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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 4755088, 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 plays 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 at least halfway to a new first down by the same logic. - On third and fourth down, they want to get the 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 25 yard run on first and ten and the holding was 20 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. The penalties I’ve listed negated the play entirely and are a “loss” for the penalized team and thus a win for their opponent. - 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. Beyond that, the receiving team wins. - 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 team 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 scramble/sack (“S”) a victory play (“V”) or involved a penalty (P). I’ll treat a scramble or a sack as a passing play as the Cuse.com play by play now tells you when it’s either of those two. 1R means first down running plays. 1P means first down passing plays, etc. I have decided to list the “Big Plays” at the bottom of each team’s summary. A big play is a play from scrimmage of over 20 yards, (or 20+ yards lost), kickoff returns of +25 yards, punt returns of +20, blocked kicks, missed kicks, and turnovers on fumbles, interceptions and downs. When Syracuse had the ball: Drive Starts: SU28, 50, SU14, SU35, SU27, SU1, SU26, SU11, WM49, SU10, SU11, SU37 = 301/12 = SU25 with 899 yards to go. KO: WM25, WM25, WM25, WM25, WM25, WM25, WM25, WM30(p) Total: Syracuse 6 Western Michigan 1 P: 42 to WM 6, 46 to WM 41, 41 to WM 34, 55 to WM 30 Total: Syracuse 4 Western Michigan 0 FG: Good from 36, Good from 33 Total: Syracuse 2 Western Michigan 0 XP: Good, Good, Good, Good, Good, Good Total: Syracuse 6 Western Michigan 0 Kicking plays total: Syracuse 18 Western Michigan 1 1r: 9, 1TD, -1, 1, 4, 1TD, 7, 2TD, 2, 0, -2, 1, -1, 3, 3, 3, 2, -1(v) Total: Syracuse 7 Western Michigan 11 1p: I, I, 1, 4, I, 31P, 86TD, I, 3(15), 48, I, I, 4, I, 9, 13 Total: Syracuse 7 Western Michigan 9 First Down Total: Syracuse 14 Western Michigan 20 2r: 6(1), 21(p)(11), 18TD, 3(6), 1, 22(1), 3(9), 2(4), 1(2), 2(7), 22(8) Total: Syracuse 8 Western Michigan 3 2p: 10, 7(10), 16(11), I, 3, 3, I, 3, 8(3), 13(6), I, -3(s), I, -1(s) Total: Syracuse 5 Western Michigan 9 Second Down Total: Syracuse 13 Western Michigan 12 3r: 11(6), 1(2), 6(5) Total: Syracuse 2 Western Michigan 1 3p: 3(3), I, 15(7), 17(3), 19(7), 20(8), 7(13), 8(16), I, I Total: Syracuse 5 Western Michigan 5 Third Down Total: Syracuse 7 Western Michigan 6 4r: none Total: Syracuse 0 Western Michigan 0 4p: none Total: Syracuse 0 Western Michigan 0 Fourth Down Total: Syracuse 0 Western Michigan 0 Total on running plays: Syracuse 17 Western Michigan 15 Total on passing plays: Syracuse 17 Western Michigan 23 Total on plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 34 Western Michigan 38 Penalties not tacked on to plays: +15, -5, +15, -5, -5, +15, +14, -4 Syracuse 4 Western Michigan 4 Game total when Syracuse had the ball: Syracuse 56 Western Michigan 43 Big Plays (8): 31(p) pass to Jones, 21(p) Allen run, 86TD pass to Brown, 48 pass to Hatcher, 84 Interception return by Simmons, 20 pass to Hatcher, 22 run by Price, 22yds run by Daniels When Western Michigan had the ball: Drive Starts: WM25, WM25, WM25, WM25, WM25, WM25, WM25, WM6, WM41, WM30, WM34, WM30 = 316/12 = WM26 with 884 yards to go KO: SU28, SU26 Total: Syracuse 2 Western Michigan 0 P: 57 to SU14(p), 24 to SU35, 45 to SU 27, 43 to SU 1, 43 to SU 11, 50 to SU10(p) Total: Syracuse 1 Western Michigan 5 FG: none Total: Syracuse 0 Western Michigan 0 XP: Good Total: Syracuse 0 Western Michigan 1 Kicking plays total: Syracuse 3 Western Michigan 6 1r: 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 3, 2, 2, 2, 1, 4, 2 -1 Total: Syracuse 13 Western Michigan 1 1p: 8, 4, 10, 4, 3, I, I, -9(s), I, I, 4, 3 Total: Syracuse 6 Western Michigan 5 First Down Total: Syracuse 19 Western Michigan 6 2r: 75TD, 2(2), 5, 5(6), 3(7), 1(8) Total: Syracuse 2 Western Michigan 4 2p: I, -6(5), 7(6), -3, -13(s), 19, 15, I, 3(7), I, 7(8), I, 6(8), 4(6), I, 6(7), 6(6), I, 7(11) Total: Syracuse 9 Western Michigan 10 Second Down Total: Syracuse 11 Western Michigan 14 3r: 5(12), 2(4), 5(2) Total: Syracuse 2 Western Michigan 1 3p: I, 15(31), I, 2(1), 10(23), 13, I, 8, 6(1), -5(s), 10(2), 19(9), I, I, I Total: Syracuse 11 Western Michigan 5 Third Down Total: Syracuse 13 Western Michigan 6 4r: none Total: Syracuse 0 Western Michigan 0 4p: 5(2), INTERCEPTION 84TD, I, I, I Total: Syracuse 4 Western Michigan 1 Fourth Down Total: Syracuse 4 Western Michigan 1 Total on running plays: Syracuse 17 Western Michigan 6 Total on passing plays: Syracuse 30 Western Michigan 21 Total on plays from scrimmage: Syracuse 47 Western Michigan 27 Penalties not tacked on to plays: -15, -5, -5 Syracuse 3 Western Michigan 0 Game total when Western Michigan had the ball: Syracuse 53 Western Michigan 33 Big Plays (3): 75TD, The Alford drop, 34 pass to Womack Overall game total: Syracuse 109 Western Michigan 76 Comments: None of our last 11 first down runs went more than 3 yards, although one was for a TD and another the ‘victory’ play. Fortunately 11 second down runs gained 101 yards. Our first half passing on all downs was, of course, superb. And our kicking game has been both strong and amazingly consistent. We still haven’t seen Denaburg line up a long one or kick a wet ball. It’s our defense that has really been amazing. We stuffed 13 of their 14 first down runs. The first four were no gain. Those 14 plays gained 16 yards. They had one second down run gain 75 yards. The others gained 16. But its big plays that blow games like this open. We had 8 to their three and I decided to give them Alford’s drop as one of theirs. [/QUOTE]

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