Grading the team's performance: Week 3

Hpslugga

Hpslugga

2,500+ Posts
Rice grades

Offense

-Win-check
-35+ points-check
-100% Green Zone scoring-check
-450+ yards total offense-check
-40% or better on 3rd downs-check
-1 or fewer turnovers-no check
-Four plays 20+ yards long-check
-60%+ pass completions-check
-No sacks allowed-no check
-Eliminate foolish penalties-no check
-Win the 4th quarter-check

8/11. Only thing I'd like back obviously is that damn pass play to Irby. The penalties thing was a minor issue (had one false start and one illegal formation), we did allow 2 sacks, and both those turnovers were extremely flukey. Still, great outing once again.

Defense

-Win-check
-17 or fewer points-check
-Force 2+ turnovers-no check
-Give offense the ball twice or more inside the 50-check
-Force five 3-and-outs-no check
-No run over 20 yards-no check
-No pass over 25 yards-no check
-49% or worse completions-no check
-Goal line or 4th and short stop-check
-Less than 200 yards passing-no check
-Less than 100 yards rushing-check
-Less than 300 yards total offense-no check
-Score on defense-no check
-Shut out-no check

5 of 14. Again, horrible means to justify a solid end. We're showing little if any improvement in pass defense, but we're stepping up when it counts. That goal line stand where they ran 10 offensive plays inside our 7 yard line was an outstanding effort that basically deflated Rice for the remainder of the game. Of course they could do a lot worse, but they could also do a lot better.

Special Teams

-No penalties-no check
-No blocked punts allowed-check
-No blocked PAT's/FG's allowed-check
-No fumbles-check
-No more than 10 yards per return covering punts-check
-Catch all fieldable punts-check
-Average 10+ yards per return on all fieldable punts-no check
-Return 1 kickoff past our own 40-check
-No kickoff return past their own 35-check
-PAT's 100%-check

8/10. Only made one penalty, but it was rather costly as it deprived us of a big punt return that would have otherwise given us a perfect 10 for 10.

Total: 21/35. Nothing else really needs to be said. This really has been the same game as the previous 2. Great offense, solid special teams, shakey defense that refuses to completely break.
 
Defensively, you failed to account for the number of passes we knocked down. Not to mention sacks...
 
HP, thanks for posting this. But I agree with pulque about the D. Maybe you should offer extra credit in addition to your postgame evaluation?
 
Sacks technically are counted since they count against the other teams' rushing totals. If they're still getting 100+ yards rushing even after a few sacks, then we're probably not playing well. The other team is either moving the ball or it's not. And there are some teams that we will/could play that don't throw the ball much (or throw quickly), and sacks become very rare and the raw totals would seem unimpressive. As far as the batted passes, I don't really care. The opposing QB's are either completing passes or they're not. That's why the 49% completion part is a grade. They still went 62.5% passing, which is too many completions for that amount of attempts (30 of 48). I've already amended this thing several times. I'm not going to do it again because it'll eventually get to the point where we're getting checks for just showing up and not really accomplishing anything. If you're asking to include that in my comments, yes, I will do that. But those items are not to be counted on this checklist.
 
A couple of thoughts...

There really isn't a question that pass defense is the biggest issue Muschamp must tackle. Our secondary is still out of position sometimes, but secondary coverage as a whole has improved each game. The problem is we are simply missing too many tackles when we are in position to make a play. I'd be scared to know what the YAC has been against our defense these first three games. Overall team tackling has been pretty disappointing this season.

We are not running the ball on offense like we need to. I don't know if that is because the OL isn't doing their job or if the RB's are underperforming (or some combination of the two). I'm desperately hoping that Fozzy helps our run game when he gets back.
 
I don't like the 50 percent rule - that's outdated in my opinion. Any solid QB with a decent scheme ought to be completing 50 percent regardless of who he's playing.) I don't think it's necessarily a black mark to not achieve that.

I also don't like the fourth-down/goal line rule (even though we got a check) because if that situation never arises, you'd theoretically get a black mark for no reason other than the natural course of the game.

Essentially it just seems pretty arbitrary. Why 5 three-and-outs? If we force four, but on another play we give up a first down on one play, then they punt in three more, should that somehow be a negative?

I get that it's not supposed to be exact, but I'm a lot more concerned about uncontested completions, non-pressured pass attempts, drive-extending penalties... there's a lot of other things you could probably stick in there.

I also think there's something to be said for a team that starts poorly and finishes strong on defense. After a poor first quarter, I thought the defense played relatively well against a good quarterback.
 
We're averaging 4.5 yards per rush with McGee, Johnson and Fozzy. The thing is that they only have 68 total carries so their raw totals look pedestrian. We're a passing team and the running game's success will go as far as that takes us.
 
That's an important distinction. I don't think it's so much about dumbing the reuirements down as understanding how/if the final grade is used. When you do the final tally, it's inevidable that you ask the question "ok, we scored 5 of 14, what does that mean? Is it a passing grade? Failing?" i was thinking of it in terms of a scale which spits out a final grade that tells you if the defense "passed" - that's not really the same as looking at it as a series of goals you want to achieve, which seems to be more of the case.
 
Of course you could label it with a pass/fail concept if you just know what metrics to value over others. They're obviously not all equal. If we're scoring the points and getting the yards on offense and preventing the opponent from getting the points and yards, we're passing. The other metrics decipher between a D up to an A.
 
It seems like after hearing Mack's " how we revised our defensive stats" talk--the 3 new big 3 are
(taking into account- spread offenses)

defensive pass completion percentage
yards per attempt
final score

I'm not recommending you change yours
 
Our obsession with pass/fail reveals our superficiality. The grading scheme should be about a quality conversation as to where the improvement opportunties are. That's what this can do.

Keep it cominn', slugga. I'm sure I'm among a large number who look for this post right after reading the A-S writeup, maybe before.
 
Thanks again, HP. I believe pass/fail is the scoreboard. I like using Tom Landry's metrics as a standard. I suppose other posters could develop their own and post their grades. The results would probably be pretty similar.
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Hey, I love this stuff. An objective way to look at the three areas of the game.

So far, I say our lack of running game and our weak pass defense are going to be a big problem in conference until I see otherwise.
 
This is a great tool and I can see why so many coaches would use it.
The purpose of reports like this is to see tendancies and trends not specific to a single game... Batted balls, etc. are just style points... reporting on that won't carry over to the next week, and therefor, won't show you were you need to improve in the greater context of the season. That's what the film room is for.
 
We better get a pass rush and learn to cover and tackle or every one of those defensive lines will be a no-check vs ou, missou, and tech.

Any chance Gresham will quit the team before 10/11?
 
I look forward to this post every week. It's a barometer we can go back and look at and it takes emotion out of the equation.
 
As i said before, I also really look forward to this post after every game.

i do think you might want to save some of your responses and put those at the bottom of next weeks post as it looks like you have to keep answering the same questions week after week, and its always someone complaining about the scoring system and/or defense stats.
 
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