Spiff's Statistical Observations & Other Nonsense

4-0 is the biggest and most important statistical observation I can make about the game.



Now to more of the minutiae.



- I know I posted this elsewhere, but it bears repeating. I don't care if college football is "supposed" to be played on Saturday afternoons. But it shouldn't be played on bright, cloudless, windless Saturday afternoons in September. It was scorching and felt much hotter than the actual temperature. There was no relief from the sun. It was just brutal watching. Give me an evening game any day of the week over that sweltering mess.



- I wonder if on day games in September, if BYU shouldn't switch sidelines. Wasn't UVA in the shade in the 2nd half?



- PER has returned to its winning ways. After losing two straight, the team with the better PER (BYU at 153.51) won yesterday (UVA at 109.94).



- There is a lot of griping about BYU's pass defense the last two weeks. Yes, the team has given up 642 yards the last two games, but it has taken opponents 111 attempts to get there (5.78 ypa). And BYU's PER defense the last two weeks is still a very solid 118.13.



- After being sacked 10 times in the previous two games, Taysom Hill was sacked only twice.



- Taysom's 72 rushing yards were his fewest since gaining just 62 vs Idaho St last year - a span of ten games.



- Taysom's PER was well above the 135 Standard. Marking the 8th time in his last 17 starts he's met the mark.



- Hill also has a rushing TD in four straight games, his longest such streak.



- BYU has covered the spread in just two of their last six games.



- The Cougars have been flagged 44 times through four games (and that doesn't even count several declined penalties). That is the most under Bronco. The second most through four games? 38 in 2007.



- BYU was 5-5 on trips to the Blue Zone. On the season, BYU is scoring on 95.8% of its trips, with 75% of those ending in TDs.



- This was the first game since Georgia Tech last year, where BYU did not have a 4th down attempt.



- 13 of BYU's 53 offensive drives (24.5%) have featured an offensive penalty. BYU has scored on just five of them (38.4%). Of the 36 non-game ending drives without an offensive penalty, BYU has scored on 18 of them (50.0%).



- UVA was wearing blue helmets. Bronco improved to 7-6 (.538) against teams with a blue helmet.



- It'll be interesting to see what color USU rolls into town with in two weeks. Bronco is 21-4 (.840) vs a white helmet, 7-6 (.538) vs a blue helmet and 15-1 (.938) vs a grey helmet. My suggestion for the Aggies is a gold or purple helmet, where Bronco is just 8-10 (.444). But since neither of those is a Utah State color, it might not work.



- Bronco also improved to 5-6 (.455) when playing in all white uniforms. Although, BYU is now 1-0 at home in all whites. He also improved to 3-3 (.500) vs the ACC.



-

How to beat any team:

Bronco: stop the run.

BYU opponent: stop the run, kill Taysom.



Wise up, Anae. It's going to catch up with you. Please don't stay too long in your cave of not-so-many-wonders and think that all BYU has to do is play "ITS" own plays (remember you did that last go around and got fired for 3 runs up the gut vs Utah) and practice the dang passing attack on this bye week. Taysom, please don't get locked into your receiver of choice. Do this of your free will and choice and not bc you are about to get creamed by a Defender. Oh, and by the way, check out Johnny (not starting, not a good passer) and Tebow (couldn't learn to pass well) and all the other running QBs in the NFL (injured and could be done RG III) and listen to your hero Steve Young: you have to become a better passer if you want elite status.

A couple more:

- Taysom has become a VERY effective and efficient thrower on 3rd Down and in the Blue Zone this season. Against UVA he was 3 of 4 for 13 yards and 1 TD for a 177.30 PER in the Blue Zone. And on 3rd Down he was 4 of 5 for 64 yards and 1 TD and 247.52 PER.



- His season Blue Zone numbers are: 10 of 17 for 57 yards and 3 TDs 0 INTs 139.39 PER, .588 complete



- His season 3rd Down numbers are: 19 of 24 for 236 yards 2 TD 1 INT 178.43 PER, .792 complete



- Throwing to WRs has yielded a 154.29 PER. To RBs a 142.09 PER and to TEs an 82.92 PER.

SpiffCoug wrote:

- I know I posted this elsewhere, but it bears repeating. I don't care if college football is "supposed" to be played on Saturday afternoons. But it shouldn't be played on bright, cloudless, windless Saturday afternoons in September. It was scorching and felt much hotter than the actual temperature. There was no relief from the sun. It was just brutal watching. Give me an evening game any day of the week over that sweltering mess.



- I wonder if on day games in September, if BYU shouldn't switch sidelines. Wasn't UVA in the shade in the 2nd half?

The sun was BRUTAL :evil: I felt like I had gone to hell and was lying on a sheet of aluminum foil in the main oven. It was the most un-enjoyable game I ever attended--totally related to physical comfort. I would be surprised if I ever attend another afternoon game in that kind of weather.



I kept looking at the sidelines and no, the shadow never reached even the UVA bench.



I took one of my son-in-laws. He loves football (Redskins--hes from DC area), but had NEVER, EVER attended a football game in his life (he's in his upper 30's). He didn't complain about the heat, but he was surprised that BYU is so focused on proceeds from advertising that they cannot broadcast the scores of other games. I don't believe he'd ever heard of that being a complaint before. He's a grad of Puketah and came with me an two of my sons simply because we invited him. The ribbons don't bother me that much, but I would appreciate more use to broadcast scores and stats of game.



Who in the hello is responsible for posting on the video screens at halftime the stats of where the two teams stood in the season before the game began? Who cares at that point of the game? Had to be some non-football individual who is doing that--very lame.

I wasn't watching the live broadcast and didn't hear anything in the post game regarding when our last KO return happened or what the record length of a KO return is. Spiff, I know you know this please share. While you at it might I request any/all of the following:



* Longest KO return by BYU at home

* Longest KO return by BYU opponent at home

* Longest KO return by BYU on road

* Longest KO return by BYU opponent on road

* Longest KO return by BYU in bowl game (if ever?)

* Longest KO return by BYU opponent in bowl game (if ever?)



And while you're at it throw in similar reports for punt returns... ;)



Thanks and Go Cougs!!!

J. Child

Ammon, ID

I believe in college football the longest play from scrimmage possible is 99 yards and the longest play possible is 100 yards. Even if you field a KO deep in the endzone and return it for a TD, it's only a 100 yard return.

http://byucougars.com/files/byu_vs_virginia_notes.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;



Page 14

Thanks. This is such good stuff. The thing that jumps out at me is the dramatic improvement in the blue zone production over last year.

I LOVE to improvement in the Blue-Zone this year. One of my biggest pet peeves last year. Now about the penalties....are we the most penalized team in the country? Its gotta be close. If we had less than 100 penalty yards in a game, I would jump for joy

The blue zone improvement is notable, if not considerable.

Mars wrote:

- There is a lot of griping about BYU's pass defense the last two weeks. Yes, the team has given up 642 yards the last two games, but it has taken opponents 111 attempts to get there (5.78 ypa). And BYU's PER defense the last two weeks is still a very solid 118.13.

I wonder how the defense was on 3rd down in the last 2 games.



My stat: 13 Touchdowns, 6 Passing TDs, 7 Rushing. That's Taysom's statline so far this season.

BYU's 3rd down Defense:



Houston: 10 of 14 for 81 yards 0 TDs 0 INTs 120.03 PER 71.4%

Virginia: 9 of 9 for 97 yards 0 TDs 1 INT 108.20 PER 64.3%

Total: 19 of 28 for 178 yards 0 TDs 1 INT 114.11 PER 67.9%



So while that does look pretty good, what should be noted is that vs Virginia 7 of those 9 completions went for 1st Downs. And 7 of those 9 completions went for 11 or more yards and UVA converted five 3rd & 8 or longer on those completions.



Vs Houston only 4 of those 10 completions went for 1st Downs and only two of the completions were for more than 10 yards.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Now to more of the minutiae.



- I know I posted this elsewhere, but it bears repeating. I don't care if college football is "supposed" to be played on Saturday afternoons. But it shouldn't be played on bright, cloudless, windless Saturday afternoons in September. It was scorching and felt much hotter than the actual temperature. There was no relief from the sun. It was just brutal watching. Give me an evening game any day of the week over that sweltering mess.



- I wonder if on day games in September, if BYU shouldn't switch sidelines. Wasn't UVA in the shade in the 2nd half?

I could not agree with Spiff more. The wife and I drove up from Ca to see the game. She is a BYU alumn - but has NEVER been to a Y football game. She was sooo excited to be there. Our seats (my fault - I waited till very late to get the tickets due to an uncertain work schedule) were in the North end zone, on the east side.



I cannot emphasize how hot it was - it was unbearable. Miserable. We, and everyone around us was getting cooked. The wife was not having a good experience. A fellow sitting next to us had 2 small children and they were beat red. I gave him the 2 Dasani water bottles that I had just purchased.



I suggested we move - and we did. Halfway thru the 2nd Qtr we moved to the West Virginia side and sat in the shade below the Press Boxes. A lot of other people had the same idea, as the empty benches around us filled up pretty quickly.



I understand the game time was dictated by ESPN. But, to have a football game during the hottest part of the day, with no shade relief for the players or fans was very poor risk management. I would love to see the statistic of how many heat injury victims had to be handled by EMS during the game.



Another point. It is ridiculous that BYU does not allow people to take water bottles into the game. If you carry a water bottle filled with air (empty) - which you will promptly fill up at the limited drinking fountains - creating huge and slow lines for anyone just wanting a real drink. But, you cannot take a water bottle in - filled with water. You must fill that empty water bottle inside the stadium at the drinking fountain - that is A-Ok. LOL!



I saw the ticket folks confiscate a plastic sandwich bag filled with carrot sticks from a young mother and her children - carrot sticks. Ridiculous. It is driven simply by greed. If you want to drink or eat anything - you must buy it from us. I understand the desire to sell food items and make money. But, I don't think the Y should be carrot stick Nazi's. Just my .02 worth. I feel much better now.

8)

BYU's offense scored more than UCLA's & Louisville's Offenses combined in less than half the time on Virginia. Consider:



BYU's offense put up 34 points on 60 plays in 19 minutes ToP.

That means BYU ran 1.8 plays per point and needed 33.5 seconds per point.



UCLA's offense put up 7 points on 73 plays in 25:30 minutes ToP

Louisville's offense up 21 points on 70 plays in 28 minutes ToP.



So UCLA ran 10.4 plays per point and needed 3 minutes 38 seconds per point.

And LOU ran 3.3 plays per point and needed 1 minute 20 seconds per point.



Together UCLA & Louisville scored 28 points on 143 plays in 53:30 minutes of ToP. They ran 5.1 plays per point and needed 1 minute 54 seconds per point.