I hope the below charts work correctly.. Here is a comparison of coleman and franklin rushing.   My takeaway is just that.   These are 2 statistically similar running backs.  I would argue Coleman has the slight edge however.   One significant difference however is that fumbling issue.   Coleman has 1 fumble since his freshman season.  Franklin has improved since his freshman year, but he is still bad.  The columns list number of times a carry goes for each distance.  My thought process on categories were no gains and losses are bad, 1-3 doesn't get you a third of a 1st down, 4-9 is solid and will move chains consistently, good runs but not past the 2nd tier defense, and bigger runs.

                          <1     1-3      4-9      10-19     20+      fum   lost      fum%     car       yds       avg          

Coleman 2011       1     7          8            3          2          0        0         0%       21       152     7.24        

Coleman 2010      13   29        27           9         4           1        0         1%       82       487     5.94        

Coleman 2009      11   20        17           4         2           0        0         0%       54       244     4.52        

Coleman 2008      11   19        17           3         3           2        2         4%       53       284     5.36        

total                      36    75       69          19       11         3        2         1%      210     1167    5.56        

Franklin 2011        7     10         9            4         2            1       1         3%      32       209     6.53        

Franklin 2010       34     72       80          20        8           6      4           3%     214    1127     5.27        

Franklin 2009       26     50       35          11        4           9       2          7%     126      566     4.49        

total                       67    132     124        35       14          16      7         4%     372    1902     5.11        

                         td       car/td   % 10+      % 20+      % <1        % <0-3

Coleman 2011     2       10.50     24%         10%         5%         38%

Coleman 2010     5       16.40     16%          5%         16%         51%

Coleman 2009     1       54.00     11%          4%         20%         57%

Coleman 2008     2       26.50     11%          6%         21%        57%

total                   10      21.00     14%           5%         17%         53%

Franklin 2011      2        16.00     19%          6%          22%         53%

Franklin 2010      8        26.75     13%          4%          16%         50%

Franklin 2009      5        25.20     12%          3%          21%         60%

total                  15       24.80     13%           4%          18%          53%

coleman td length    avg 11.2 yds                                                                                  

Franklin td length   avg 16.33 yds

Although Franklin seems to be more of a home run threat Coleman still enjoys an advantage in pct of carries over 10 yds the last season and 2 games and 20 yds in Franklin's career.  Interestingly the short carry stats are similar as well.   Franklin probably gets thrown for more losses, but the 3 and under carries over their career are identical as a pct at 53.  

My bottom line is you better be Barry Sanders or Adrian Peterson if you can't hold onto the football well.  I believe Neuheisal needs to send a message and not keep letting someone fumble.. especially if they have a backup that can do the job just as well getting half the carries.