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It does not mirror the pronunciation of the similarly spelled DOGE.

UA fans are hopeful that the ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥â€™ new offense will enjoy a smoother rollout than the government agency — and that “Doegeâ€� will come to stand for Director of Efficient Game Execution.

Doege, 36, showed great promise in his debut as an offensive coordinator last year, helping Marshall achieve a first-place finish in the Sun Belt Conference’s East Division.

The Thundering Herd were particularly adept at running the football — unlike the 2024 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥. That’s the area we’re going to focus on in the season premiere of “Cats Statsâ€� ahead of ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥â€™s opener against Hawaii on Saturday night.

Despite being a branch of the “Air Raid� coaching tree, Doege guided Marshall to a No. 3 finish in the Sun Belt in rushing at 201.7 yards per game. The Thundering Herd averaged 5.2 yards per attempt. Adjusting for sacks, those numbers jump to 210.9 and 5.6, respectively.

(Doege’s offense was excellent at sack avoidance, by the way. Marshall allowed 17 sacks in 13 games, tied for third fewest in the Sun Belt.)

Per , Marshall had the 16th-highest rate of rushing plays in the nation at 59.7%. If you take out the service academies — and Rich Rodriguez-coached Jacksonville State — the Thundering Herd were 12th in run rate.

That wasn’t necessarily the plan. But the plan changed as the season progressed, and Doege adapted accordingly. That’s a sign of good coaching.

Dual-threat quarterback Braylon Braxton went from part-time player to full-time starter over the back half of the season. It would have been foolish for Doege to not take advantage of Braxton’s running ability. He had a pair of 140-yard rushing performances and finished the season with 610 yards on the ground.

Braxton ended up with the most rushing attempts on the team (134, including sacks taken) and was one of three players with 100-plus carries and 590-plus yards. The other two were running backs A.J. Turner (104-864) and Jordan Houston (111-592).

Noah Fifita is a different type of quarterback. , 44 of Fifita’s 75 career rushing attempts (excluding sacks) have been scrambles, or 58.7%. That means only 41.3% were designed.

Braxton, meanwhile, had 112 designed runs and 21 scrambles last year, according to PFF. Nearly 85% of his rushes were drawn up by Doege.

Doege indicated that Fifita will run more this season. That doesn’t mean his volume will approach Braxton’s; the latter had 12-plus carries on eight occasions last year. But Fifita at times will run by design — it’s built into the system — and that will boost an ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ rushing attack that desperately needs boosting.

The ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ ranked 120th out of 134 FBS teams in rushing yards per game (106.6) last season. They were 97th in average per rush (3.82).

Removing sacks paints a rosier picture: ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ comes in at 124.9 yards per game and 4.88 per rush after making that adjustment. But doing so only serves to reveal the 2024 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥â€™ complete lack of commitment to the ground game.

Excluding the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, last year’s Cats logged the fewest rushing attempts (335) by a UA offense since 2011 (331). That was the season that preceded Rodriguez’s arrival and revival of the rushing attack.

Again, those numbers include sacks taken. If we remove them from the equation, the ‘24 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ averaged 25.58 rushing attempts per game — slightly less than the ‘11 team’s average of 25.67.

Multiple reasons have been cited for that skewed statistic. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ lost the services of tailback Jacory Croskey-Merritt after Week 1. The ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ were determined to feature star receiver Tetairoa McMillan. Their rushing plays were slow-developing and demanded precise footwork and timing from the offensive line. The line was banged up and constantly in flux. ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ trailed — often by large margins — and couldn’t stick with the ground game while trying to play catch-up.

All of the above contributed to the ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥â€™ offensive imbalance. But the last item listed — frequently playing from behind — is just a convenient excuse for an inconvenient truth. The 2020 team, which went 0-5, averaged 33.4 rushes per game. The ‘21 team, which went 1-11, averaged 32.6. (We took out sacks in both cases.)

The benefits of running the ball regularly are multifold. It helps your quarterback by keeping the defense guessing. It helps your offensive line by simplifying the assignment; it’s easier to go forward than backward. And it helps the overall outfit by establishing a physical tone.

The 2025 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ have at least three running backs who are capable of handling a high volume of rushing attempts: returnee Kedrick Reescano and transfers Ismail Mahdi and Quincy Craig. All have done so to varying degrees during their college careers.

We don’t expect the ‘25 Cats to run the ball with the same frequency as Doege’s Thundering Herd — nor do we expect them to run it as little as last year’s UA squad. The numbers probably will land somewhere in between.

“I think we’ve curated a flexible offense,� Doege said shortly after he was hired.

ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ will throw the ball to its running backs a lot. The UA also lists four “startingâ€� wide receiver positions — plus a tight end — on its depth chart. You don’t do that if you’re planning to run .

All we’re asking for is a little more commitment, a little more balance. We’re confident that ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥â€™s Director of Efficient Game Execution will deliver.