Nassib is a Winner

[Fjoinkay]

He pretty much owns every passing record in SU history and maybe even a few BE records, but now he is a winner by anyone's estimation. SU is 19-17 when he starts. If they win next week the team will be 20-17, and SU will have a winning record when Nassib starts under center no matter what happens in the bowl game.

Like a lot of people last night I felt like SU was running the ball more than it should, so I began to keep track. At the half by my accounting SU had 38 snaps on offense- 24 rushes and 14 pass attempts which is 63% run and 37% pass. Ryan was 8-14 with a big drop. If Ryan had been 9-14 his completion percentage would have been 64%. As it was his percentage was 57% which is pretty good. Guys were open, and Nassib had time to throw.

SU had 7 possessions in the second half. To start the 3rd quarter I expected them to throw early and often, but after the first two possessions they continued to run about the same pattern- 64% rushes and 33% passes.

On the final 5 possessions of the second half SU passed the ball 22 times and rushed the ball only 2 times! That is 91% pass plays and 8% rushes. They scored 21 points on 3 TDS, had one 3-and-out and one TO on those 5 possessions. Alec and Ryan went off. Nassib was 14-22 connecting on 66% of his passes.

I'm glad SU won.

The other good news is SU ran the ball well for the most part, and Sales had 8 catches to Lemon's 12. Nassib targeted Lemon about the same as Sales until the final drive where he went to Lemon 6 times and connected on 4 of them to win the game. The OL was fantastic.

 

[Crusty]

We had more passing yards, more rushing yards and of course, more total yards. I would say the balance was about right. When we pass 40 times a game the results have not been as good as when we pass 20-25. We need the run or else they play coverage and the turnovers start coming.

 

[Fjoinkay]

At the end of the game the balance is there- 47% of the snaps rushes and 52% of the snaps passes, but it took throwing the ball 91% of the time on the final 5 possessions to win the game and create the balance.

I'm really glad SU pulled this out.

 

[Upstate]

I really liked the quick hitter to the TE in the first half

 

[Fjoinkay]

The fastball Nassib threw incomplete? Some of Nassib's old bad habits resurfaced here and there, but that is fine. He handled it very well, much better than he did earlier in the season and the past 2 seasons. His improvement this season is a joy to watch. Stevens had a nice reception with YAC, and Wales had one too I think.

I'm not even sure if the play calling was poorly executed. I rarely criticize play calls because I'm nowhere close to being an OC ever in my life. I just noticed the pattern, and if SU had lost this would be one of the themes for sure.

At the half I was hoping they would come out firing because it looked like Lemon and Sales were getting open, and Nassib had time to throw. I was surprised when the first 2 possessions of the second half followed the same ratio as the first half roughly 2/3 run and 1/3 pass.

I wonder if anything would have been different to start the 3rd quarter if SU is down 21-10 instead of 17-10? The defense really picked up after those early Mizzou scores. Although I hope the defense can figure out how to avoid the WR screen pass for a long TD early in games.