Obviously things haven't worked out well so far.
But we are actually doing a lot of things well. It's mostly that the few things we aren't doing well are having a huge impact on the games.
Yes, those things need to be fixed. But I think we're actually playing a lot better than the results show - as Frost said.
Here are the stats to back it up:
We are #43 in the country in Yards per Game. Not great but we were #3 in the country after one game and took a nose dive when he had to play our backup QB. But we are #103 in the country in Points per Game. That's a 60 rank difference between how our offense is moving the ball and how we're scoring. That is the second-worst rank difference in the nation (Purdue is 67 spots worse). If we can keep moving the ball like that, the points will come.
And the crazy thing is it's almost the exact same story on defense. We are #39 in the country in Yards Allowed per game. Again, not great. But we are #90 in the country in Points Allowed per Game. That's 51 spots worse and that is the worst difference in the country.
Points are obviously what wins and loses games. But I've long said that yards are a better indication of future success. Points can be fluky - special teams and defensive TDs come and go, especially on a small sample size. And turnovers can change field position in a hurry. But if you're good in the the yards categories - or, in our case, much better than the points have shown - chances are things will even out.
I think we'll see a regression to the mean going forward. Which in this case is a good thing for us. Maybe not this weekend as we play our toughest opponent so far. But it will show up soon.
But we are actually doing a lot of things well. It's mostly that the few things we aren't doing well are having a huge impact on the games.
Yes, those things need to be fixed. But I think we're actually playing a lot better than the results show - as Frost said.
Here are the stats to back it up:
We are #43 in the country in Yards per Game. Not great but we were #3 in the country after one game and took a nose dive when he had to play our backup QB. But we are #103 in the country in Points per Game. That's a 60 rank difference between how our offense is moving the ball and how we're scoring. That is the second-worst rank difference in the nation (Purdue is 67 spots worse). If we can keep moving the ball like that, the points will come.
And the crazy thing is it's almost the exact same story on defense. We are #39 in the country in Yards Allowed per game. Again, not great. But we are #90 in the country in Points Allowed per Game. That's 51 spots worse and that is the worst difference in the country.
Points are obviously what wins and loses games. But I've long said that yards are a better indication of future success. Points can be fluky - special teams and defensive TDs come and go, especially on a small sample size. And turnovers can change field position in a hurry. But if you're good in the the yards categories - or, in our case, much better than the points have shown - chances are things will even out.
I think we'll see a regression to the mean going forward. Which in this case is a good thing for us. Maybe not this weekend as we play our toughest opponent so far. But it will show up soon.
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