoritism cause i remember seeing some of his highlight tapes in high school and we was crazy good. I understand why he redshirted in 00 cause he wasnt getting any pt with jackson, portis and davenport on that roster, and i was wondering why gore passed him in 01, i see why, but i still feel mchaee was better. Now when he got his turn in 02, he proved me right and showed the world why he was so dope. that was a real weapon to have.....**** will allen that night in Glendale, cause he would have won the game for us.

Now like before, if i had to pick, then its mcgahee all day, but the question is a lil tainted cause gore was never fully healthy when it was his turn to shine.
 
Advertisement
I'm sure this is a good discussion, but that grammar....c'mon man.

As to your question, we'll never know. We never saw them both at 100% as the feature back.
 
Last edited:
Two very different backs.

Frank Gore, pre-injuries, was simply the most natural RB I think I've ever seen. His vision, balance, anticipation and pure understanding of developing plays was unequaled. He tied those to more than sufficient quicks, burst, and physicality. The end result was an incredible combination.

McGahee was an off the charts athletic talent. He was far superior to Gore in terms of innate straight line speed, although burst might be closer than people think. He was bigger than Gore and he played bigger than Gore, but I don't know that he wore down a defense as much as Frank. We'll never know that because they were on different teams and utilized differently.

End result? Love Gore, but when I'm asked to do the U Fantasy RB pick thing, between the two, I take McGahee because a) he was more of a home run threat and b) I saw his prime. Maybe my decision would be different if I got to see a mature and healthy Gore. But Willis' prime was special.
 
Too hard man. I literally changed my mind 5 times writing this. Gore looked better than Portis to me on the title team. Mcgahee definately had more upside, Gore was more ready from the getgo. If we are doing totally fantasy based, and I can imagine both of them as Seniors injury free, my gut tells me Mcgahee would have been the better player. Its a shame, I think Wilis' one injury took more out of him than both of Gores ACL's.
 
Advertisement
Gore before injury was on another level than Portis and Mcgahee. Even Coker said prior to the injury Gore was the best rb he's coached since Barry Sanders.

Frank had unreal balance, vision and burst . I've seen plenty of backs come through Mia but his freshmen year was unbelievable. He averaged 9 ypc and had over 500 yds , that was just getting a few carries a game.

Too bad he was never the same after the injury, still a great back though.
 
Last edited:
Isn't hard for me to decide at all.

Gore averaged 9 YPC his freshman year.
He was penciled in as the starter before his injury, which tells me that the Miami coaches thought Gore was better, and I trust their judgement.
And I also consider what they've done since leaving UM, and clearly Gore is the better RB here too.

When you consider all of those things it's an easy decision IMO.
 
not talking about pre college, not talking about post college, it isnt a debate.
you have to take injuries into consideration, what could have been does not win you games.
unrealized potential is exactly that, unrealized.

touches:309 yards:2108 yds per:6.8 tds:28
all in one year


mcgahee and it aint close.
 
Advertisement
LOL @ it not being close when Gore was ahead of Willis on the depth chart.

Again, if we're going off productivity while at Miami, then yes it's McGahee. But if we're going on who's better...GTFOH...Gore and it really ain't close.
 
NFL Stats

McGahee
Attempts: 1,957
Yards: 8,097
YPC: 4.1
TD's: 63

Gore
Attempts: 1,911
Yards: 8,839
YPC: 4.6
TD's: 51

Portis
Attempts: 2,230
Yards: 9,923
YPC: 4.4
TD's: 75

Might not be relevant to the conversation. Just throwin' it out there.
 
Last edited:
At the end of the day, McGahee had that one amazing season for us which was downright special. He should have won the Heisman trophy that year. Still, Gore without his knee injuries would have been the best rb to ever play at UM and I don't think there's any argument to that. The guy was absolutely dynamic his true freshmen season (think Duke last year). He tore his ACL on each knee and still ended up having a productive career in college and we all know he succeeded in the pros. Sean Taylor is always referred to as this mythical player and the what ifs are always brought up, but when I think of what if, I think Frank F.ucking gore. Legend.
 
Advertisement
McGahee had the best season of any UM back in history but would have never even seen the field if Gore hadn't gotten injured
 
This is pretty simple. If you're talking about pre injuries, It's easily Gore. I don't care that McGahee was a little bigger, stronger, faster. It's about running the ball and Gore was better at it. If you're talking about actual college production, it's McGahee and it's not close.

On a side note, one thing that will always bother me about McGahee is that he didn't show up to the Fiesta Bowl. He ran tentative and scared and it was a big reason why we lost. I remember one play in particular early in the game where McGahee was in the open field along the sideline, one on one with a cb. It was third down and all he had to do was plow ahead 2 yards for the first down...just make the guy miss or run him over, anything. Instead he basically just stopped and let the guy tackle him in place and we had to punt. After the game he admitted that he ran tentative because he was scared of getting hurt. There were a bunch of guys who didn't show up that game and took the win for granted, but McGahee was the biggest.
 
Advertisement
WildcatDefense said:
I'm gonna do with UM's coaching staff on this one and say Gore > McGahee
Click to expand...

2001 Gore > McGahee. With both players being 100% healthy and injury free I'll take Gore. Just a natural football player. McGahee Has the better physical Attributes but Gore is the better football player. Says alot because both are great players. Really can't go wrong with either.
 
I think the most clear part of this whole thing is that it absolutely sucks that we have to make clarifications in this discussion. The what ifs here cost us potentially two national titles in 02/03 and 03/04. Not much of a stretch to think that we can win vs. OSU with McGahee, and who knows what a healthy Gore does for this team both of those years.

The answer has to be McGahee because he had one of the best seasons a RB has had nationally over the past 20 years. Other guys may have compiled big yardage numbers, but considering the stage he was doing it on it's hard to throw many against him. I'm not as old as some, but at 26 I can pretty confidently say that he, Adrian Peterson, and Reggie Bush were the three best college RBs I've personally ever seen.

Now, Frank Gore is obviously a special case because of what happened to him with injuries, though he likely would have been the better because he'd have been the guy over McGahee. As an earlier poster said, he was just a natural talent at the position, which is absolutely proven by the way he plays the position today. If a young player wants to know how to play running back, they need to watch him. Vision, quickness, power, he's everything a RB needs to be, scary that most of it would be a few notches above if the knees were healthy.
 
Last edited:
Advertisement
Back
Top