Winning Plays- Maryland | Syracusefan.com

Winning Plays- Maryland

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.

When Syracuse had the ball

KO- MD 33, MD 26, MD 25, MD 26, MD 40 (SU 1 MD 4)
P- 34(MD 21), 23(MD 36), 45(MD 23), 24(MD 47), 44(MD 17), 31(MD 29), 36(MD 18) (SU 3 MD 4)
FG Good from 34, Good from 30 (SU 2 MD 0)
XP Good, Good (SU 2 MD 0)
Total for kicking game: Syracuse 8 Maryland 8

1st rush- 8, 4, 3(15), -2, -1, 3, 2, 12, 4, 23, 12, 2, 2, 9, 7, 11, 2, -7, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 12, 1 (SU 10 MD 16)
1st pass- 4, 19, I, 11, I (SU 3 MD 3)
First Down total: Syracuse 13 Maryland 19
2nd rush- 7(6), 8(6), 6(12), 0, 2, 10(15), 4(6), 3(1), 2(3), 4(8), 2(17), 21TD, 4 (SU 9 MD 4)
2nd pass- 11(7), 22(12), 4(9), 2(8), 5(8), 3, I (SU 3 MD 4)
Second Down total: Syracuse 12 Maryland 8
3rd run- 7(2), 0, 2(3), 29(5), 4(6) (SU 2 MD 3)
3rd pass- 4(6), 4(5), 23(7), I, I, I, I, I, 2(15), I (SU 1 MD 8)
Third Down total: Syracuse 3 Maryland 11
4th run- 7(2), 1TD (SU 2 MD 0)
4th pass- none
Fourth Down total: Syracuse 2 Maryland 0

Total for plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 30 Maryland 38

Penalties: SU- 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 MD- none (SU 0 MD 5)
Turnovers: fumble, interception (SU 0 MD 7)
Total for penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 0 Maryland 7

Total when Syracuse had the ball: Syracuse 38 Maryland 53

When Maryland had the ball:

KO- SU 20, SU 25 (SU 0 MD 2)
P- 39(SU 15), 42(SU 18), 23(SU 32), 41(SU 43) (SU 1 MD 3)
FG Miss from 42, Good from 23 (SU 1 MD 1)
XP none
Total for kicking game: Syracuse 2 Maryland 6

1st rush- 6, 7, 5, -3, 6, -2, 4, 2, 0, 0, -1, 11, 2, 1, 5, 3 (SU 9 MD 7)
1st pass- 26, I, 6, 7, I, 19, -3, -11, I, I, 19, I, I, I (SU 9 MD 5)
First Down total: Syracuse 18 Maryland 12
2nd rush- 4(15), -5, 2, 5(6), -2, 5(3), 8, 5(8), 0, 2(7), 2(13), 14(10), -12 (SU 8 MD 5)
2nd pass- -2, 10(5), 6(13), I, 3(4), I, 26(21), 6(10), 7(15), I (SU 6 MD 4)
Second Down total: Syracuse 14 Maryland 9
3rd run- 12(1),11(2), 1(3), 7(5) (SU 1 MD 3)
3rd pass- -13, I, I, 2(8), 14(12), I, I, I, I, 20, 9(22) (SU 9 MD 2)
Third Down total: Syracuse 10 Maryland 5
4th run- 11(13) (SU 1 MD 0)
4th pass- 10(7), I, -7 (SU 2 MD 1)
Fourth Down total: Syracuse 3 Maryland 1
Total for plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 45 Maryland 27

Penalties: SU- 15, 15, 5 MD- 5, 5 (SU 3 MD 2)
Turnovers: Interception, Interception, Fumble, Fumble (SU 4 MD 0)
Total for penalties and turnovers: Syracuse 7 Maryland 2

Total when Maryland had the ball: Syracuse 45 Maryland 27

Overall kicking game total: SU 10 MD 14
Overall plays from scrimmage total: SU 74 MD 64
Overall penalties and turnovers: SU 7 MD 9
Game Total: Syracuse 92 Maryland 88

Comments: The defense clearly won the game for us for the second week in a row. Basically, they hold the other team down while the offense figures a way to scrape up enough points to win. We were “defeated” on 16 of 26 first down runs, meaning that we gained 3 yards or less. We need to be more productive than that. We did a lousy job on third down, too. Defensively we won every down, rushing or passing, except for third down runs. We didn’t do very well on kick-offs. Of course if we are doing more of them than the opposition that’s a good sign. But the big thing is penalties. We had a season high 12 of them and have had at least 7 in every game. Florida State won’t need any help from us. We have to find a way not to give it.
 
SEASON TOTALS

When SU has the ball:

KO- SU 31 OPP 14
P- SU 34 OPP 27
FG SU 7 OPP 3
XP SU 30 OPP 4
Total for kicking game: SU 102 OPP 48

1st rush- SU 87 OPP 105
1st pass- SU 45 OPP 45
First Down total: SU 132 OPP 150
2nd rush- SU 59 OPP 52
2nd pass- SU 43 OPP 44
Second Down total: SU 102 OPP 96
3rd run- SU 22 OPP 22
3rd pass- SU 28 OPP 61
Third Down total: SU 50 OPP 83
4th run- SU 5 OPP 1
4th pass-SU 0 OPP 2
Fourth Down total: SU 5 OPP 3

Total for plays from scrimmage: SU 289 OPP 332

Penalties: SU 5 OPP 39
Turnovers: SU 0 OPP 18
Total for penalties and turnovers SU 5 OPP 57

Total when Syracuse had the ball: Syracuse 396 Opponent 437

When the opponent has the ball:

KO- SU 64 OPP 35
P- SU 22 OPP 40
FG SU 3 OPP 9
XP SU 0 OPP 26
Total for kicking game: SU 89 OPP 110

1st rush- SU 75 OPP 82
1st pass- SU 67 OPP 54
First Down total: Syracuse 142 Opposition 136
2nd rush- SU 54 OPP 71
2nd pass- SU 52 OPP 41
Second Down total: SU 106 OPP 112
3rd run- SU 27 OPP 20
3rd pass- SU 64 OPP 35
Third Down total: SU 91 OPP 55
4th run- SU 3 OPP 1
4th pass- SU 7 OPP 6
Fourth Down Total: SU10 OPP 7

Total for plays from scrimmage: SU 349 OPP 310

Penalties: SU 23 OPP 19
Turnovers: SU 18 OPP 0
Total for penalties and turnovers: SU 41 OPP 19

Total when Opposition had the ball: Syracuse 479 Opposition 439

Overall kicking game total: SU 133 OPP 158
Overall plays from scrimmage total: SU 635 OPP 644
Overall penalties and turnovers: SU 46 OPP 76
Game Total: SU 815 OPP 879

Game Summaries:

Penn State: 28-67 when we had the ball, 47-47 when they had the ball: Total: 75-114
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

Comment: Our defense seems to have grown up. They’ve dominated in the three conference wins. Now our offense needs to learn how to shave.
 

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