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[QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1950733, member: 289"]
This season I will once again be charting Syracuse’s games in terms of “winning plays”. I look at the results of each play and decide which team got the minimum they wanted out of the play. Rather than making instinctive judgments, I use a formula:
-          On first down, the offensive team wants to get at least a third of the way to a new first down: they will have two more games before they might have to surrender the ball and if they gain that same amount of yards on each of those two plays, they’ll get the first down. If they don’t make it a third of the way to a new first down, the defense won the play.
-          On second down, the offense wants to get halfway to a new first down by the same logic.
-          On third and fourth down, they want to get the new first down.
-          Penalties, if added onto a play by the referees, are added on to the results above. If the offense gains 5 yards on first down but there was holding and they lost yardage instead, the defense won the play. If a running back made a 20 yard run on first and ten and the holding was 15 yards downfield, turning it into a 5 yard gain, that’s still a win for the offense. If the defense is penalized and it’s tacked on, again the net result is what is evaluated.
-           If a penalty was not tacked onto a play, it’s a lost play for the team being penalized. I'll count them separate from the other plays from scrimmage because I don't know if the intended play before the penalty would have been a run or a pass - so i wouldn't know where to put it in the chart below.
-          A turnover is, obviously, a win for the team that wound up with the ball.
-          On a kick-off a touchback brings the ball out to the 25 yard line. Teams still seem to be trying to kick the ball into the end zone and avoid a runback if they can, so any kick-off that results in the receiving team starting between their goal line and their 25 is a win for the kicking team.
-          On a punt, a touchback takes the ball out of the 20. So any punt that results in the other team taking over from their goal line to their 20 is a win for the punting team. If the next change in field position is at least 40 yards, the punting tam has also won the play.
-          A successful place kick is, obviously a win for the kicking team.
-          Any play that results in a touchdown is, obviously, a win for that team that scores it.
-          A “victory play” where a team accepts a loss just to let the clock run out, is a win for the offensive team.

I will indicate in parenthesis how many yards there were to go to get a new first down, (if other than 10), unless it was for no gain or negative yardage. If it was a touchdown, (“TD)” a sack (“S”) a victory play (“V”) or involved a penalty (P). I’m undecided about whether to count a scramble as a running play or passing play. For now, I’ll count it as a running play and put an ‘S’ next to it in case I change my mind. Thus an S in running plays is a scramble, an S in passing plays a sack.  1R means first down running plays. 1P means first down passing plays, etc.

When SYRACUSE  had the ball:

KO:          SU 44
Total:     Syracuse 0 Clemson 1
P:            20 to SU41, 37 to CL5, 48 to CL11, 43 to CL22, 36 to CL16, 35 to CL40, 35 to CL33, 45 to CL32
Total:     Syracuse 5 Clemson 3
FG:         No Good from 30
Total:     Syracuse 0 Clemson 1
XP:         none
Total:     Syracuse 0 Clemson 0
Kicking plays total:           Syracuse 5  Clemson 5

1r:           -10(P), 0, 6, 1, 6, 3, 1, 4, 49, 4, 2, 4, -4, -1, -2
Total:     Syracuse 6 Clemson 9
1p:          I, I, Interception, 12, -5(P), I, I, 3, I, 4, I, 3, 20, Interception(TD)
Total:     Syracuse 3 Clemson 11
First Down Total:              Syracuse 9 Clemson 20
2r:           3, 1(4), 3(4), 3, 2, -3, 2(11), 10(6), -4
Total:     Syracuse 2 Clemson 7
2p:          4, 9(25), 18(9), -2, Interception, 5(7), I, 6(6), 6(17), 8(6), 8(14), I
Total:     Syracuse 5 Clemson 7
Second Down Total:        Syracuse 7 Clemson 14
3r:           13(13), 8(9)
Total:     Syracuse 1 Clemson 1
3p:          -5(S), 9(7), 7(16), 21(P,3), I, 11(1), -7(S), 3(2), 4, I, 4, I, I
Total:     Syracuse 4 Clemson 9
Third Down Total:            Syracuse 5 Clemson 10
4r:           2(1)
Total:     Syracuse 1 Clemson 0
4p:          7(9)
Total:     Syracuse 0 Clemson 1
Fourth Down Total:         Syracuse 1 Clemson 1

Total on running plays: Syracuse 10 Clemson 17
Total on passing plays:   Syracuse 12 Clemson 28
Total on plays from scrimmage:                 Syracuse 22 Clemson 45

Penalties not tacked on to plays: -5, -5, -5, -5, -5                Syracuse 0 Clemson 5

Game total when SYRACUSE  had the ball:            Syracuse 27 Clemson 55

Comments: When the other team kicks off 10 times and you kick off once- an onsides-attempt that doesn’t work, you know you’ve had a bad day. Other stats fell in line with that. Usually a team will dominate it’s kicking plays: When we kicked the results were 5-5. When they kicked it was 5-18. First down passes are usually pretty successful but we were 3-11 on those. The three turnovers all produced scores for Clemson, as did the unsuccessful on-sides kick.

When CLEMSON  had the ball:

KO:         SU 22, SU 39, SU 11, SU 25, CL 32, SU 20, SU 20, SU 19, SU 17, SU 19
Total:     Syracuse 2 Clemson 8
P:            28 to SU26, 40 to SU 21, 46 to SU 25
Total:     Syracuse 1 Clemson 2
FG:         Good from 22, No good from 40, Good from 46
Total:     Syracuse1  Clemson 2
XP:         Good, No Good, Good, Good, Good, Good, Good
Total:     Syracuse 1 Clemson  6
Kicking plays total:           Syracuse 5 Clemson 18

1r:           5, 10, 2(9), 10, 4(5), 30, 0, 4, 8, 14, 7, 1, 1, 0, 5, 0, 5, 2, 0, 6, 1, 5, 7, 3, 5, 2, 2
Total:     Syracuse 12 Clemson 15
1p:          11, -10(P), -10, 65TD, I, 14, I, I, 24, I, I, 8, I, I
Total:     Syracuse 9 Clemson 5
First Down Total:              Syracuse 21 Clemson 20
2r:           2(5), 2(7), 6(30), 1TD, 13, 3(2), 6(3), 0, 5TD, 3, -1, 4(3), 2(5)
Total:     Syracuse 7 Clemson 6
2p:          -6, 7(9), 18(9), 6, 5, 31, I, 6(5), 6, I, 12(2), I, I, 9(4), I, 18(7), 3, 10(8)
Total:     Syracuse 7 Clemson 11
Second Down Total:        Syracuse 14 Clemson 17
3r:           1(3), 13, 1(8), 1(5), -5, -7
Total:     Syracuse 5  Clemson 1
3p:          I, 19(24), 8(2), 23(12), 11(2), I, 17(4), 29, 18TD
Total:     Syracuse 2 Clemson 7
Third Down Total:            Syracuse 7 Clemson 8
4r:           3(2)
Total:     Syracuse 0 Clemson 1
4p:          24(4)
Total:     Syracuse 0 Clemson 1
Fourth Down Total:         Syracuse 0  Clemson 2

Total on running plays: Syracuse 24 Clemson 23
Total on passing plays:   Syracuse 18 Clemson 24
Total on plays from scrimmage:                 Syracuse 42 Clemson 47

Penalties not tacked on to plays:  none  Syracuse 0 Clemson 0

Game total when CLEMSON  had the ball: Syracuse 47 Clemson 65

Overall Game Total:                                       Syracuse 74 Clemson 120

Comments: Our defense, (42-47 from scrimmage) was actually better than our offense, (22-45). We had 6 tackles for a loss, (Clemson, who has led the country in this stat four 3eyars in a row, had 7). But we forced no turnovers and just couldn’t get game-changing plays.  Some comparisons: When we lost 0-56 to Georgia Tech back in 2013, we lost the plays 46-113, (-67). When we lost to Florida State 3-59 we lsot the plays 55-104, (-49). This game was 74-120 (-46). When Clemson blew us out in the Dome that year, the score was 14-49 and the plays 64-136 (-72), worse than any of those. When we lost 6-16 to Clemson in 2014, the plays were 75-102 (-27) and in 2015 it was 27-37 and 83-105 (-22).
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