Statistics that give me hope about our offense

[Coloradojacket]

I don't remember all the stats off the top of my head, but I don't think UCF shut us down until the 4th quarter, or at least very late in the 3rd quarter. That "shut down" was caused more by our defense finally becoming exhausted, putting us more in desperation mode on offense than anything Cuse never really shut the offense down so much as our offense shut itself down. In both games, however, smarter play-calling on offense could have at least alleviated some of that, and, with regards to Cuse, could have put us back in striking distance again.

UCF 2nd half 8 possessions 7 points 173 yards. 173 yards may sound like a lot but 58 were in the one touchdown drive. Or better stated 20 yards per possession

 

[slugboy]

I don't remember all the stats off the top of my head, but I don't think UCF shut us down until the 4th quarter, or at least very late in the 3rd quarter. That "shut down" was caused more by our defense finally becoming exhausted, putting us more in desperation mode on offense than anything Cuse never really shut the offense down so much as our offense shut itself down. In both games, however, smarter play-calling on offense could have at least alleviated some of that, and, with regards to Cuse, could have put us back in striking distance again.

First, I’m sure no one wants to see this. Good news, we scored in the 4th against UCF. Bad news, the wheels came off both offense and defense that quarter.

In the UCF game 4th quarter,

1. Gibbs had a 33 yard TD run at the beginning of the quarter (about 2 minutes in)
2. UCF marched 75 yards back to re-extend their lead (yeah, our D looked tired on that series)
3. We had a “turnover on downs” at their 45 yard line (failed to convert)
4. 8 play touchdown drive by UCF (D looked tired)
5. GT: 1 play, interception, at our 20 yard line.
6. UCF scores again.
7. GT: 4 plays, fumble
8. UCF: Tries to score again, runs out of time.

I think the defense might have gotten their feet back under them if the offense could have pulled back together.

 

[Supersizethatorder-mutt]

First, I’m sure no one wants to see this. Good news, we scored in the 4th against UCF. Bad news, the wheels came off both offense and defense that quarter.

In the UCF game 4th quarter,

1. Gibbs had a 33 yard TD run at the beginning of the quarter (about 2 minutes in)
2. UCF marched 75 yards back to re-extend their lead (yeah, our D looked tired on that series)
3. We had a “turnover on downs” at their 45 yard line (failed to convert)
4. 8 play touchdown drive by UCF (D looked tired)
5. GT: 1 play, interception, at our 20 yard line.
6. UCF scores again.
7. GT: 4 plays, fumble
8. UCF: Tries to score again, runs out of time.

I think the defense might have gotten their feet back under them if the offense could have pulled back together.

After all those hurry-up offensive plays by UCF, the Tech defense was bound to have been exhausted towards the middle of the 2nd half, especially with as little depth as we have. My gripe was all the wasted opportunities we had throughout that game on offense; the yards alone show we could move the ball on them----just not score (AS USUAL). I agree with you that if the O could have pulled back together, the D first would have gotten a little bit of rest between series, and second would have probably been able to get over their obvious exhaustion and get back into it.

 

[WreckinGT]

We have gone from one of the worst offenses in the history of the program to just a really bad offense. That is progress I guess.

 

[dressedcheeseside]

In both losses, when we had clawed our way back into the game in the second half, the D gave up quick scores. Then, in both games, the wheels fell off.

 

[ibeattetris]

Thanks @ibeattetris — I love BCFToys, and I haven’t looked much at them this year.

I don’t think we can fix turnovers in isolation from other things, but they may be fixable. At UCF and Syracuse, a lot of them were related to pass protection problems and batted/tipped passes. Against FSU, they were either underthrown passes or just not seeing the defender. In short, they’re not all on the QB, but some of those passes shouldn’t have been thrown.

When we put in Gleason and Yates, the pass protection issues showed up in sacks and a couple of thrown away passes.
So, we need the pass protection to be more robust and last a little longer. We need at least receiver to come open quicker—I’m not sure if this is by running different routes or by effort or by a height mismatch, but we need to be able to find an open receiver quickly. This might be a place for the tight ends or the backs to play.

Our points per play is down slightly from last year, so we’re less explosive but more efficient. (0.236 v 0.254). That makes sense, because explosive plays was all we had last year. I haven’t found our 2020 points per drive, but I think that’s somewhat better. Points per game is up from 16 ppg last year to 19 this year. I think everyone sees the potential for a lot more points than we’re getting.

Yeah, I hadn’t looked at BCFToys either since the data isn’t released for a while. I decided to calculate some of the stats myself for comparison with last year. I went back I calculated the totals for last year as well since I didn’t feel like going through and filtering garbage time data.

Like I mentioned in my original post, I didn’t really focus on scoring stats, as those are obviously still an issue. Right now we are at 1.4 points per drive. I am not sure what the unadjusted ppd was for last year, but the adjusted ppd was 1.3. Considering our turnover, penalty, and missed kick woes, I find it incredibly impressive we are still scoring more.

 

[ibeattetris]

Ok, hate to be the downer here but you are doing stats on three games. And FSU is terrible. Let's see how we are after we add in Clemson, ND, Miami, Pitt etc. Uga alone last year , 18 punts, accounted for a lot of 3 and outs.

Here is the real stat we need to be concerned about 18 points, that is what we average per game when we include last year and this year.

What other stats should I compare to? The nature of statistics will be that as we get more data we will get more information. The point of my post was to express the statistics that currently give me hope.

As for scoring, we are currently scoring a lot a similar rate to last year’s team while missing more kicks and committing more turnovers. Maybe this will continue, maybe it wont, but at least our offense isn’t having. 3 and out 40% of our drives and forcing the defense back out on the field every other minute.

 

[LibertyTurns]

We have gone from one of the worst offenses in the history of the program to just a really bad offense. That is progress I guess.

This gives me hope. Can’t wait to watch next year’s bad offense, then in 2022 a really mediocre offense & finally the 2023 coup de gras- unveiling of the middle of the road mediocre offense. We’re going to be ecstatic!

 

[slugboy]

Yeah, I hadn’t looked at BCFToys either since the data isn’t released for a while. I decided to calculate some of the stats myself for comparison with last year. I went back I calculated the totals for last year as well since I didn’t feel like going through and filtering garbage time data.

Like I mentioned in my original post, I didn’t really focus on scoring stats, as those are obviously still an issue. Right now we are at 1.4 points per drive. I am not sure what the unadjusted ppd was for last year, but the adjusted ppd was 1.3. Considering our turnover, penalty, and missed kick woes, I find it incredibly impressive we are still scoring more.

I liked Football Study Hall, before ESPN hired Connelly. He shared a ton of stats in those days.

We have talent at skill positions. Opposing teams are keeping the play in front of them and waiting for us to mess up. Unfortunately, we keep blinking. If we get more secure that a play is going to come if we just keep plugging away, we might stall out sometimes, but more often the other team will flinch.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Our offense is light years better this year. It’s undeniable. Each game is far more yards than we had in any single game last year. Our problem this year is stupid mistakes like turnovers, penalties, and kicks. Second to that, we are missing way too many quality people on defense. The defense isn’t exactly playing badly either - the offense keeps putting them in bad spots. The good news on offense is those are not difficult to fix mistakes. The bad news is we haven’t figured out how to fix them yet.

My impression is that it is much better this year. Watching the three and outs is excruciating....just imagine what it was like for the defensive players "Oh no, not again!"

 

[Deleted member 2897]

My impression is that it is much better this year. Watching the three and outs is excruciating....just imagine what it was like for the defensive players "Oh no, not again!"

Yep. We’ve been within 1 score heading into the 4th quarter of every game.

 

[orientalnc]

Assuming this is correct, it could simply be a conditioning problem. I personally think it's much more than that. The penalties and turnovers are not isolated to the 4th period.

 

[LibertyTurns]

Assuming this is correct, it could simply be a conditioning problem. I personally think it's much more than that. The penalties and turnovers are not isolated to the 4th period.

Yes, we may not be conditioning properly. May explain all the injuries as well.

 

[rfjeff9]

This seems like the appropriate thread to post a tidbit from a Syracuse fan forum perspective.

- Tech has got to be kicking itself. They rushed for 275 yards and out-gained us 453-357. They had 23 first downs to 14. And ran 84 plays to 65. But they turned the ball over 5 times were called for a ridiculous 15 penalties. They were for only 104 yards, which tells you that there were a lot of 5 yarders in there. Those are concentration penalties. If they’d played a clean game, they would have won, probably easily.

To the point, we produce, but getting a 5 yard penalty several times per possession just isn't going to cut it. I am at a loss as to why so many offsides. It doesn't make sense, this is stuff learned at 8 years old. I guess they Still don't fully understand what's going on.

But regardless, even the Syracuse fans seem to recognize that we are going to be trouble if we can ever iron out the kinks. In the end, we will.

Its still a waiting game. We have to give the coaches more time to teach it and turn it around and we have to give our players more time to learn it. I am not concerned. There is no need to be at this point, I even give the staff a year 0 last year as a throw away year. This year is year 1 IMO. We see spurts of brilliance here and there, it is just a matter of time before those spurts become more sustained.

The waiting game continues. I do not know what else anyone really reasonably expected.

 

[Heisman's Ghost]

Assuming this is correct, it could simply be a conditioning problem. I personally think it's much more than that. The penalties and turnovers are not isolated to the 4th period.

No, their not limited to the fourth quarter. I do not think it is conditioning so much as it is simply turning the ball over multiple times.

 

[jacketup]

We have gone from one of the worst offenses in the history of the program to just a really bad offense. That is progress I guess.

Partial list of teams behind us in total offense per game this year:

Alabama
Notre Dame
LSU
Louisville
Texas Tech
Georgia
Pittsburgh
Tennessee
Auburn
There are 46 more......and only 72 FBS teams have played. We are 19th.

At least a third of the posters on this board need to stop showing their ignorance. The "play calling" complainers the worst. I've listened to that stuff from fans of all teams for 40 years, and every time I hear it I think how stupid it sounds. As if there is some play that is magically going to score a touchdown if the OC would just call it. Such complaints show a complete lack of understanding of the complexities of college football.

 

[LibertyTurns]

Partial list of teams behind us in total offense per game this year:

Alabama
Notre Dame
LSU
Louisville
Texas Tech
Georgia
Pittsburgh
Tennessee
Auburn
There are 46 more......and only 72 FBS teams have played. We are 19th.

At least a third of the posters on this board need to stop showing their ignorance. The "play calling" complainers the worst. I've listened to that stuff from fans of all teams for 40 years, and every time I hear it I think how stupid it sounds. As if there is some play that is magically going to score a touchdown if the OC would just call it. Such complaints show a complete lack of understanding of the complexities of college football.

We’re tied for 57th in points per game. There’s 14 teams behind us, 5 of those teams played only 1 game. Frankly, the stats are nice but points win games.

 

[WreckinGT]

Partial list of teams behind us in total offense per game this year:

Alabama
Notre Dame
LSU
Louisville
Texas Tech
Georgia
Pittsburgh
Tennessee
Auburn
There are 46 more......and only 72 FBS teams have played. We are 19th.

At least a third of the posters on this board need to stop showing their ignorance. The "play calling" complainers the worst. I've listened to that stuff from fans of all teams for 40 years, and every time I hear it I think how stupid it sounds. As if there is some play that is magically going to score a touchdown if the OC would just call it. Such complaints show a complete lack of understanding of the complexities of college football.

I didn’t say anything about play calling. Yards per game doesn’t really tell the whole story. Our yards per play isn’t great. Our scoring offense is atrocious. Our QB leads all of college football in interceptions and doesn’t take care of the ball. We have many dumb penalties.

So yes. We had more total yards than Alabama yesterday. They also had 38 points (35 by early in the 3rd quarter), only 1 turnover, and they won the game easily. I’ll let you decide which you would rather have.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

We’re tied for 57th in points per game. There’s 14 teams behind us, 5 of those teams played only 1 game. Frankly, the stats are nice but points win games.

But that’s the whole point. The play calling, offensive execution, and so on isn’t the problem. Turnovers is the singular problem right now (with a slight assist to penalties). If we have a 0-2 turnover game, we’re going to put up 500 yards and 30+ points. I’m hoping we do it against Louisville.

 

[Deleted member 2897]

I didn’t say anything about play calling. Yards per game doesn’t really tell the whole story. Our yards per play isn’t great. Our scoring offense is atrocious. Our QB leads all of college football in interceptions and doesn’t take care of the ball. We have many dumb penalties.

So yes. We had more total yards than Alabama yesterday. They also had 38 points (35 by early in the 3rd quarter), only 1 turnover, and they won the game easily. I’ll let you decide which you would rather have.

We are nearly 100% in agreement we’d prefer to have our current offense without so many turnovers. LOL.