the average starting field position for KSU last year was our own 32. Our opponents started on their own 25 (not to mention a +11 adv held by KSU on drives starting opposition's territory). We had 164 drives and our opponents had 166 (likely a few more because of our int and kick returns for TDs).
That is roughly 1,100 yards that our opponents had to make up on us over the course of the season. The little things mean a LOT.
To break that down:
164 drives * 7 yards = 1,159 (actual) yards (less the 50 yards for two additional opponents drives) = 1,109 yards. Not to mention the scores already in the books (returns for TDs either by kick or int)
Add in penalty yards = +372 yards gained by KSU
= 1,481 yards advantage for KSU.
Anybody want to revisit the fact our opponents outgained us by 700? They had to in order to stay competitive.
The little things.
Sincerely,
Scheme Doctor
you should send this to saban. i bet he'll feel like an idiot for gaining 3,000 more yards than his opponents last year. guess those coaches schemed saban pretty hard.
I apologize if this statistic somewhat humbled you and left you with no other rebuttal but to mention the coach of a team full of first day draft picks. Since not everybody can get all of those draft picks and since Snyder is still picking up the pieces from three years of Prince we'll just have to win games we can.
Simple math states that 1,481 - 740 = + 741 yards for the Cats on the season. These are REAL yards and win games. I'm sure this bit of info was unexpected when you stole the floor and posted the outlier 'cats.
We were not "lucky"...good special teams, turnover margin, and fewer penalties = our opponents have to be decisive in their movement of the ball.
look, last year was great. you're great. life is great. bottom line is that the cats had nine games last year that were decided by less than a touchdown. they won 8 of those. 8/9. they were outgained by 700 yards. call it luck, call it being opportunistic, call it whatever you want. it was fun and i love my cats fball, but you play that season 10 more times with the same cast and crew and they lose two games or more each and every time. it's ok to point that out.
I give up. You are fixated on this 700 number and TOTALLY ignore the 1,480 yards. Those are REAL yards, ya dig? It doesn't make a difference is you get a 15 yard run, pass, or roughing the passer penalty (in your favor)...15 yards is 15 yards.
I'm not sure which part of this you don't understand so I will leave it as is.
Field position is the #1 factor in deciding the outcome of a game. #1. Football is nothing more than an acquisition of real estate. Well, our opponents most certainly did acquire more real estate on plays when the ball is snapped....of course they LOST 1,480 yards to us on kicks, turnovers, and penalties and those yards are just as REAL. A yard, is a yard, is a yard.
And I'm out of this thread.
the manhatter- there's no reason to be "out of this thread". we're having a discussion about ksu football. it's fun. it's a back and forth. i do admit that i'm kind of fixated on the -700 number. it's weird, no? i mean kstate was the only team in the top 25 that was outgained by their opponents last year and they were outgained by 700 yards. also, for as much as i'm fixated by it, you are ignoring it. food for thought.
i like the field position stuff that you posted. i don't expect you to, but it would be pretty interesting to look at field position numbers for the top10/top20 teams last year to see if kstate was just on par with them or freakishly better than average. that would be really interesting. posting just the kstate stuff doesn't do much for me because i don't have any comparison. understand if you don't want to dig to find the info. i sure don't want to.
That sounds reasonable. I would like to see the numbers for OU and many of these other top 25 programs but, unfortunately, it's not a stat they appear to track like KSU. Well, I'm sure they do but they didn't place it in their media guide like KSU did. I don't have the time to go through the entire season for these teams but here are a few nuggets regarding Oklahoma.
OU was 3-3 when they lost the turnover battle. I examined a loss in which they were outgained by 36 yards (tech) and a win in which they were outgained substantially (123 yards, Texas a&m).
Tech
-36 in yardage gained
-55 in field position (avg starting FP: Tech - own 31.9, OU - own 30.5)
- 2 in turnovers
- 11 yards in penalties
These numbers hold to what the point I'm trying to get across. Tech actually had a 102 yard edge when you add in penalty yards and starting field position.
Texas A&M (OU struggled to move the ball in this game while aTm rattled off some big plays)
- 124 in yardage gained
+ 289 in field position (avg starting FP: Texas a&m - own 22.4, OU - own 36.5)
+3 in turnovers
+30 in peanlties
So OU was outgained by 124 but held a 289 yard edge in field position and 30 yard edge in penalties. So, basically, they held a 195 yard edge when you add it together. Nobody who watched that game would have considered OU "lucky" to win it.
I examined the KSU win in Lubbock where we were outgained by 241 yards. We held an edge of 307 yards in starting field position, lost the penalty yards by 16, and won the turnover battle by 4. We also blocked the kicks.
