Tuesday Tidbits, 9/6/2011

Well, I've had a chance to go back, watch the game, review some stats, go over a few things about BYU's game at Ole Miss.  Now, back by popular demand, here come some Tuesday Tidbits, statistical items from BYU's game.

Crossing the 50
Last season I looked at the maturation of BYU's offense by points scored compared to how many times they crossed the 50.  BYU struggled in this early in the season last year, playing young guys, taking a conservative approach, with possessing a kicker with limited range.  At Ole Miss, they struggled with this again mightily.  They had 6 meaningful possessions on the Ole Miss side of the 50, with 1 turnover and 7 points.

To put some historical perspective on it, the 2009 BYU offense led by Max Hall, Dennis Pitta, Harvey Unga, etc. averaged 7 possessions per game on the plus side of the 50.  That BYU unit scored on 77% of its possessions when crossing the 50.  They turned the ball over 8% of the time.  That BYU team averaged 35.5 points per game.  This BYU team has a long way to go.  Last year's team turned it around by the end of the season.  At Ole Miss, they had only 1 fewer possession on the plus-side of the 50, but had a higher turnover rate (17%)  and a much lower scoring rate (17).

Young teams don't finish drives.  Great offenses get points on the board.  Right now, this BYU offense is more young, and less great.  I anticipate it will get better as the season goes along, but BYU needs it to get better tomorrow with Texas and Utah coming up.

Outside Linebacker Play
Ole Miss must not have believed that BYU's OLBs could play ball.  Pendleton came through into the backfield unblocked four times during the game.  It wasn't that somebody missed the block, there was simply not a person there to block him.  Kyle Van Noy, Jameson Frazier, and Jadon Wagner never had that luxury of free runs into the backfield, but that didn't stop them from making plays back there anyway.  In fact, on the sack, fumble, and defensive TD, there were two guys (an extra TE and RB) to block Van Noy, one to block Frazier, and both of them got to the QB virtually untouched.  There were 7 blockers to BYU's 4 rushers, and 3 BYU defenders got near the QB.  Ole Miss simply could not match up with the athleticism of Pendleton, KVN, Frazier, and Wagner.

[Also, a fact check from my earlier post, it was actually Jameson Frazier who drew the crucial holding penalty in the fourth quarter, not Jadon Wagner, 48/49 look similar through a bevy of linemen when you're in the 4th row...].  On one other side note: having seen a few replays of that defensive TD, I get goose bumps every time as I was able to relive the excitement of being in the stadium with a bunch of BYU fans going nuts.  It's much better than going nuts in your living room with a couple of friends: you look a lot less insane!

The 2-4-5 Defense
BYU employed their nickle defense 10 times (all in obvious passing situations).  8 times they brought 4 rushers, both DL and both OLBs.  The other 2 times they brought 3, dropping one of the OLBs in coverage.  This turned out to be a great use of Van Noy last season, and it worked very well this game as well.  Last season he sealed the SDSU win by batting down a late fourth quarter pass from that very same defensive formation.  At Ole Miss, this was the formation where he came off the edge, forced the fumble, and scored the touchdown.  I anticipate we will continue to see this formation and that rushing pattern throughout the season.  However, a well-coached team will be able to slow down the rush, they may need to add a wrinkle where a 5th guy comes from the secondary.  The only "twist" I saw in the pattern was stunting the defensive linemen on two occasions, including Manumaleuna's big play that I mention in the upcoming paragraph.

No Stats, But Deserves Mention
BYU's Defensive Line controlled things.  They were more physical than the Ole Miss OL.  Rarely did any RBs break into the secondary.  The OL weren't able to get past BYU's front three to go make blocks at the second level either.  They dominated the trenches for the majority of the afternoon.  It was the Ole Miss DL that looked gassed in the fourth quarter, not BYU's.  Manumaleuna sealed the deal by reading screen while running the opposite direction, 3 yards in the backfield, and chasing the play down from behind on 4th and 10 in the fourth quarter.  I remember a Sunday School lesson a few years ago that started with: what is Santa Claus' real name?  The correct answer to the teacher's question was Eathyn Manumaleuna (this was about 12 hours after his blocked field goal in the Las Vegas Bowl on the final play of the game).  He lived up to the reputation, and name, again!  He also batted down Jake Locker's 4th down pass late in the fourth quarter of the Washington game last season.  He has a knack for the dramatic, doesn't he?

First Down Predictability
Doman seemed to mix up formations and play calls on 1st and 10 much more than Anae.  In the first quarter, BYU ran the ball to the right side 4 times, to the left side 2 times.  BYU had 3 play-action passes, and no straight drop back passes.  Only one first down play came out of the shotgun.  One came with split backs.  The other seven were split between I-formation and single back with a 2nd TE.

In the second quarter, BYU never ran right, ran left 1 time, and passed 4 times.  BYU took 3 plays from the shotgun and 2 under center.  BYU passed 4 times out of 5, only 1 of which came off of play-action.  The single running play was out of the shotgun, following the left side.

In the third quarter, BYU ran right 4 times, ran left 3 times, and passed 2 times.  There were no play-action passes.  3 plays came from the shotgun, with Riley Nelson taking one of those snaps.  One play BYU ran with an unbalanced offensive line (3 OL on one side of the C and only 1 on the other).

In the fourth quarter, BYU ran right 1 time, ran left 2 times, and passed 3 times (all play-action).  BYU only took one "1st and 10" snap from the shotgun.

All in all, BYU took eight 1st and 10 plays from the shotgun out of 29 plays.  BYU ran right 9 times, ran left 8 times, and passed the ball 12 times (although one of the pass plays ended up as a sack).  7 of the 12 first down passing plays came off of play-action.  That is about as balanced and spread out as one could hope for.

Right Side, Strong Side
BYU ran the ball much more effectively on the right side.  BYU averaged 4.75 yards/carry when following the Bradens.  BYU averaged 2.8 yards/carry behind the Reynolds.  By my count, BYU averaged only 2.4 yards/carry from the shotgun and 4.2/carry from under center.

BYU completed 6 of 13 passes to the left side for 59 yards.  BYU completed 9 of 13 passes to the right side for 88 yards.  BYU was 6 for 10 over the middle for 73 yards.

The right side was still the "strong side" in the fourth quarter, where Braden Hansen sat out a series after getting knicked up at the end of the third quarter.  Houston Reynolds moved to Right Guard and Marco Thorson played Left Guard.  I knew I saw Thorson in there in the fourth quarter.  The film confirmed that.  However, starting RG Braden Hansen has not been listed in any injury reports, so whatever the injury was, it must not be serious.  He wasn't listed as injured, he returned to the game later, and he is at the top of the depth chart for this week.