5.1 Yards Per Passing Attempt

[PonySnob]

Would Dieter have been any help this year?

[mrydel]

I do not believe so. Apparently he could not learn the pass routes. That kind of hurts if you are a receiver.

[PoconoPony]

Blame the horizontal pass play calls by the coaching staff first then look at the receivers and QB. Stallion is right on in his observations and comments.

[1983 Cotton Bowl]

Does the stat "yards per passing attempt" include running after the catch? Ie. is there some way to statistically differentiate between a QB who simply can't complete downfield passes and receivers who can't break tackles and make yards happen after the catch? Or is that not relevent?

The stat is the stat, and I see the point Stallion is making. I'm just trying to get a sense of the real problem. Is it that Gilbert simply can't hit big completions? Is it that the coaches aren't calling enough of those plays? Or is it the fact that we don't have any big play receivers? Perhaps all of the above? Sorry for all the question marks.

It seems to me that Gilbert's accuracy is better than last year. And the receivers are overall doing a better job of catching the ball. But I've also noticed that our receivers tend to be immediately tackled once the reception is made. Since I've heard that the run n' shoot/air raid is premised largely on having receivers who can make yards after the catch, that seems like a pretty big problem.

I recall one play late in the A&M game where Gilbert missed a wide open Holman down the side line. But, a couple of plays later he hit Holman in the end zone. So I guess that one worked out.

[PonyTime]

When SMU went to Ft. Worth two years ago and beat the frogs as heavy underdogs, they chose that particular game to start throwing the deep ball and opening up the offense, after numerous games full of bubble screens and short pass routs.

Let's hope Patterson takes the bait, plays the defense up on the line and preps for the bubble screens.

Let's hope that JJ really is holding onto another playbook that will surface asap.

I am encouraged by GG so far. Glad we have him here.

[Stallion]

That's a good point but I watched the first half replay and there were only about 3 balls thrown more than 10 yards in the first half until that last minute 2 minute drill -which was successful by the way. As I mentioned above Gilbert in the 3rd Q Gilbert looked better throwing downfield-which also was somewhat successful with some long drives

[ponyte]

The offense is different this year. A lot of the passes this year are basically sweeps. Just a different way to spread the D and make the D work more. By design, our yardage will be less with these types of passes. And this is different than the offense that JJ ran last year. Also, I doubt the play book has been opened up yet. The goal is to win the conference. No need to show everything in the playbook to conference foes.

[Rayburn]

The offense is different this year. A lot of the passes this year are basically sweeps. Just a different way to spread the D and make the D work more. By design, our yardage will be less with these types of passes. And this is different than the offense that JJ ran last year. Also, I doubt the play book has been opened up yet. The goal is to win the conference. No need to show everything in the playbook to conference foes.

Right.

The horizontal passing game is designed to push the defense out to the sidelines like driving a wedge into a crack. and we durn sure haven't seen all the tricks in JJ/Mumme's bag yet.

[sbsmith]

Does the stat "yards per passing attempt" include running after the catch? Ie. is there some way to statistically differentiate between a QB who simply can't complete downfield passes and receivers who can't break tackles and make yards happen after the catch? Or is that not relevent?

YPA includes all passing yards, so it's possible for a QB's YPA to be inflated by having really good YAC WRs. There are advanced metrics (the NFL uses them) that can total how far a QB is driving the ball down the field from scrimmage but the NCAA doesn't keep them on a comprehensive basis.

[Stallion]

NCAA only ranks Yards Per Completion not Yards Per Attempt. 5.1 is very very low though
And I perfecty understand the reasoning about stretching the field horizontal but in fact the best offenses-including the best Air Raid offenses -also stretch the field vertically to force you to cover every blade of grass including Baylor which is leading the country in Pass Per Completion. UH and Texas Tech used to do the same thing

[sbsmith]

Also, I doubt the play book has been opened up yet. The goal is to win the conference. No need to show everything in the playbook to conference foes.

NFL teams do the exact same thing in the preseason.

[sbsmith]

The offense is different this year. A lot of the passes this year are basically sweeps. Just a different way to spread the D and make the D work more. By design, our yardage will be less with these types of passes. And this is different than the offense that JJ ran last year. Also, I doubt the play book has been opened up yet. The goal is to win the conference. No need to show everything in the playbook to conference foes.

Right.

The horizontal passing game is designed to push the defense out to the sidelines like driving a wedge into a crack. and we durn sure haven't seen all the tricks in JJ/Mumme's bag yet.

Hopefully those tricks include making the defense account for the middle of the field (with runs/play action that make the defense commit more defenders to the box thus opening up the outside for swings/screens). We're too easy to defend because we're one dimensional.