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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1191120, member: 289"] 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 Syracuse 15/1122 (74.8) NC State 14/1009 (72.1) +113 hidden yards for NC State Syracuse 15/1137 (75.8) Duke 14/897 (64.1) +240 hidden yards for Duke Overall, we’ve had 127 possessions with a total of 9,446 yards to go, an average of 74. The opposition has had 128 possessions with a total of 8,818 yards to go, an average of 69. In the six games where there was a significant difference, the team with the big advantage won all of them by an average of 18 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. Syracuse 68 plays in 31:18, NC State 79 plays in 28:43 We: 27.61 seconds per play and 2.17 plays per minute. They: 21.81 seconds per play and 2.75 plays per minute. Syracuse 69 plays in 30:31, Duke 66 plays in 29:29 We: 26.54 second per play and 2.30 plays per minute. They: 26.80 second per play and 2.24 plays per minute. Total: Syracuse 693 plays in 279.50, Opposition: 702 plays in 319:53 We: 24.23 seconds/play and 2.48 plays per minute. They: 27.34 seconds per play and 2.19 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. At this point we seem to have given up on exhausting teams with our pace, (and trapping them in the same defensive packages with no time to change them). [/QUOTE]

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