SWC75
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THE SYSTEM: The offense wins a play if they get a third of the way to a first down on first down, half way to a first down on second down or gets a first down on third or fourth down. Otherwise the defense wins. Any score is a win for the team that scores. Any turnover is a win for the team that winds up with the ball. The kicking team wins a kick-off where the other team winds up with the ball from their own 25 in to their goal line: outside of that and the receiving team won. The kicking team wins any punt that produces a new +40 yard change in the line of scrimmage or forces the other team to begin from their 20 yard line in. Any successful place kick is a win for the kicking team. I’ve put the yards to go in parenthesis if it’s other than 10 yards. Penalties are simply tacked onto the play before the play is evaluated if they didn’t nullify it. If the penalty did nullify the play or was a dead ball foul, it’s listed separately.
When Syracuse had the ball:
KO- CL20, CL27 SU 1 CL 1
P- 49 (CL32), 48 (CL19), 38 (SU48), 53 (CL11), 50 (CL24), 51 (CL32) 37 (SU46), 33 (CL27), 49 CU13)
SU 6 CL 3
FG- 43 GOOD, 50 GOOD, 42 no good SU 2 CL 1
XP- none
Total for kicking game: Syracuse 9 Clemson 5
1st rush- 6, 3, -3, 0, -1, 3, 0, 16, 4, -2, 14, 2, 0 SU 4 CL 10
1st pass- -6, 8, I, 6, I, I, I, 14, 6, I SU 4 CL 6
First Down total: Syracuse 8 Clemson 16
2nd rush- 6, 1, 3, 3, 7(11), 3, -1, 8(7), 5(6), 2, 3, -1, 0 SU 4 CL 9
2nd pass- 10(4), 23(2), 10(11), I, I, I SU 3 CL 3
Second Down total: Syracuse 7 Clemson 12
3rd run- 2(1), 19(4), 2(10) SU 2 CL 1
3rd pass- I, I, -6, 8(7), 3(4), I, I, -2, -8, I, I, -4, -7 SU 1 CL 12
Third Down total: Syracuse 3 Clemson 13
4th run- 7(1) SU 1 CL 0
4th pass- none
Fourth Down total: Syracuse 1 Clemson 0
Total for plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 19 Clemson 41
Running plays: Syracuse 11 Clemson 20
Passing plays: Syracuse 8 Clemson 21
Penalties (not added on to play): SU 0 CL 1 (one was called on us so they won the play)
Turnovers: Interception, Fumble Interception SU 0 CL 3
Total for penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 0 Clemson 4
Total for when Syracuse had the ball: Syracuse 29 Clemson 50
When Clemson had the ball:
KO- SU19, SU25, SU22, SU28, SU31 SU 2 Cl 3
P- 48 (SU 13), 52 (SU16), 18 (SU20), 42 (SU32), 29 (SU14), 38 (SU49) SU 3 CL 3
FG- 38 GOOD, 18 GOOD, 41 GOOD SU 0 Cl 3
XP- GOOD SU 0 CL 1
Total for kicking game: Syracuse 5 Clemson 10
1st rush- 3, 3, 3, 9, 4, 4, 2, 3,(15),21, -7, 9(17), -4, 16, -2, 5, 2, 4, 2, -1, 1, 8, 2, 12, 7 SU 15 CL 9
1st pass- 0, I, 1, 13, 6, 4, 10, I, I, 21 SU 5 CL 5
First Down total: Syracuse 20 Clemson 14
2nd rush- 0, 6(7), 6, 7(1), 1(6), 5(6), 9(6), 6, -1 SU 3 CL 6
2nd pass- 7(7), I, -9, 10(4), I, 4, 4(6), I, 5, 17(8), 19(6), 7(6), 6(9), 6(2), 6(8), 2(3) SU 5 CL 12
Second Down total: Syracuse 8 Clemson 18
3rd run- 2(1), 8(18), -3, -16, 7(4), 1(2), 4(3), 1(20, -1v SU 5 CL 4
3rd pass- 7, I, 25(4), 13(5), 7(12), 12(8), 8(12), -4 SU 4 CL 4
Third Down total: Syracuse 9 Clemson 8
4th run- 2(1) SU 2 CL 1
4th pass- none
Fourth Down total: Syracuse 1 Clemson 0
Total for plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 37 Clemson 41
Running plays: Syracuse 23 Clemson 20
Passing plays: Syracuse 14 Clemson 21
Penalties (not added on to play): SU 1 CL 1
Turnovers: Interception, Fumble, Fumble, Interception SU 4 CL 0
Total for penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 5 Clemson 1
Total when Clemson had the ball: Syracuse 47 Clemson 52
Overall kicking game total: Syracuse 14 Clemson 15
Overall plays from scrimmage total: Syracuse 56 Clemson 82
Running plays: Syracuse 34 Clemson 40
Passing plays: Syracuse 22 Clemson 42
Overall penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 5 Clemson 5
Game Total: Syracuse 75 Clemson 102
Comments: Obviously, the one-sided nature of the confrontation of our offense and their defense decided the game, (19-41 on plays from scrimmage). The most glaring stat within that is our 1-12 record on third down passing plays. But that was set up by what we did on second down. We ran the ball 13 of 19 times on second down and on only two of those occasions did we have less than 10 yards to go. On the plays where we did, we rushed for 26 yards, (and this does not include sacks, which I record as passing plays). That’s 2 yards per play. It put us constantly in third and long where they knew we going to pass. And, of course you can take it back further to our 8-16 record on first downs, which gave us all those second and long situations. We were determined to be conservative to minimize problems but instead it created them, including three turnovers and four sacks. When you are facing a superior opponent, do you get conservative or do you make more chances? When we get that figured out, we can move on to the chicken and the egg thing.
TOTALS FOR YEAR
When SU had the ball:
KO- SU 20 OPP 17
P- SU 29 OPP 14
FG- SU 15 OPP 5
XP- SU 15 OPP 2
Total for kicking game: SU 79 OPP 38
1st rush- SU 82 OPP 74
1st pass- SU 32 OPP 43
First Down total: SU 114 OPP 117
2nd rush- SU 45 OPP 39
2nd pass- SU 39 OPP 52
Second Down total: SU 84 OPP 91
3rd run- SU 17 OPP 17
3rd pass- SU 27 OPP 59
Third Down total: SU 44 OPP 76
4th run- SU 4 OPP 1
4th pass-SU 2 OPP 3
Fourth Down total: SU 6 OPP 4
Total for plays from scrimmage: SU 248 OPP 288
Running plays: SU 148 OPP 131
Passing plays: SU 100 OPP 157
Penalties (not added onto play): SU 11 OPP 30 (penalties by the other team that each team benefited by)
Turnovers (by SU): SU 0 OPP 11
Total for penalties and turnovers: SU 11 OPP 41
Total when Syracuse had the ball: SU 338 OPP 367
When the Opposition had the Ball:
KO- SU 8 OPP 31
P- SU 12 OPP 29
FG- SU 2 OPP 11
XP- SU 1 OPP 19
Total for kicking game: SU 23 OPP 90
1st rush- SU 83 OPP 73
1st pass- SU 37 OPP 60
First Down total: SU 120 OPP 133
2nd rush- SU 36 OPP 54
2nd pass- SU 43 OPP 51
Second Down total: SU 79 OPP 105
3rd run- SU 21 OPP 28
3rd pass- SU 40 OPP 25
Third Down total: SU 61 OPP 53
4th run- SU 1 OPP 2
4th pass-SU 2 OPP 1
Fourth Down total: SU 3 OPP 3
Total for plays from scrimmage: SU 263 OPP 294
Running plays: SU 141 OPP 157
Passing plays: SU 122 OPP 137
Penalties (not added on to play): SU 28 OPP 16 (penalties by the other team that each team benefited by)
Turnovers: SU (got) 17 SU 17 OPP 0
Total for penalties and turnovers: SU 45 OPP 16
Total when the opposition had the ball: SU 331 OPP 400
Overall kicking game total: SU 102 OPP 128 102-128
Overall plays from scrimmage total: SU 511 OPP 582
Running plays: SU 289 OPP 288
Passing plays: SU 222 OPP 294
Overall penalties and turnovers: SU 51 OPP 52
Game Total: Syracuse 669 Opposition 767
Comments: I think the way to look at this is not as a percentage, (We have been successful in 669 of 1436 plays: 46.6%. But you could the view the difference as if the other team was running extra plays we didn’t get to run that were successful. The opposition has had 98 more successful plays than we have, an average of 12 per game. That’s really quite a difference.
SEASON SUMMARY
VILLANOVA SU scrimmage: 29-36 VIL scrimmage: 40-46 Kicking: 17-11 PEN/TO: 5-10 Total: 91-103
C. MICHIGAN SU scrimmage: 41-36 CM scrimmage: 36-22 Kicking: 14-13 PEN/TO: 8-5 Total: 99-76
MARYLAND SU scrimmage: 41-34 MD scrimmage: 30-27 Kicking: 14-21 PEN/TO: 6-9 Total: 91-91
NOTRE DAME SU scrimmage: 29-37 ND scrimmage: 22-51 Kicking: 8-18 PEN/TO: 12-8 Total: 71-114
LOUISVILLE SU scrimmage: 23-37 LOU scrimmage: 30-37 Kicking: 9-21 PEN/TO: 9-5 Total: 71-100
FLORIDA STATE SU scrimmage: 34-31 FS scrimmage: 27-45 Kicking: 11-15 PEN/TO: 8-10 Total: 80-101
WAKE FOREST SU scrimmage: 32-36 FS scrimmage: 36-21 Kicking: 15-15 PEN/TO: 3-5 Total: 86-77
CLEMSON SU scrimmage: 19-41 FS scrimmage: 37-41 Kicking: 14-15 PEN/TO: 5-5 Total: 75-102
Comment: We don’t have as much talent as Notre Dame, Louisville, Florida State or Clemson. We didn’t play well vs. Villanova, who is a very good FCS team. We have comparable talent to Maryland but didn’t play as well that day. We were better than Central Michigan and Wake Forest. Of course you knew that but there it is in the numbers.
I noted that against Louisville, both teams had 14 possessions and we had a combined 1,025 yards to go to score vs. 871 for Louisville. That to me was 154 yards of “hidden offense” the Cardinals didn’t have to generate to score. I decided to keep track of that stat for all the games this season:
Syracuse 9 possessions with 714 yards to go (average 79) Villanova 9/706 (78). +8 hidden yards for Villanova
Syracuse 11/746 (68) Central Michigan 11/865 (79) +119 hidden yards for Syracuse
Syracuse 13/1072 (82) Maryland 14/903 (64.5) +169 hidden yards for Maryland
Syracuse 12/909 (76) Notre Dame 13/930 (72) +21 hidden yards for Syracuse but +4 per possession for Notre Dame
Syracuse 14/1025 (73) Louisville 14/871 (62) +154 hidden yards for Louisville
Syracuse 11/711 (65) Florida State 11/748 (68) +37 hidden yards for Syracuse
Syracuse 12/918 (76.5) Wake Forest 13/913 (70) +5 hidden yards for Wake Forest but +6.5 per possession.
Syracuse 15/1092 (72.8) Clemson 15/976 (65.1)+116 hidden yards for Clemson
Overall, we’ve had 97 possessions with a total of 7,187 yards to go, an average of 74. The opposition has had 100 possessions with a total of 6,912 yards to go, an average of 69. In the four games where there was a significant difference, the team with the big advantage won all three games by an average of 21 points. It may not be the only reason they won or won by that margin, but I’m sure it helped.
I’ve also been comparing the number of plays run from scrimmage to time of possession. (I realize that TOP includes plays that weren’t runs and passes from scrimmage but I’m assuming the time of such plays will be about equal for both teams). The Daily Orange preview handed out before the Villanova game says the goal of both offensive coordinator George MacDonald and quarterback coach Tim Lester was to get off plays in an average of 18 seconds and to get off 3.33 plays per minute. In 2013 Syracuse got off 2.42 plays per minute. The fastest team in the country was Texas Tech at 3.08 plays per minute, (there was no quote on seconds per play).
Syracuse 69 plays in 22:12, Villanova 87 plays in 37:48
That means that we got off a play every 19.30 seconds and 3.11 plays per minute. Villanova got off a play 26.1 seconds and 2.30 plays per minute. But they got off 18 more plays than we did.
Syracuse 79 plays in 33:22, Central Michigan 68 plays in 26:18
We: 25.34 seconds/play and 2.37 plays per minute. They: 23.21 seconds/play and 2.55 plays per minute. But we got off 11 more plays.
Syracuse 79 plays in 32:14, Maryland 58 plays in 27:46
We: 24.48 seconds/play and 2.45 plays per minute. They: 28.72 seconds/ play and 2.09 plays per minute.
Syracuse 68 plays in 26:43, Notre Dame 80 plays in 33:17
We: 23.57 seconds/play and 2.55 plays per minute. They: 24.96 seconds/play and 2.40 plays per minute. But they got off 12 more plays.
Syracuse: 62 plays in 23:02, Louisville 70 plays in 36:58
We: 22.29 seconds/play and 2.69 plays per minute. They: 31.69 seconds/play and 1.89 plays per minute. But they got off 8 more plays.
Syracuse: 67 plays in 23:33, Florida State 72 plays in 36:27
We: 21.09 seconds/play and 2.85 plays per minute. They: 30.38 seconds per play and 1.98 plays per minute. But they got off five more plays.
Syracuse: 70 plays in 31:47, Wake Forest 59 plays in 28:13
We: 27.24 seconds per pay and 2.20 plays per minute. They: 28.69 seconds per play and 2.09 plays per minute. Neither team was playing hurry-up.
Syracuse 62 plays in 25:06, Clemson 83 plays in 34:54
We: 24.29 seconds per play and 2.47 plays per minute. They: 25.22 seconds per play and 2.38 seconds per play. Clemson played normally in the first half, sped things up in the third quarter and then slowed it back down in the fourth quarter.
Total: Syracuse 556 plays in 218.01, Opposition: 577 plays in 261:41
We: 23.52 seconds/play and 2.55 plays per minute. They: 27.21 seconds per play and 2.20 plays per minute.
It may be that MacDonald and Lester were eliminating the time taken on kicking plays, (which is included in time of possession), so we might be closer to our goals than it appears. But it’s clear that the speed with which you get plays off does little to determine whether you win the game. It doesn’t even determine which team gets off more plays. What matters is how many successful plays you run and how many first downs you get. You aren’t going to wear teams out by hurriedly running plays that don’t work.
When Syracuse had the ball:
KO- CL20, CL27 SU 1 CL 1
P- 49 (CL32), 48 (CL19), 38 (SU48), 53 (CL11), 50 (CL24), 51 (CL32) 37 (SU46), 33 (CL27), 49 CU13)
SU 6 CL 3
FG- 43 GOOD, 50 GOOD, 42 no good SU 2 CL 1
XP- none
Total for kicking game: Syracuse 9 Clemson 5
1st rush- 6, 3, -3, 0, -1, 3, 0, 16, 4, -2, 14, 2, 0 SU 4 CL 10
1st pass- -6, 8, I, 6, I, I, I, 14, 6, I SU 4 CL 6
First Down total: Syracuse 8 Clemson 16
2nd rush- 6, 1, 3, 3, 7(11), 3, -1, 8(7), 5(6), 2, 3, -1, 0 SU 4 CL 9
2nd pass- 10(4), 23(2), 10(11), I, I, I SU 3 CL 3
Second Down total: Syracuse 7 Clemson 12
3rd run- 2(1), 19(4), 2(10) SU 2 CL 1
3rd pass- I, I, -6, 8(7), 3(4), I, I, -2, -8, I, I, -4, -7 SU 1 CL 12
Third Down total: Syracuse 3 Clemson 13
4th run- 7(1) SU 1 CL 0
4th pass- none
Fourth Down total: Syracuse 1 Clemson 0
Total for plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 19 Clemson 41
Running plays: Syracuse 11 Clemson 20
Passing plays: Syracuse 8 Clemson 21
Penalties (not added on to play): SU 0 CL 1 (one was called on us so they won the play)
Turnovers: Interception, Fumble Interception SU 0 CL 3
Total for penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 0 Clemson 4
Total for when Syracuse had the ball: Syracuse 29 Clemson 50
When Clemson had the ball:
KO- SU19, SU25, SU22, SU28, SU31 SU 2 Cl 3
P- 48 (SU 13), 52 (SU16), 18 (SU20), 42 (SU32), 29 (SU14), 38 (SU49) SU 3 CL 3
FG- 38 GOOD, 18 GOOD, 41 GOOD SU 0 Cl 3
XP- GOOD SU 0 CL 1
Total for kicking game: Syracuse 5 Clemson 10
1st rush- 3, 3, 3, 9, 4, 4, 2, 3,(15),21, -7, 9(17), -4, 16, -2, 5, 2, 4, 2, -1, 1, 8, 2, 12, 7 SU 15 CL 9
1st pass- 0, I, 1, 13, 6, 4, 10, I, I, 21 SU 5 CL 5
First Down total: Syracuse 20 Clemson 14
2nd rush- 0, 6(7), 6, 7(1), 1(6), 5(6), 9(6), 6, -1 SU 3 CL 6
2nd pass- 7(7), I, -9, 10(4), I, 4, 4(6), I, 5, 17(8), 19(6), 7(6), 6(9), 6(2), 6(8), 2(3) SU 5 CL 12
Second Down total: Syracuse 8 Clemson 18
3rd run- 2(1), 8(18), -3, -16, 7(4), 1(2), 4(3), 1(20, -1v SU 5 CL 4
3rd pass- 7, I, 25(4), 13(5), 7(12), 12(8), 8(12), -4 SU 4 CL 4
Third Down total: Syracuse 9 Clemson 8
4th run- 2(1) SU 2 CL 1
4th pass- none
Fourth Down total: Syracuse 1 Clemson 0
Total for plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 37 Clemson 41
Running plays: Syracuse 23 Clemson 20
Passing plays: Syracuse 14 Clemson 21
Penalties (not added on to play): SU 1 CL 1
Turnovers: Interception, Fumble, Fumble, Interception SU 4 CL 0
Total for penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 5 Clemson 1
Total when Clemson had the ball: Syracuse 47 Clemson 52
Overall kicking game total: Syracuse 14 Clemson 15
Overall plays from scrimmage total: Syracuse 56 Clemson 82
Running plays: Syracuse 34 Clemson 40
Passing plays: Syracuse 22 Clemson 42
Overall penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 5 Clemson 5
Game Total: Syracuse 75 Clemson 102
Comments: Obviously, the one-sided nature of the confrontation of our offense and their defense decided the game, (19-41 on plays from scrimmage). The most glaring stat within that is our 1-12 record on third down passing plays. But that was set up by what we did on second down. We ran the ball 13 of 19 times on second down and on only two of those occasions did we have less than 10 yards to go. On the plays where we did, we rushed for 26 yards, (and this does not include sacks, which I record as passing plays). That’s 2 yards per play. It put us constantly in third and long where they knew we going to pass. And, of course you can take it back further to our 8-16 record on first downs, which gave us all those second and long situations. We were determined to be conservative to minimize problems but instead it created them, including three turnovers and four sacks. When you are facing a superior opponent, do you get conservative or do you make more chances? When we get that figured out, we can move on to the chicken and the egg thing.
TOTALS FOR YEAR
When SU had the ball:
KO- SU 20 OPP 17
P- SU 29 OPP 14
FG- SU 15 OPP 5
XP- SU 15 OPP 2
Total for kicking game: SU 79 OPP 38
1st rush- SU 82 OPP 74
1st pass- SU 32 OPP 43
First Down total: SU 114 OPP 117
2nd rush- SU 45 OPP 39
2nd pass- SU 39 OPP 52
Second Down total: SU 84 OPP 91
3rd run- SU 17 OPP 17
3rd pass- SU 27 OPP 59
Third Down total: SU 44 OPP 76
4th run- SU 4 OPP 1
4th pass-SU 2 OPP 3
Fourth Down total: SU 6 OPP 4
Total for plays from scrimmage: SU 248 OPP 288
Running plays: SU 148 OPP 131
Passing plays: SU 100 OPP 157
Penalties (not added onto play): SU 11 OPP 30 (penalties by the other team that each team benefited by)
Turnovers (by SU): SU 0 OPP 11
Total for penalties and turnovers: SU 11 OPP 41
Total when Syracuse had the ball: SU 338 OPP 367
When the Opposition had the Ball:
KO- SU 8 OPP 31
P- SU 12 OPP 29
FG- SU 2 OPP 11
XP- SU 1 OPP 19
Total for kicking game: SU 23 OPP 90
1st rush- SU 83 OPP 73
1st pass- SU 37 OPP 60
First Down total: SU 120 OPP 133
2nd rush- SU 36 OPP 54
2nd pass- SU 43 OPP 51
Second Down total: SU 79 OPP 105
3rd run- SU 21 OPP 28
3rd pass- SU 40 OPP 25
Third Down total: SU 61 OPP 53
4th run- SU 1 OPP 2
4th pass-SU 2 OPP 1
Fourth Down total: SU 3 OPP 3
Total for plays from scrimmage: SU 263 OPP 294
Running plays: SU 141 OPP 157
Passing plays: SU 122 OPP 137
Penalties (not added on to play): SU 28 OPP 16 (penalties by the other team that each team benefited by)
Turnovers: SU (got) 17 SU 17 OPP 0
Total for penalties and turnovers: SU 45 OPP 16
Total when the opposition had the ball: SU 331 OPP 400
Overall kicking game total: SU 102 OPP 128 102-128
Overall plays from scrimmage total: SU 511 OPP 582
Running plays: SU 289 OPP 288
Passing plays: SU 222 OPP 294
Overall penalties and turnovers: SU 51 OPP 52
Game Total: Syracuse 669 Opposition 767
Comments: I think the way to look at this is not as a percentage, (We have been successful in 669 of 1436 plays: 46.6%. But you could the view the difference as if the other team was running extra plays we didn’t get to run that were successful. The opposition has had 98 more successful plays than we have, an average of 12 per game. That’s really quite a difference.
SEASON SUMMARY
VILLANOVA SU scrimmage: 29-36 VIL scrimmage: 40-46 Kicking: 17-11 PEN/TO: 5-10 Total: 91-103
C. MICHIGAN SU scrimmage: 41-36 CM scrimmage: 36-22 Kicking: 14-13 PEN/TO: 8-5 Total: 99-76
MARYLAND SU scrimmage: 41-34 MD scrimmage: 30-27 Kicking: 14-21 PEN/TO: 6-9 Total: 91-91
NOTRE DAME SU scrimmage: 29-37 ND scrimmage: 22-51 Kicking: 8-18 PEN/TO: 12-8 Total: 71-114
LOUISVILLE SU scrimmage: 23-37 LOU scrimmage: 30-37 Kicking: 9-21 PEN/TO: 9-5 Total: 71-100
FLORIDA STATE SU scrimmage: 34-31 FS scrimmage: 27-45 Kicking: 11-15 PEN/TO: 8-10 Total: 80-101
WAKE FOREST SU scrimmage: 32-36 FS scrimmage: 36-21 Kicking: 15-15 PEN/TO: 3-5 Total: 86-77
CLEMSON SU scrimmage: 19-41 FS scrimmage: 37-41 Kicking: 14-15 PEN/TO: 5-5 Total: 75-102
Comment: We don’t have as much talent as Notre Dame, Louisville, Florida State or Clemson. We didn’t play well vs. Villanova, who is a very good FCS team. We have comparable talent to Maryland but didn’t play as well that day. We were better than Central Michigan and Wake Forest. Of course you knew that but there it is in the numbers.
I noted that against Louisville, both teams had 14 possessions and we had a combined 1,025 yards to go to score vs. 871 for Louisville. That to me was 154 yards of “hidden offense” the Cardinals didn’t have to generate to score. I decided to keep track of that stat for all the games this season:
Syracuse 9 possessions with 714 yards to go (average 79) Villanova 9/706 (78). +8 hidden yards for Villanova
Syracuse 11/746 (68) Central Michigan 11/865 (79) +119 hidden yards for Syracuse
Syracuse 13/1072 (82) Maryland 14/903 (64.5) +169 hidden yards for Maryland
Syracuse 12/909 (76) Notre Dame 13/930 (72) +21 hidden yards for Syracuse but +4 per possession for Notre Dame
Syracuse 14/1025 (73) Louisville 14/871 (62) +154 hidden yards for Louisville
Syracuse 11/711 (65) Florida State 11/748 (68) +37 hidden yards for Syracuse
Syracuse 12/918 (76.5) Wake Forest 13/913 (70) +5 hidden yards for Wake Forest but +6.5 per possession.
Syracuse 15/1092 (72.8) Clemson 15/976 (65.1)+116 hidden yards for Clemson
Overall, we’ve had 97 possessions with a total of 7,187 yards to go, an average of 74. The opposition has had 100 possessions with a total of 6,912 yards to go, an average of 69. In the four games where there was a significant difference, the team with the big advantage won all three games by an average of 21 points. It may not be the only reason they won or won by that margin, but I’m sure it helped.
I’ve also been comparing the number of plays run from scrimmage to time of possession. (I realize that TOP includes plays that weren’t runs and passes from scrimmage but I’m assuming the time of such plays will be about equal for both teams). The Daily Orange preview handed out before the Villanova game says the goal of both offensive coordinator George MacDonald and quarterback coach Tim Lester was to get off plays in an average of 18 seconds and to get off 3.33 plays per minute. In 2013 Syracuse got off 2.42 plays per minute. The fastest team in the country was Texas Tech at 3.08 plays per minute, (there was no quote on seconds per play).
Syracuse 69 plays in 22:12, Villanova 87 plays in 37:48
That means that we got off a play every 19.30 seconds and 3.11 plays per minute. Villanova got off a play 26.1 seconds and 2.30 plays per minute. But they got off 18 more plays than we did.
Syracuse 79 plays in 33:22, Central Michigan 68 plays in 26:18
We: 25.34 seconds/play and 2.37 plays per minute. They: 23.21 seconds/play and 2.55 plays per minute. But we got off 11 more plays.
Syracuse 79 plays in 32:14, Maryland 58 plays in 27:46
We: 24.48 seconds/play and 2.45 plays per minute. They: 28.72 seconds/ play and 2.09 plays per minute.
Syracuse 68 plays in 26:43, Notre Dame 80 plays in 33:17
We: 23.57 seconds/play and 2.55 plays per minute. They: 24.96 seconds/play and 2.40 plays per minute. But they got off 12 more plays.
Syracuse: 62 plays in 23:02, Louisville 70 plays in 36:58
We: 22.29 seconds/play and 2.69 plays per minute. They: 31.69 seconds/play and 1.89 plays per minute. But they got off 8 more plays.
Syracuse: 67 plays in 23:33, Florida State 72 plays in 36:27
We: 21.09 seconds/play and 2.85 plays per minute. They: 30.38 seconds per play and 1.98 plays per minute. But they got off five more plays.
Syracuse: 70 plays in 31:47, Wake Forest 59 plays in 28:13
We: 27.24 seconds per pay and 2.20 plays per minute. They: 28.69 seconds per play and 2.09 plays per minute. Neither team was playing hurry-up.
Syracuse 62 plays in 25:06, Clemson 83 plays in 34:54
We: 24.29 seconds per play and 2.47 plays per minute. They: 25.22 seconds per play and 2.38 seconds per play. Clemson played normally in the first half, sped things up in the third quarter and then slowed it back down in the fourth quarter.
Total: Syracuse 556 plays in 218.01, Opposition: 577 plays in 261:41
We: 23.52 seconds/play and 2.55 plays per minute. They: 27.21 seconds per play and 2.20 plays per minute.
It may be that MacDonald and Lester were eliminating the time taken on kicking plays, (which is included in time of possession), so we might be closer to our goals than it appears. But it’s clear that the speed with which you get plays off does little to determine whether you win the game. It doesn’t even determine which team gets off more plays. What matters is how many successful plays you run and how many first downs you get. You aren’t going to wear teams out by hurriedly running plays that don’t work.
