Observations

[Dottie1145]

Football is on the verge of baseballing itself, pouring stat atop stat until the game becomes incomprehensible and unenjoyable, and coverage and game stats so dense and acronym-ridden so as to turn off even the most hardened bureaucrat in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I gather from trying to follow all these that Tech lost more than it won last year with an offense that is somewhere south of the flying wedge.

Stats are inflated based on playbook a and personnel. Nick Chubb had better stats than all of our backs, but that orange bowl trophy is a lot sweeter than the JC Penny bowl trophy.

 

[TechPhi97]

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Tell you what. A guy could go broke betting he had figured out Paul Johnson. One could assume it would be at any of the spots he has practiced at and still miss. Makes it interesting.

Totally what I was thinking. Johnson is tough to read because he's perpetually perturbed. Orange Bowl victory, literally right after the game, SEC comment. The chip on his shoulder needs to stay as big as it is, because it pushes him to get better all the time.

 

[Enuratique]

Football is on the verge of baseballing itself, pouring stat atop stat until the game becomes incomprehensible and unenjoyable, and coverage and game stats so dense and acronym-ridden so as to turn off even the most hardened bureaucrat in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I gather from trying to follow all these that Tech lost more than it won last year with an offense that is somewhere south of the flying wedge.

I for one, love the additional analysis. As a numbers wonk, it's interesting to look beyond the raw numbers that we're all accustomed to as others have pointed out, the old standby's can be misleading. I feel like the FEI does a good job distilling a how good an offense/defense is by adjusting for strength of schedule and offensive style. A more apples to apples comparison. If you don't like it, then just follow the advice that has Paul Anka's guarantee*.

*Guarantee void in Tennessee.

 

[TechPhi97]

We were 54th in the nation in 2013 in total offense against FBS teams. Not sure how that is getting more from less, unless we had below average talent. Recruiting wasn't all that good, but I wouldn't say that the offense was below average in talent.

Geez man. Take a look at this link: Football Outsiders

We were #1 in adjusted (for opponent) offensive efficiency last year. We were #2 in the percentage of drives that achieved at least one first down (82%). We were #2 in "Available yards", which is yards gained / potential yards based on field position (62%). We were #7 in "methodical drives", those drives that took at least 10 plays (21%).

Let me put this into more perspective. If you take all of the years that data is available and Johnson was our coach (2008-2014), of the 127 teams in the data (I deleted Old Dominion because they are only in 2014), Coach Johnson's offenses rank 4th in efficiency. Our average efficiency rank is 4th in all of college football. Here are the numbers:

Rank / School / Average / Max / Min

1. Alabama (7.71/16/3)
2. Oregon (9.29/20/3)
3. Oklahoma (19.29/60/1)
4. Georgia Tech (20.29/41/1)
5. Georgia (21.00/37/8)

Looking at the actual efficiency scores for that same time period, we average 3rd in college football:
1. Alabama (.52)
2. Oregon (.50)
3. Georgia Tech (.42)
4. Baylor (.41)
5. Oklahoma (.39)

Now, we are more variable - the standard deviation on our efficiency score is .29. In the Top 10, only Baylor's is higher (.40) and Texas A&M is slightly less (.28). We are the 16th most variable team overall (out of 127). Other highly variable teams are Auburn, Baylor, UCLA, Florida (go Muschamp!), South Carolina, and Michigan.

What all of this tells me is that coach Johnson has put one of the most effective offenses on the field over the past 7 football seasons in all of college football. Or we could just use total yards as a means of measuring the effectiveness of an offense.

Alabama and Oregon are clearly, clearly ahead of everyone else in this regard and if we want to take a step towards them then we must figure out how to reduce the impact during our off years. 2010 (41st), 2013 (38th), and 2012 (26th) were our worst years.

In 2010, Nesbitt got hurt in the middle of the season.
2012 was Tevin's last year and Vad played sporadically
2013 was Vad's year.

 

[Skeptic]

I for one, love the additional analysis. As a numbers wonk, it's interesting to look beyond the raw numbers that we're all accustomed to as others have pointed out, the old standby's can be misleading. I feel like the FEI does a good job distilling a how good an offense/defense is by adjusting for strength of schedule and offensive style. A more apples to apples comparison. If you don't like it, then just follow the advice that has Paul Anka's guarantee*.

*Guarantee void in Tennessee.

Oh, trust me. I ignore all that stuff that seems hardly relevant to my interest. The problem is not ignoring it, the problem, particularly with baseball anymore, is that one has to wade past it to get to the real stuff. Took forever to even feign interest in something called "WAR" but not long to figure out that is an impossible stat to know with any certainty. Baseball is filled with it now.

 

[Minawreck]

I think Marcus Allen is someone that has all the physical tools to be a great player, but maybe he's taking school seriously and putting more time into that than football. This isn't a bad thing, but it will lead to him falling behind his teammates who perhaps want or need to play football a little bit more than he does.

I hope he does really well, and I believe he will.

 

[gtalltheway]

They change players positions because they feel that they won't contribute at their normal positions, LB and running back. Using your argument, they wouldn't waste valuable practice minutes if they thought he would. He's at B back now through attrition. I guess his practicing at WR was a waste of everyone's time in your opinion.

You might want to read his statement again, @thwgjacket is simply stating the fact coaches don't move guys around to get a point across, he said they moved Allen to wr because they thought he could play the position or else they would not have done it, it was not waisting any time with him taking snaps at wr because if it wasn't for all the injuries at b back he would still be taking snaps at b back, he's at b back now because of injuries

 

[Skeptic]

Geez man. Take a look at this link: Football Outsiders

We were #1 in adjusted (for opponent) offensive efficiency last year. We were #2 in the percentage of drives that achieved at least one first down (82%). We were #2 in "Available yards", which is yards gained / potential yards based on field position (62%). We were #7 in "methodical drives", those drives that took at least 10 plays (21%).

Let me put this into more perspective. If you take all of the years that data is available and Johnson was our coach (2008-2014), of the 127 teams in the data (I deleted Old Dominion because they are only in 2014), Coach Johnson's offenses rank 4th in efficiency. Our average efficiency rank is 4th in all of college football. Here are the numbers:

Rank / School / Average / Max / Min

1. Alabama (7.71/16/3)
2. Oregon (9.29/20/3)
3. Oklahoma (19.29/60/1)
4. Georgia Tech (20.29/41/1)
5. Georgia (21.00/37/8)

Looking at the actual efficiency scores for that same time period, we average 3rd in college football:
1. Alabama (.52)
2. Oregon (.50)
3. Georgia Tech (.42)
4. Baylor (.41)
5. Oklahoma (.39)

Now, we are more variable - the standard deviation on our efficiency score is .29. In the Top 10, only Baylor's is higher (.40) and Texas A&M is slightly less (.28). We are the 16th most variable team overall (out of 127). Other highly variable teams are Auburn, Baylor, UCLA, Florida (go Muschamp!), South Carolina, and Michigan.

What all of this tells me is that coach Johnson has put one of the most effective offenses on the field over the past 7 football seasons in all of college football. Or we could just use total yards as a means of measuring the effectiveness of an offense.

Alabama and Oregon are clearly, clearly ahead of everyone else in this regard and if we want to take a step towards them then we must figure out how to reduce the impact during our off years. 2010 (41st), 2013 (38th), and 2012 (26th) were our worst years.

In 2010, Nesbitt got hurt in the middle of the season.
2012 was Tevin's last year and Vad played sporadically
2013 was Vad's year.

Enuratique is eating this up. And understands it.

 

[Legal Jacket]

Marcus looked decent to me but I think he runs too upright at times.

 

[Legal Jacket]

Does the NCAA not have the same rules about numbers like the nfl does?

I don't know the difference between the NFL and NCAA, but Rule 1 Section 4 Article 1 "strongly" recommends backs as numbers 1-49, Center as 50-59, Guard as 60-69, Tackle as 70-79, and End as 80-99.

There aren't any comments on defensive players.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

I don't know the difference between the NFL and NCAA, but Rule 1 Section 4 Article 1 "strongly" recommends backs as numbers 1-49, Center as 50-59, Guard as 60-69, Tackle as 70-79, and End as 80-99.

There aren't any comments on defensive players.

Yep. Recommended that way for a long time.

Anyone remember when backs had their numbers broken down even more? 30-39 were fullbacks, 20-29 were halfbacks or flankers, and 40-49 were tailbacks? Defensive linemen were 70s-80s, linebackers were 50s-60s. But that is from a childhood memory so may not remembering exactly.

 

[danny daniel]

Yep. Recommended that way for a long time.

Anyone remember when backs had their numbers broken down even more? 30-39 were fullbacks, 20-29 were halfbacks or flankers, and 40-49 were tailbacks? Defensive linemen were 70s-80s, linebackers were 50s-60s. But that is from a childhood memory so may not remembering exactly.

Works somewhat until a player moves from LB to WR to BB or? In our day not only was a number more fixed but (playing non platoon football) so were the positions such as halfbacks were cornerbacks, QBs were S, FB and C were LBs, DE were OEs, etc.

 

[Architorture23]

Marcus looked decent to me but I think he runs too upright at times.

so does Todd Gurley

 

[Dottie1145]

so does Todd Gurley

Not sure you can compare the two

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Works somewhat until a player moves from LB to WR to BB or? In our day not only was a number more fixed but (playing non platoon football) so were the positions such as halfbacks were cornerbacks, QBs were S, FB and C were LBs, DE were OEs, etc.

Exactly.

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Not sure you can compare the two

I think he was comparing running posture.
Beyond that, Allen is probably a much better back.

 

[BabyJacket1990]

I think Marcus Allen is someone that has all the physical tools to be a great player, but maybe he's taking school seriously and putting more time into that than football. This isn't a bad thing, but it will lead to him falling behind his teammates who perhaps want or need to play football a little bit more than he does.

I hope he does really well, and I believe he will.

I'm not sure what you think a "Great" player looks like.
Great players are- Calvin , Little Joe, J. Dwyer etc... I could name a couple more but you should follow the drift. Marcus Allen is not in this category. If he was , we would have seen it by now. Coaches would have had him on the field before now.

 

[Techster]

Not sure you can compare the two

Of course you can. You can compare a filet to a chop steak...doesn't mean they're good comparisons.

 

[Eric]

I'm not sure what you think a "Great" player looks like.
Great players are- Calvin , Little Joe, J. Dwyer etc... I could name a couple more but you should follow the drift. Marcus Allen is not in this category. If he was , we would have seen it by now. Coaches would have had him on the field before now.

I think that's why he said Allen is someone who has all the physical tools TO be a great player...not that he's one now.

Marcus career isn't over and he has a chance to still be a very good player for us...Look how good Synjyn was last year at B Back.

I think players like Calvin, Dwyer and Lil Joe are better than great..those are elite players...once in a blue moon kinda guys who can come in and be great almost right away....some guys need time to develop before they can be great.

 

[GaTech4ever]

I'm not sure what you think a "Great" player looks like.
Great players are- Calvin , Little Joe, J. Dwyer etc... I could name a couple more but you should follow the drift. Marcus Allen is not in this category. If he was , we would have seen it by now. Coaches would have had him on the field before now.

Comparing Calvin to anyone, even players in the "great players" category, is unfair other to everyone other than Rice, Moss, maybe 2 more. As for Joe, comparing any Tech player is unfair - isn't he the most beloved GT football player ever? And Dwyer is almost the perfect BBack that I could reasonably imagine for a college player. Marcus Allen doesn't need to be anywhere near these guys' level or even as good as the production we had last year for us to be really good.

Edit^^ pretty much what Eric said above