A Look at some Mercer Stats

[Boomergump]

When thinking about offensive efficiency and who was really having an easier time moving the ball, consider these:

Total first downs and conversions - we had 25 first downs on 62 offensive plays and they had 19 on 68. On the surface that is not such a huge difference. But consider this: Mercer was 10 of 18 on 3rd downs and 1 of 2 on fourth down. That means that 11 of their 19 first downs were converted on 3rd or 4th down. They were having to work pretty hard to move the chains. We moved the chains 25 times, while only 7 happened on 3rd or 4th down. It is a pretty telling stat if you are wondering who was having a harder time moving the ball. We were breezing down the field in comparison.

They averaged 3 yds per rush, while we averaged 7.

They were able to amass some passing yards, but when you consider they only averaged 5.9 yards per attempt (9.4 per completion), there was a lot of dinking and dunking going on. There weren't many chunk plays happening. Conversely, we averaged 8 per attempt and 16 per completion.

This was a little more of a one-sided affair than many of us are acknowledging. We have stuff to work on. I would rather be sitting here having not fumbled and talking about how they were only 6 of 18 on third down instead of 10 (making them only have 15 total first downs). Let us not over-react. There were a lot of teams who would have loved to have won by our margin yesterday, even over similar competition, two of them being our primary rivals.

 

[forensicbuzz]

As I said before, I was never concerned about the outcome of this game. To me it was never in question. We were far superior to them offensively. My concern was we couldn't get them off the field when we wanted to. I'd have liked to have seen our defense flex it's muscle a lot better than we did. This gives me pause when projecting over the course of the season. I am hopeful that our D stiffens up and becomes a true asset to the team, not a liability. I look forward to these guys showing out in the next two games.

 

[takethepoints]

As I watched the game my thought after the first series was: "We could sure use Dedrick Mills in there." He can push through the trash; the rest of the BBs seemed to need more space. (Except for MM's TD; that was what I wish he did every time he touches the ball.) But even without him, I was never in suspense either.

But, like I say, I wasn't expecting a blowout and I always hope for a one (1) point win in the first 3 - 4 games. It takes awhile for everybody to get in sync and for the backs to get confidence.

 

[albanyjacket]

Mercer is a pretty good team.

 

[stingyoa$$]

Mercer did what we always try and do to the big boys...that's play keep away. Good strategy when you can't compete physically with your opponent. The problem is we let them play keep away. We have some very serious issues on both sides of the ball. We don't stay on track in the running lanes and had poor vision between the tackles. As CBC would say, we left a lot on the table when it came to rushing yards.

 

[sidewalkGTfan]

Offensively, we could've scored on every possession if not for the fumbles.

Defensively, my concerns go back a lot farther than what I saw yesterday or this season.

 

[Nook Su Kow]

Offensively, we could've scored on every possession if not for the fumbles.

Defensively, my concerns go back a lot farther than what I saw yesterday or this season.

I agree with you.

 

[Boomergump]

Let me be clear, I am concerned about our defense too. I am just not of the opinion that we have been terrible thus far. We have our limitations and we will have to score a good bit and control the ball on offense to win the tough ones. Perhaps some people feel let down because they were expecting huge improvement in the defense over the offseason and it isn't evident thus far.

 

[Longestday]

I think they were expecting an Elon type game with more 3 and outs and an interception or 2.

I think the D is growing every game.

 

[GT_B]

The lack of the pass rush is just a killer every season. Our DBs play soft coverage because the QB has all day to throw in the pocket.

We are never going to get pressure sending 4. No one on our DL has that ability to create pressure constantly. Freeman to me has seemed to regress since his freshman year. I don't know if it's nagging injuries or what but he disappears pretty much all game. I would just send 6 on passing downs and take your chances. I would rather their QB make a great throw under duress than to just stand 10 secs in the pocket to wait till someone gets open.

On the other side of no pass rush, it actually works to our benefit. We play ok against the run because we don't get penetration and get upfield so we are typically just stalemated at the LOS and clog up the line. So there isn't a lot of room to run.

If we had at least 1 really good DL player it would make a siginificant impact.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

.... If we had at least 1 really good DL player it would make a significant impact.

Another Gotsis would help immensely since he required double teams.

 

[bke1984]

The lack of the pass rush is just a killer every season. Our DBs play soft coverage because the QB has all day to throw in the pocket.

We are never going to get pressure sending 4. No one on our DL has that ability to create pressure constantly. Freeman to me has seemed to regress since his freshman year. I don't know if it's nagging injuries or what but he disappears pretty much all game. I would just send 6 on passing downs and take your chances. I would rather their QB make a great throw under duress than to just stand 10 secs in the pocket to wait till someone gets open.

On the other side of no pass rush, it actually works to our benefit. We play ok against the run because we don't get penetration and get upfield so we are typically just stalemated at the LOS and clog up the line. So there isn't a lot of room to run.

If we had at least 1 really good DL player it would make a siginificant impact.

Tough to get a good rush when they are throwing a lot of quick passes like they were on Saturday. I thought the pass rush was ok in Dublin, but we just didn't have the sack numbers to show for it.

Playing soft zone against those quick hitting routes is a recipe for allowing long sustaining drives that wear down your defense. I don't know what kind of offense Vandy runs, but if we do that against Clemson in a couple weeks it's going to be a long night.

 

[vamosjackets]

Another Gotsis would help immensely since he required double teams.

It didn't help that much last year. Helped a little, but didn't vault us into a top 30 defense.

 

[33jacket]

It didn't help that much last year. Helped a little, but didn't vault us into a top 30 defense.

We simply wont have one under roof.

I am just hoping we arent 100 or so at some point like we were in 2012....

Mercer was so good on 3 rd down cuz they were too many 3rd and shorts. So i would disagree in making them work hard for first downs. We made them use 3 downs. But what was left over was too easy due to early success on 1 and 2 downs.....primarily soft coverage and inability to understand how you play the flats in a screen game. Football 101