Winning Plays: Boston Collge | Syracusefan.com

Winning Plays: Boston Collge

SWC75

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I’m going to use the same system used last year to break down games from the perspective of how many times did each team get what they wanted from a play and deny the other team what they wanted. It’s basically an attempt to see if one team physically dominated the game, in which case they’d win most of the plays, or was the game decided on “big” plays, mistakes and breaks, as most games are. If you physically dominated a team, you have a chance to win a lot of games if the other things at least even out. If you weren’t physically dominated in a loss, that loss doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t win a bunch of other games on your schedule. Basically, the problems can be fixed on the practice field, not the recruiting trail or the weight room.

The formula is this: If the offense on first down, can get at least a third of the way to a first down or on second down can get at least halfway to a first down, (always round the yardage needed up), or on third or fourth down can get a first down, they won the play. If they didn’t the defense won the play. Any offensive score is a win for the offense. Any turnover is a win for the defense. If a penalty is part of the play, the yardage gained or lost just gets figured into the play’s result. Penalties that negate a play or dead ball fouls are counted separately. If a team runs the “victory” play at the end of a half or game, (it’s always a two yard loss), their goal is to maintain possession of the ball while the clock runs, not to gain yardage. So any victory play where they do that is a win for them, despite the lost yardage.

Any successful placekick is a win for the kicking team. An unsuccessful kick is a win for the defending team. Punts are evaluated by their net result only. A punt from the 50 yard line into the end zone is a 30 yard punt, not a 50 yard punt. A 53 yard punt that produces a 52 yard return is a 1 yard punt. Any punt that results in a net change in the line of scrimmage of 40 yards downfield or that results in the other team starting from their own twenty yard line or closer to their goal line is a win for the kicking team. The one recent new wrinkle is that kickoff touchbacks now come out to the 25 yard line. Any kickoff that results in the receiving team starting their drive from the 25 yard line or closer to their own goal line is a win for the kicking team.

I’m going to chart each game in the following manner: For each team, I’ll list the result of each kickoff, (where the other team started their possession after the kickoff), the net yardage of each punt, (if they never got the punt off note whether it was blocked or bobbled and the net yardage of the play) and the yard line it wound up on, the result of each extra point, (I’ll note if it was a two point attempt) and field goal attempt. (I’ll also note any conversion returned for two points: I don’t think we’ve had one in our games since Pitt in 1990). Then I’ll record what happened on each first down run, first down pass, second down run and pass, third down run and pass and fourth down run and pass. If the yardage needed for a first down or a score in a goal to go situation is other than 10, I’ll note that unless the play resulted in a loss, no gain or an incomplete pass, in which case nit was a win for the defense regardless of the yardage needed. If it was a ”victory play” I’ll put a ’V’ next to it. Sacks are reported under passes, not runs, just by the negative yardage. If a quarterback scrambled for positive yardage, that’s a run simply because that’s how the ESPN play-by-play, which I am using, would record it.

I’ll note the number of penalties that were not tacked onto the play and the turnovers separately. Each line will have a “score” at the end of it, stating how many plays in each category each team won. There will be a grand total at the end, followed by a brief analysis of the stats and the game.

10/13/13: I’m going to make a minor but necessary change. I’ve been keeping track of penalties that negated plays, rather than being tacked onto them in a separate category. I’ve then been counting all such penalties as “lost” plays when the penalized team had the ball simply because that was the page upon which I recorded this stat. I realized I should be counting the defensive penalties on the other page. So I will separate them out on each page and have adjusted the totals for past games accordingly.

12/1/13: I’ve added in totals for running plays and passing plays.

When Syracuse had the ball

KO- BC35, BC28, BC29, BC30, BC29, BC25, BC26 (SU 1 BC 6)
P- 52(BC20), 38(BC22) (SU 1 BC 1)
FG Missed (30), Good (42), Good (44) (SU 2 BC 1)
XP Good, Good, Good, Good (SU 4 BC 0)
Total for kicking game: Syracuse 8 Boston College 8

1st rush- 5, 1, 9, 2, 6, 5, 5(6), 7, 6, 6, 4TD, -1, 0, 1(2), 16, 9, 6, 2, 15, 3, 2, 1, 8 (SU 14 BC 8)
1st pass- 5, -1, 7, 3(8), 7, I, 7, I, I, 17, 6, 8, I, 3, I, -16, 7, I, 8TD (SU 11 BC 9)
First Down total: Syracuse 25 Boston College 17
2nd rush- 2(50, 0, 6, 6(3), 12(3), 8, 8(4), 2(3), 8, 3(4), 1(11), 1TD, -4, 4(15), 6(17), 5, 2(8), 8(3), 3(2)
(SU 11 BC 7)
2nd pass- I, 31(9, I, 32(8), I, 1TD, 19, 2(3), -10, 1(1), 9, -8, 28(26), 17(7), I, 8 (SU 10 BC 6)
Second Down total: Syracuse 21 Boston College 13
3rd run- 16(3), 1(1), 3(2), 7(2), 2(1), 2(2), 3(1), 6(4), 12(8), 2(1), 0 (SU 9 BC 2)
3rd pass- I, I, 19, 6(5), 5(6), I (SU 2 BC 4)
Third Down total: Syracuse 11 Boston College 6
4th run- -2 (SU 0 BC 1)
4th pass- none
Fourth Down total: Syracuse 0 Boston College 1
Total for plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 57 Boston College 37
Running plays: 34-18
Passing plays: 23-19

Penalties: SU- 5, 5 BC- 5,12
Turnovers: Interception
Total for penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 2 Boston College 3

When Boston College had the ball

KO- SU25, SU25, SU18, SU25, SU25 (SU 0 BC 5)
P- 12(SU47), 34(SU45), 23(50), 34(SU20), 38(SU37) (SU 5 BC 0)
FG Good(21) (SU 1 BC 0)
XP Good, Good, Good, Good (SU 4 BC 0)
Total for kicking game: Syracuse 5 Boston College 10

1st rush- -2, -1, -1, -4, -1, 5, 6, 4(5), 6, 13, 2, 3, 3, 7, 4, 2, 2(3), 0, 17, 0 (SU 10 BC 9)
1st pass- 19, 55, 1, I, 52, 9TD (SU 2 BC 4)
First Down total: Syracuse 12 Boston College 13
2nd rush- 2(11), 26TD, 15(14), 5(5), 6(4), 17(1), 4(4), 9TD, 5(7), 2, 54(3), 5(6), 0, 0, 3
(SU 6 BC 9)
2nd pass- 4(12), 15(11), I (SU 1 BC 2)
Second Down total: Syracuse 7 Boston College 11
3rd run- 4(2), 5(1), 1TD, 3(7) (SU 1 BC 3)
3rd pass- I, I, I, I, I (SU 5 BC 0)
Third Down total: Syracuse 6 Boston College 3
4th run- none
4th pass- none
Fourth Down total: none
Total for plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 25 Boston College 27
Running plays: 17-21
Passing plays: 8-6

Penalties: SU- 10, 5 BC- 5
Turnovers: Interception, Fumble
Total for penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 3 Boston College 2

Overall kicking game total: SU 13 BC 18
Overall plays from scrimmage total: SU 82 BC 64
Overall penalties and turnovers: SU 5 BC 5
Game Total: Syracuse 100 Boston College 87
Running plays: 51-39
Passing plays: 31-25

Comments: Two very impressive numbers above: Boston College ran the ball on first down five times in the first half. They got -2, -1, -1, -4 and -1. The Eagles also passed the ball five times on third down: I, I, I, I and I. Also we were 1-6 on our kickoffs and 0-5 on their (but 5-0 on their punts). I realize there may be a method to the madness of pooching those kickoffs but There aren’t as many defenders to get by when you get the ball at the 25 yard line. I’d rather have them bring it out from around the goal line and take our chances with that. We did remarkably well on third down rushes: 9-2. But we had to go three yards or less 7 of those 9 times. Third down success or failure is often set up by what you do on the first two downs and we were 46-30 on first and second downs. In turn, we only had to punt twice in the whole game.
 
SEASON TOTALS

When SU has the ball:

KO- SU 34 OPP 24
P- SU 41 OPP 36
FG- SU 11 OPP 5
XP- SU 35 OPP 5
Total for kicking game: SU 121 OPP 70

1st rush- SU 117 OPP 141
1st pass- SU 62 OPP 63
First Down total: SU 179 OPP 204
2nd rush- SU 84 OPP 75
2nd pass- SU 63 OPP 57
Second Down total: SU 147 OPP 132
3rd run- SU 35 OPP 30
3rd pass- SU 38 OPP 81
Third Down total: SU 73 OPP 111
4th run- SU 6 OPP 3
4th pass-SU 1 OPP 3
Fourth Down total: SU 7 OPP 6
Total for plays from scrimmage: SU 406 OPP 453
Running plays: 243-249
Passing plays: 163-204

Penalties: SU 10 OPP 45
Turnovers: SU 0 OPP 21
Total for penalties and turnovers SU 10 OPP 66

Total when Syracuse had the ball: Syracuse 537 Opponent 589

When the opponent has the ball:

KO- SU 9 OPP 50
P- SU 32 OPP 44
FG SU 3 OPP 12
XP SU 0 OPP 40
Total for kicking game: SU 44 OPP 146

1st rush- SU 97 OPP 102
1st pass- SU 79 OPP 81
First Down total: Syracuse 176 Opposition 183
2nd rush- SU 63 OPP 89
2nd pass- SU 64 OPP 55
Second Down total: SU 127 OPP 144
3rd run- SU 29 OPP 28
3rd pass- SU 77 OPP 41
Third Down total: SU 106 OPP 69
4th run- SU 3 OPP 1
4th pass- SU 7 OPP 6
Fourth Down Total: SU 10 OPP 7
Total for plays from scrimmage: SU 419 OPP 403
Running plays: 189-216
Passing plays: 230-187

Penalties: SU 29 OPP 24
Turnovers: SU 23 OPP 0
Total for penalties and turnovers: SU 52 OPP 24

Total when Opposition had the ball: Syracuse 515 Opposition 573

Overall kicking game total: SU 165 OPP 216
Overall plays from scrimmage total: SU 822 OPP 858
Overall penalties and turnovers: SU 62 OPP 90
Game Total: SU 1049 OPP 1164
Running plays: 432-465
Passing plays: 393-391

Game Summaries:

Penn State: 28-67 when we had the ball, 47-47 when they had the ball: Total: 75-113
Northwestern: 58-43 when we had the ball, 33-71 when they had the ball: Total: 91-114
Wagner: 66-42 when we had the ball, 48-21 when they had the ball. Total: 114-63
Tulane: 56-37 when we had the ball, 51-39 when they had the ball. Total: 107-76
Clemson: 29-69 when we had the ball, 35-66 when they had the ball. Total: 64-136
North Carolina State: 43-40 when we had the ball, 68-45 when they had the ball. Total: 111-85
Georgia Tech: 26-40 when we had the ball, 20-73 when they had the ball. Total: 46-113
Wake Forest: 47-48 when we had the ball, 61-33 when they had the ball. Total: 108-81
Maryland: 38-53 when we had the ball, 54-35 when they had the ball. Total: 92-88
Florida State: 39-53 when we had the ball, 16-51 when they had the ball. Total: 55-104
Pittsburgh: 35-51 when we had the ball, 44-45 when they had the ball. Total: 80-96
Boston College: 67-48 when we had the ball, 33-39 when they had the ball. Total: 100-87

Comment: This was our first really good performance on offense since the Tulane game. But I still think the defense, especially on Williams was the key. Overall, on the season, when we won, we won on offense 4 times and on defense 5 times in 6 games. When we lost, we lost on offense 5 times and the same on defense.
 
The one thing no one is talking about is how bad the BC punter was. He gave us field position the entire game. He's the worst punter I've seen since watching SU football.
 

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