Perspective on Year on Year Improvement

[boydbuff]

As we are starting to talk about the 2014 season and Offense and Defense, etc. I thought it might be interesting to compare some key stats from 2012 under JE and 2013 under HCMM. If HCMM&Co are good at coaching up players, have good systems and schemes in place and are good game-day coaches (all assumptions I am prepared to go with until proven otherwise) there should be some kind of acceleration along a curve, i.e. positive trends, across the board. Even with the loss of key players like PRich, I would expect improvement across the board in 2014.

So here are some key stats from 2012 and 2013 and (difference):
2012 2013 Difference
Points Per Game 17.8 25.4 (+7.6)
Opponents PPG 46.0 38.3 (-7.7)
1st Downs 206 233 (+27)
Rush Yds/Attempt 3.09 3.44 (+.35)
Rushing Yds Total 1318 1450 (+132)
Rushing Yds Opponents 2712 2502 (-210)
Passing Rating 103.55 127.83 (+24.28)
Opp Passing Rating 173.58 135.84 (-37.74)
Total Offense 3627 4439 (+812)
Total Offense-Opponent 5862 5616 (-246)

This is a sampling of key stats. We improved over a miserable year in 2012 across the board. I expect to see improvement across the board again this year. Areas where I would really hope to see improvement include rush yds/attempt, our passing rating should be up with Sefo off a good true fresh year at QB. Hopefully our total yards given up and of course points allowed go down significantly this year. Would be great to get close to parity this year with respect to points for and against. We still might get blown out a few times but games should be competitive and hopefully like the hoops team has done, in the coming years including 2014 we can start to make playing at Boulder a pain in the arse of our opponents.

Also I didn't include all stats worth looking at like 3rd down conversions and redone performance but I would hope to see improvement in those areas as we need it.

 

[MtnBuff]

I like what M2 and the new staff are doing and think we made the right hire. I see lots of things on the field that tell me we are on the right track. The biggest ones are that we actually look like a college football team, not a clown circus, and that even the teams that blew us out had to work harder to do it than the prior year.

That said a year to year statistical comparison doesn't tell the full story. We have to keep in mind that last year we played two FCS schools instead of one and had some other scheduling items that should be considered when making the comparison.

 

[Darth Snow]

please edit table into readable format. thanks in advance.

 

[absinthe]

I like what M2 and the new staff are doing and think we made the right hire. I see lots of things on the field that tell me we are on the right track. The biggest ones are that we actually look like a college football team, not a clown circus, and that even the teams that blew us out had to work harder to do it than the prior year.

That said a year to year statistical comparison doesn't tell the full story. We have to keep in mind that last year we beat two FCS schools instead of none and had some other scheduling items that should be considered when making the comparison.

fify

 

[boydbuff]

Darth i wish i could. I tried 3 times but it defaults to that after i save changes.

 

[Follow-Rado]

These are great stats, but the biggest thing for me was that the team looked prepared and organized in 2013. Players clearly had better mechanics. There were dramatically less 'stupid' penalties and obscenely bad 'missed' plays on both sides of the ball. In short, the team had discipline. We still need to get to the point where Seniors and Juniors are filling out the starting lineup. And we need even more improvement with schemes. And we need much better talent. But this staff did a good job last year.

 

[MtnBuff]

fify

True, along with CSU and Cal. The only win the prior year was Leach and Co. giving a prime demonstration of Cougin' it.

As I said I see significant improvement, just don't think the statistics are the best argument for that (other the the win total.)

 

[gobuffs58]

These are great stats, but the biggest thing for me was that the team looked prepared and organized in 2013. Players clearly had better mechanics. There were dramatically less 'stupid' penalties and obscenely bad 'missed' plays on both sides of the ball. In short, the team had discipline. We still need to get to the point where Seniors and Juniors are filling out the starting lineup. And we need even more improvement with schemes. And we need much better talent. But this staff did a good job last year.

agree 100%!

 

[goalline]

This stat makes me weep:
Opp Passing Rating 173.58 135.84 (-37.74)

It is vital to continue to improve this.I don't have it handy, but I saw recently that all Pac 12 teams had very high passer ratings for the entire season. I think Liufau was rated 9th in the conference, even with a rating near 130.As has been said before, it comes down to line play on both sides of the ball.

 

[BuffClass90]

Here's something I put together recently...

 

[boydbuff]

Nice Work BuffClass. On that line, MTN's complaint, I decided to create a table that compares common opponents from both years. Hard to argue that is not a reasonable way of comparing the 2 teams with different coaches.

	2012						2013
Opponent	CU	Oponent	CU Yards	Opp Yards		Opponent	CU	Oponent	CU Yards	Opp Yards
CSU	17	22	245	298		CSU	41	27	513	295
UCLA	14	42	309	492		UCLA	23	45	381	412
ASU	17	51	255	593		ASU	13	54	268	532
USC	6	50	351	458		USC	29	47	312	449
Oregon	14	70	245	617		Oregon	16	57	374	755
Arizona	31	56	437	574		Arizona	22	40	349	670
Wash	3	38	141	476		Wash	7	59	299	628
Utah	35	42	336	418		Utah	17	24	321	388
TOTALS	137	371	2319	3926		TOTALS	168	353	2817	4129
Point Differ	-234						-185
Yard Differ	-1607						-1312

 

[stretch]

Great stuff boyd. Other stats, most of which I think are very closely linked to coaching:

	2012	2013	Difference
Fumbles(lost)	29(15)	14(9)	-15(-6)
Penalties	73	52	21
TOs (us/them)	34/15	24/21	-10/+6
Our QB sacked	52	20	-32
3 & outs (us/them)*	56/29	52/51	-4/+22
1st Drives (1st half)	276	444	+168
1st Drives (2nd half)	334	384	+50
Oppnt TD drives >=80yrds	18	8	-10
*Sefo-29, Woods-23

 

[Duff Man]

Penalties are an overrated stat in terms of importance IMO.

 

[boydbuff]

Penalties are an overrated stat in terms of importance IMO.

As an aggregate I agree in the sense that total penalties is hard to glean much from. However getting into the details you, looking at stupid penalties, especially dead ball ones like offsides and late hits I think are important to show if a team is disciplined or not.

But things like pass interference are not necessarily bad penalties. Depends of course.

 

[MtnBuff]

As an aggregate I agree in the sense that total penalties is hard to glean much from. However getting into the details you, looking at stupid penalties, especially dead ball ones like offsides and late hits I think are important to show if a team is disciplined or not.

But things like pass interference are not necessarily bad penalties. Depends of course.

Agree with this. It isn't the number or yardage, in some cases penalties show agression.

The ones that are ugly are things like delay of game (and JE had some of those coming out of time-outs) illegal formations, substitution penalties, etc. \

Don't have any numbers on those but they sure seemed to be much lower last season than the season before.

 

[boydbuff]

Agree with this. It isn't the number or yardage, in some cases penalties show agression.

The ones that are ugly are things like delay of game (and JE had some of those coming out of time-outs) illegal formations, substitution penalties, etc. \

Don't have any numbers on those but they sure seemed to be much lower last season than the season before.

Totally agree-it seemed like eliminated stupid penalties in at least half last year. Too bad nobody tracks that