Guess who has almost a 1/3 more FG's

[GoSU96]

than the next team in the ACC, that's right SU with 18 vs 13 for VT.

Not enough TD's. SU is 12th in Redzone TD%, 2nd in FG.

6 of 8 games less than 30 pts.

The team is more likely to go 0-4 than 4-0 unless it starts converting more chances, they are 3rd in the ACC in Redzone attempts, but that doesn't matter if half the time you do score it's a FG.

 

[Chris02M]

we have played some good defenses, id expect more points to come these last 4 games as the defenses aren't as good besides bc

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I think a couple of things are at play there. I could be wrong about a lot of them, this is just my sense of things.

1, it seems like as soon as we get into the red zone we try to run the ball a lot more, even if passing is what got us there. I don't mean goal to go on the 2 scenarios either. I mean we're at the 18 and we run three straight running plays.

2, I think our red zone struggle suggests that our offensive line still has some limitations.

3, I had high hopes for Strickland, and he's playing much better, but it doesn't appear that he's a back that's automatically going to get a TD when he's close to the end zone. Some guys just do, I don't think that's who he is.

I think to improve we need to maintain the threat of the pass. Even if we don't throw, Dungey has shown an ability to find room to run and punch it in when the play set gives him an opportunity to do so.

 

[Shrmdougluvr]

Offensive line.

 

[PeteCalvin]

Run more post pattern, like McPherson to Kane!

 

[SUskibum]

I think a couple of things are at play there. I could be wrong about a lot of them, this is just my sense of things..

I think to improve we need to maintain the threat of the pass. Even if we don't throw, Dungey has shown an ability to find room to run and punch it in when the play set gives him an opportunity to do so.

Not to mention that in a pass scenario, Strickland opens up (obviously) as a receiving threat where I think his nose for the end zone excels. I wouldn’t be surprised if Strick has more receiving touchdowns than running touchdowns over his tenure here actually.

 

[upperdeck]

every team that struggles to run has issues in the red zone. we have to hope the upkick in the running game leads to better red zone blocking too.

our best red zone runs have been RPO or spread runs with Dungey keeping
one thing i would like to see is put the big guy back and add a TE or eligible oline dude to lead. give the big guy some room to work up some speed as he has shown some pop.

nxt year when we have a full set of TEs we may see some more interesting sets.

 

[Finwad32]

We put ourselves in a lot of bad positions in the red zone. A lot of penalties to put us behind the sticks.

With the tempo that we play with we should have an advantage in the red zone. Defenses should be tired. We need to do a better job converting drives, and I think we will.

 

[nzm136]

To be clear, Miami, NCSU, and Clemson were all picked as T10 defensive lines by many sources in the preseason (as was FSU).

Then we also played LSU, who has a solid line.

Most schools haven't played lines as good as the ones that we've played.

 

[kcsu]

Play calling in the red zone has been poor. The spread has limitations as the field shrinks.

 

[upperdeck]

is it play calling or talent.. the numbers say when the D has 5-6 in the box you should run and we struggle with that already at midfield. as we get closer more in the box and less space to spread out the rest and a QB that isnt always the most exact in ball placement. add in the fact we have had several tds called back and the numbers are not good. we have minimized our scoring all year why not add red zone issues to it as well. we have given away a half against almost all the good teams except for the best one we played.

I hope with a bye week we have worked more things out, lets run the "muddle" more, perhaps we really do run some wildcat and not just line up in it. if we dont do better this week its just an issue that we have to wait until next year to improve.

 

[SmilinBob]

All those tough DL's the young OL has faced has made them so much better. Thankfully...SU has been molding steel up front and has a lot of tough fronts ahead of them because looking at the teams ahead it isn't getting any easier. I agree with those that say it'll get better in the red zone especially if Mr. Strickland keeps his improvement as well.

 

[TheCusian]

Play calling in the red zone has been poor. The spread has limitations as the field shrinks.

We are a very good 3rd down O. That means we're pretty good at getting what we need when we need it. I think it's tied to our inability to run (hopefully the last couple of games improvements carry forward) and run block.

 

[Millhouse]

than the next team in the ACC, that's right SU with 18 vs 13 for VT.

Not enough TD's. SU is 12th in Redzone TD%, 2nd in FG.

6 of 8 games less than 30 pts.

The team is more likely to go 0-4 than 4-0 unless it starts converting more chances, they are 3rd in the ACC in Redzone attempts, but that doesn't matter if half the time you do score it's a FG.

the offense isn't that good per play. going for lots of 4th downs extends drives long enough to get FGs

this season shows what you can get with the low hanging fruit as a sort of bare minimum, it's going to get so much better

it's amazing that the 96th offense in YPP is 29th in YPG

scoring ends up somewhere in the middle of those (59th)

 

[upperdeck]

I have a hard time figuring out if we are good or not. yds per play when you dont have tons of big plays make you look avg.. we go on too many long drives to say we are not a good offense even with the limitations we have in the run game. But you cant be an elite offense if you cant run on running downs and you dont get big plays to add easy scores into the mix.

Its like tryting to understand how BC scores 35 against FSU while gaining 300 yds yet got 10 vs VT with 330 yds and 10 vs Wake with 300 yds.. We probably will gain 100-150 more yards next week and have to work to break 25 like we always do against the better teams. We will have 200-250 in a half and score 10-14 pts. But we dont get many easy scores, we get few ST/D scores and we dont turn the ball over enough for short fields that we follow up with TDs. Shoot we lost the MTSU game if for no other reason we ran back an INT to the 5 and had to kick a FG which ended up meaning we couldnt kick Fgs at the end of the game.

We are good at moving the ball, not so good at scoring, as you said it has to get better since its hard to sustain yds without points over the long haul

 

[SUskibum]

the offense isn't that good per play. going for lots of 4th downs extends drives long enough to get FGs

this season shows what you can get with the low hanging fruit as a sort of bare minimum, it's going to get so much better

it's amazing that the 96th offense in YPP is 29th in YPG

scoring ends up somewhere in the middle of those (59th)

I feel like another part of getting good YPG but poor YPP is that although we lack big plays (bad for YPP) we probably have a higher success rate which leads to better consistency, which helps us sustain drives (good for YPG).

I wonder what our % of plays >2 yards or >3 yards is. I bet it is much better than average.

 

[anomander]

Far too many FG's. Pierce is a weapon at TE. He could be the answer in the red zone. Really surprised he isn't targeted more.

 

[nzm136]

The offensive metrics that I care about are yards per drive, points per drive, and time per drive.

YPG is irrelevant if you have a ton of drives. YPP is irrelevant if you nickel and dime your way down the field every drive.

But we will win if we score 7 every time our offense touches the ball, and if we give the defense time to rest.

 

[RF2044]

Far too many FG's. Pierce is a weapon at TE. He could be the answer in the red zone. Really surprised he isn't targeted more.

Agreed. I look forward to when Pierce is more integrated as a function to fully understanding the offense, which will probably happen next year.

The pieces of the puzzle are SO close...

 

[TheCusian]

The offensive metrics that I care about are yards per drive, points per drive, and time per drive.

YPG is irrelevant if you have a ton of drives. YPP is irrelevant if you nickel and dime your way down the field every drive.

But we will win if we score 7 every time our offense touches the ball, and if we give the defense time to rest.

Yikes. People who put all their eggs in those baskets miss out.

YPG isn't irrelevant. The defense is on the field for all of that, yards turn to points, etc. If that's the only metric you use, it's pretty misleading - but to say it's irrelevant is not correct.

YPP shows *exactly* if you're a dink and dunk or more of an explosive offense. Everyone wants explosive plays, but efficiency (and/or having a decent 3rd % and going for it on 4th) and moving the chains matters too.

Big insight: If we score 7 every time we have the ball, we'll win!

If you pay attention to our 3rd down D, you'd know that the D gives itself time to rest. We run way more plays on O than we defend on D.

 

[TheCusian]

the offense isn't that good per play. going for lots of 4th downs extends drives long enough to get FGs

this season shows what you can get with the low hanging fruit as a sort of bare minimum, it's going to get so much better

it's amazing that the 96th offense in YPP is 29th in YPG

scoring ends up somewhere in the middle of those (59th)

This is the takeaway from the season so far, 100%. (That and we can have a decent D with Ward).

The gap between YPP and YPG is *potential*

 

[anomander]

Agreed. I look forward to when Pierce is more integrated as a function to fully understanding the offense, which will probably happen next year.

The pieces of the puzzle are SO close...

That’s the feeling I get. Everything is so close to clicking and when it does watch out!!! Ish, Erv, Pierce make quite a duo, and Butler seems to be coming into his own as well. The OL has drastically improved since the beginning of the year, which is a huge positive going forward since 4 of them will be returning, plus gaining arguably your best OLineman back in Roberts. Strickland has been the biggest beneficiary from the improved OL play, plus he is finally healthy. They have basically been scoring in the upper20’s vs some of the very best defenses in CFB while only operating at about 60%. Once everything comes together, something I still think can and will happen, this could be a top 20 offense.

I absolutely love the make up of this team. I really think they have put it together and will win out. If they take a L it will be at Lousivllle because Jackson is not human.

 

[nzm136]

Yikes. People who put all their eggs in those baskets miss out.

YPG isn't irrelevant. The defense is on the field for all of that, yards turn to points, etc. If that's the only metric you use, it's pretty misleading - but to say it's irrelevant is not correct.

YPP shows *exactly* if you're a dink and dunk or more of an explosive offense. Everyone wants explosive plays, but efficiency (and/or having a decent 3rd % and going for it on 4th) and moving the chains matters too.

Big insight: If we score 7 every time we have the ball, we'll win!

If you pay attention to our 3rd down D, you'd know that the D gives itself time to rest. We run way more plays on O than we defend on D.

Time of possession is far more meaningful, and a far more direct measurement of defensive tiredness. A 100 yard bomb followed by a 3-0 is far less tiring on a defense than 2 50 yard grinds eating up 30-40 plays.

'Dunk and dunk' vs 'explosive' is irrelevant. Scoring consistently, not giving away short fields, and eating clock on offense are what matters.

It is a big insight, as it repeatedly seems completely lost on you. Points do not matter. Points per drive matter.

If you pay attention to the rules of football, the offense decides when to snap the ball, and therefore dictates pace/time to rest. The two biggest exceptions are timeouts (which are finite) and injuries. Arguing that the offense should get credit for the defense's ability to cause the opposing offense to punt is ridiculous.