Noles by the Numbers

by Bud Elliott on Oct 21, 2008 5:09 PM EDT in FSU Football

I had a lot of fun with Excel putting together some surprising Nole statistics. Also inside: I link to some good Nole Articles.

Noles by the Numbers

Remember to post your questions for the Virginia Tech Expert Here

The last time we won as a ranked team? 2006 against Rice. Ouch, let's correct that this weekend.

I ran some numbers this week. You won't find these anywhere else. Why? I create them via excel. Use them to talk smack to your friends.

Redzone Touchdown Defense Percentage

This stat measures the % of time that a defense gives up a touchdown on a redzone drive.

Name	Drives	Points	Rush TD	Pass TD	Red Zone TD %	Points per Red Zone Trip
Florida St.	18	53	2	3	28%	2.9
Kentucky	13	40	1	3	31%	3.1
Tennessee	22	76	2	5	32%	3.5
Boston College	12	37	4	0	33%	3.1
Georgia Tech	20	67	4	3	35%	3.4
Clemson	19	76	3	4	37%	4.0
Northern Ill.	13	45	2	3	38%	3.5
Minnesota	13	50	4	1	38%	3.8
Iowa	18	61	2	5	39%	3.4
BYU	17	58	5	2	41%	3.4
Alabama	12	50	1	4	42%	4.2

Yep, you guessed it, # 1

We also lead the nation in points allowed per red zone trip, but that stat has noise due to opposing team's field goal kicking.

Let's take a look at the same stat, for our offense:

	Name	Drives	Points	Rush TD	Pass TD	Red Zone TD %	Points per Red Zone Trip
1	Oklahoma	36	236	19	14	92%	6.6

Oklahoma St.

190

69%

5.4

Florida St.

131

64%

5.2

Notre Dame

55%

3.8

116

Wake Forest

39%

3.6

Hmm... 49th. That needs to improve. We're really 2 very close pass plays away from being a lot higher up.

Miscellaneous

FSU still leads the nation in 3rd down defense, and is the only team to hold opponents under 20 conversions. Why is it so crucial to win first down? That's why.
FSU has already scored as many TD's this year as they did last year (27).
We are not getting to the QB, posting a Sack rate of 6.04 %, the lowest in the last 5 years. I'm not sure what to make of that, as we are doing great on 3rd down. Maybe we are forcing quicker throws?
Despite having only 6 penalties, this was our worst penalty night. Why? None were of the beneficial defensive variety. I really hope we get back to the aggressive defensive style.
The Noles have entered the top 50 in OPAED (Opponent Adjusted Pass Efficiency Defense), checking in at # 44. Va Tech? # 79.

Let's talk penalties, again, as the media is still all over the Noles for their penalties:

Rank	Name	Games	Penalties	Yards Penalized	Penalties Per Game	Yards Per Game	Wins	Losses
1	Pittsburgh	6	20	139	3.33	23.17	5	1
2	Arizona	7	24	192	3.43	27.43	5	2
2	Navy	7	24	196	3.43	28.00	4	3
4	Boston College	6	21	164	3.50	27.33	5	1
5	Penn St.	8	29	238	3.63	29.75	8	0
6	Ball St.	7	26	264	3.71	37.71	7	0
7	Army	7	27	264	3.86	37.71	2	5
8	Syracuse	7	28	253	4.00	36.14	1	6
9	Iowa	8	33	294	4.13	36.75	5	3

Hmm, how many of those teams are ranked?...

4, and one of them is Ball State, who hasn't played anyone and doesn't need to play aggressively.

How about those scandalous, undisciplined, poorly behaved clubs?

111	Oklahoma St.	7	58	500	8.29	71.43	7	0
111	Nebraska	7	58	474	8.29	67.71	4	3
113	Florida	6	50	380	8.33	63.33	5	1
114	Southern Miss.	7	60	576	8.57	82.29	2	5
115	Texas Tech	7	61	507	8.71	72.43	7	0
116	Hawaii	7	62	565	8.86	80.71	3	4
117	Florida St.	6	55	505	9.17	84.17	5	1
118	TCU	8	77	677	9.63	84.63	7	1
119	Georgia	7	69	560	9.86	80.00	6	1

Yeah, thought so. 6 of those teams are ranked, and the bad teams on the list are at least respectable (except Hawaii).

So yeah, penalties = bad, right? Carry On.

Noles around the Nation

I'm always interested to see what others are saying about us:

Of the 5 sites ranking the ACC teams, all have the Noles at # 1 or # 2. There is a ton of love for the Noles right now, and many sites believe we will go to the Orange Bowl.

Props to a traditional media guy... Andrew Carter has a nice review of the offense in the first half of the season, in a 2 part series: One, Two.

Scalpem discusses the attendance issues. Hopefully, we won't be hit too hard by the World Series. Go Rays! Speaking of the Rays, please visit the great Rays Site: DRAYS BAY!

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Comments

One slight disagreement

I see a holding penalty no worse that pass intereference. You hold because you got beat and you PI because you got beat. It’s better to keep the QB upright as they don’t like to get hit and will have a tendency to get happy feet because of it. While I can’t prove it it wouldn’t surprise me if Chase Daniels last INT against Oky State was due to getting smothered two plays earlier. I will agree that the penalty for holding is usually worse than PI because QBs and RBs are usually not dropped for more than 10 yards a loss, but also holding isn’t called as often (as a percentage).

Now, when it becomes habitual, like PI, it becomes a problem. However, we have Bobby Bowden who is going to yell at officials (1 holding in the 2nd half to 5 in the first?) and is apparently close with God (he told Erin Andrews that he would pray to fix the holding penalties).

To recap: holding, like PI, not all that bad if done right and not often and God likes FSU more than NCState.

by evenflow58 on Oct 22, 2008 10:00 AM EDT reply actions