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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 1901107, 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 positon 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: ND 21, ND 26, 93TD, ND 29, ND 33, SU48 (OSK) Total: Syracuse 1 Notre Dame 5 P: 37 to ND 30, 13 to ND 44, 42 to ND 30, 48 to ND 49, 33 to ND 5, 44 to ND 14, 39 to ND 30, 37 to ND 20, 36 to ND 7 Total: Syracuse 6 Notre Dame 3 FG: No Good from 40 Total: Syracuse 0 Notre Dame 1 XP: No Good, (blocked and returned for 2 points), Good, Good, Good, for 2 No Good Total: Syracuse 3 Notre Dame 2 Kicking plays total: Syracuse 10 Notre Dame 11 1r: 3(6), 8, 2, 16(P), 2, 1(7), 3, 0, 2, 4(S), 5, 0, 9, 3 Total: Syracuse 6 Notre Dame 8 1p: 25, 6, 18, 2, 5, 10, 9, -1(S), 4, 5, I, 14, I, I, I, 15, I, 12, I, 7, 10, I, 5, -1 Total: Syracuse 14 Notre Dame 10 First Down Total: Syracuse 20 Notre Dame 18 2r: 13, 3TD, 2(5), 18(1), 5(6), 1(6), -4, 4(7), -1, 6(3), 3(11-S), 5TD, 6(1), 2(7) Total: Syracuse 8 Notre Dame 6 2p: I, -1, I, 23(13), 36(11), I, 15, 14TD, 11, I, I, 6(10), 4(8), 13, I, 10(5), 10(5) Total: Syracuse 9 Notre Dame 7 Second Down Total: Syracuse 17 Notre Dame 13 3r: 3(8), 0, 1, 10(3), -7, 0, 11(6) Total: Syracuse 2 Notre Dame 5 3p: 72TD, I, I, -3, I, I, 0, I, I Total: Syracuse 1 Notre Dame 8 Third Down Total: Syracuse 3 Notre Dame 13 4r: 1TD Total: Syracuse 1 Notre Dame 0 4p: none Total: Syracuse 0 Notre Dame 0 Fourth Down Total: Syracuse 1 Notre Dame 0 Total on running plays: Syracuse 17 Notre Dame 19 Total on passing plays: Syracuse 24 Notre Dame 25 Total on plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 41 Notre Dame 44 Penalties not tacked on to plays: +5, -5, +5, -5, -5, -10 Syracuse 2 Notre Dame 4 Game total when SYRACUSE had the ball: Syracuse 53 Notre Dame 59 Comments: Teams usually dominate their own kicking game but we lost it, 10-11. I was not much impressed with our punting game but it actually did get better after Hofrichter went to the rugby punts. It was our kick-offs that were terrible. We also had a blocked extra point which I’ve variously heard attributed to the left side of the line being “caved in” and Cole Murphy kicking it low. He also missed a field goal although that had plenty of leg. After one of the made extra points he stumbled but Coach Babers still insists he isn’t hurt. What jumps pout at you from the scrimmage plays is our terrible performance on third down passes, an area where we had been doing well this year, (31-23 going in). In this game we hit a 72 yard touchdown on the first one and then had 6 incomplete passes, a 0 gain and a loss of three yards. When NOTRE DAME had the ball: KO: SU 25, SU 21, SU 26, SU 23, SU 36, SU 25, SU 21, SU 25, SU 25 Total: Syracuse 2 Notre Dame 7 P: 27 to SU 22, 42 to SU 1, -40 to ND 14, 17 to ND 44, 22 to ND 34 Total: Syracuse 4 Notre Dame 1 FG: Good from 31, Good from 39, No Good from 39 Total: Syracuse 1 Notre Dame 2 XP: Good, Good, Good, Good, Good, Good Total: Syracuse 0 Notre Dame 6 Kicking plays total: Syracuse 7 Notre Dame 16 1r: 7, 1, 0, 9, 0, 1(4), 2, 1, 1, 9, 4, -1, 0(S), 1, 28, 1, 3, 3, 2 Total: Syracuse 14 Notre Dame 5 1p: 79TD, 11, I, I, 44, 20, 24, 16, I, 7, INT, 14(6), 54TD, 11, -3, I, 13, 8, 3(8), 8(7) Total: Syracuse 7 Notre Dame 13 First Down Total: Syracuse 21 Notre Dame 18 2r: 0, 11, 8, 7, 3TD, 5, 59TD, 4(9), 9, 5(7) Total: Syracuse 2 Notre Dame 8 2p: 13(9), I, 23, 19(9), -8(S), 8(1), 25(15), I, I, 6, 2(9) Total: Syracuse 5 Notre Dame 6 Second Down Total: Syracuse 7 Notre Dame 14 3r: 1(2), 5(1), 2, 0 Total: Syracuse 2 Notre Dame 1 3p: 67TD, I, I, -11(S), 10(13), I, I Total: Syracuse 6 Notre Dame 1 Third Down Total: Syracuse 8 Notre Dame 2 4r: none Total: Syracuse 0 Notre Dame 0 4p: 0 Total: Syracuse1 Notre Dame 0 Fourth Down Total: Syracuse 1 Notre Dame 0 Total on running plays: Syracuse 18 Notre Dame 14 Total on passing plays: Syracuse 19 Notre Dame 20 Total on plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 37 Notre Dame 34 Penalties not tacked on to plays: +15, -5, +15 Syracuse 1 Notre Dame 2 Game total when NOTRE DAME had the ball: Syracuse 45 Notre Dame 52 Overall game total: Syracuse 98 Notre Dame 111 Comments: Notre Dame was not without its troubles on special teams, either, mostly thanks to Brisley Estime, who returned three punts for an average of 43 yards. They missed a field goal, too. And, amazingly, we won 37 defensive plays from scrimmage to their 34. But when we lost, we lost big with plays of 28, 79TD, 44, 29, 24, 54TD, 23, 25, and 67TD plus a 93 yard kickoff return. A lot of stops can’t make up for that. But our defense wasn’t completely terrible. They had the same record on third down passes we did: a 67 yard TD followed by one ten yard pass when they needed 13, for incompletions and a sack for an 11 yard loss. They were the better team but they knew they were in a game. [/QUOTE]

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