Ian\'s Numbers

[ManOfVision]

http://blog.oregonlive.com/portlandstatevikings/

Ian has had some interesting posts about the current season and some of its best and worst stats. His point about attendance is important - we had a big increase in attendance when the team was absolutely awful. Imagine what fan support could be like once JG and Mouse turn it around.

 

[martymoose]

Very interesting numbers. Some are good, a lot are bad...

One number that needs an asterisk is the yards per carry (2.3).
That shovel pass play that we run should be considered a run play in the run and shoot. I'm not saying that we should change the way that it's accounted for in football statistics gathering, but those are really virtual rushing yards in the run and shoot. A good example is the way that we ran it against Montana. We ran it well against their blitz in the same fashion of a delayed handoff or a draw. If one were inclined to go back and make the changes I think we'd find that our YPC would be a higher number.

That being said, that increased YPC number is still a number that will make the average PSU supporter throw up a little bit in their mouth. For a team that at times over the greater part of the last decade could dominate the ground game in most football games, this has been sobering dose of the reality of change. The days of 'Running Back U' are gone, only to have been replaced with a stiff cocktail comprised three parts uncertainty and one part hope...

 

[ManOfVision]

Very interesting numbers. Some are good, a lot are bad...

One number that needs an asterisk is the yards per carry (2.3).
That shovel pass play that we run should be considered a run play in the run and shoot. I'm not saying that we should change the way that it's accounted for in football statistics gathering, but those are really virtual rushing yards in the run and shoot. A good example is the way that we ran it against Montana. We ran it well against their blitz in the same fashion of a delayed handoff or a draw. If one were inclined to go back and make the changes I think we'd find that our YPC would be a higher number.

That being said, that increased YPC number is still a number that will make the average PSU supporter throw up a little bit in their mouth. For a team that at times over the greater part of the last decade could dominate the ground game in most football games, this has been sobering dose of the reality of change. The days of 'Running Back U' are gone, only to have been replaced with a stiff cocktail comprised three parts uncertainty and one part hope...

You're right about the shovel pass really being a running play in this offense. The stats also include all the lost yardage on sacks. If you take out those numbers, I'm sure the actual rushing yards are more impressive.