Football The Temple Game

[Grateful Dad]

At the beginning of the season, I circled this game as an L for USF.  I believe @NewEnglandBull or @JTrue challenged me reminding me that the home team has always won.  Well, Temple's stats do not support my prediction (although the game hasn't been played).  I snatched a post from the Temple BB, in which a poster breaks down their team.  It is as follows and long:

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Since we have some time to stew over the UCF loss and examine where the Owls are in the AAC race, I figured it's also not a bad time to gloss over some of the stats. A wise man once said, "you are what your record says you are". Owls have shown signs of offensive struggles even in their wins and you combine that with defensive collapse the last two week, the end result is two ugly losses.

Anyways, here are some numbers so far

Offense:

-75th in total offense with 400 yards/gm

- 77th in scoring offense averaging 27ppg

-90th in redzone offense converting 80% of their trips into points. Interestingly enough, Memphis (92nd), UCF (96th), and SMU (109) are worse.

- 81st in 3rd down conversions with 38% conversion rate, take out the Bucknell game and they drop to 112th in the nation

- Temple's best quarter is the 2nd quarter where they rank 58th in the nation in points, the other 3 quarters Temple ranks below the 90s

- Temple's rush offense is good for 96th in the country at 138 ypg

- Offensive line is tied for 37th in the sacks given up, 34th in the nation in "passing downs" sack rate

- They rank 114th in "line yards", which is to say, the credit the offensive line gets per rush attempt, so our RBs are having to do quite a bit of work

- 111th in rush yards/attempt

-96th in the country in penalties

- 93rd in the country in yards per completion

- 68th in the nation in "explosive plays", ie. those that go for 10+ yards

Defense:

-74th in the nation in total defense allowing 400 yards per game

-68th in scoring defense in the nation allowing 27.8 ppg

- pass defense ranks 79th at 235 ypg. After allowing 4.8 yards per completion in their first 5 games, they are allowing 8.9 in their last 3 games

- 93rd in the country in allowing "explosive" pass plays (10+ yards)

- 37th in the country in sacks with 20

- 60th in sack rate and 63rd in passing down sack rate

- 19th in the nation in stuff rate, which is percentage of carries stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage

- 4th in the country in redzone conversion, only allowing 59% of attempts to go for points. Last 4 games it jumps to 70.75%, which would only drop them down 11th but still a fairly significant % increase.

- They are 110th in the nation in allowing teams to get into the redzone, 34 trips so far this season

- Defense ranks 114th in the nation in allowing 3rd quarter points. Significant struggle after halftime. 44th in the country in allowing 1st quarter points.

- Rush defense is 75th in the nation at 167 yards per game. UCF game was the first this season where they allowed over 300 yards rushing.

- 52 in the nation in allowing "explosive" rush plays

Special Teams:

- 106th in net punting

- 100th on ESPN's special teams efficiency rating

- 19th in the country in kickoffs average 63.68 yards

So there you have it and its sort of a surprise that the Owls have managed to be 5-3 to this point. With injuries, depth issues, difficulty sustaining drives and putting up points, too many penalties, and defense falling apart, Temple needed this bye-week badly.

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Looking at the Temple stats, what plays or formations do you think we should use to take advantage of these stats?

[ForestBull]

1 hour ago, Grateful Dad said:

 

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Looking at the Temple stats, what plays or formations do you think we should use to take advantage of these stats?

I really hope we see the victory formation a few times, preferably late in the 4th qtr.

[Grateful Dad]

2 minutes ago, ForestBull said:

I really hope we see the victory formation a few times, preferably late in the 4th qtr.

Like really close to the end? 

Buried in that pile, are some stats that are pretty good:

19th in the nation in stuff rate, which is percentage of carries stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage

- 4th in the country in redzone conversion, only allowing 59% of attempts to go for points. Last 4 games it jumps to 70.75%, which would only drop them down 11th but still a fairly significant % increase.

- They are 110th in the nation in allowing teams to get into the redzone, 34 trips so far this season

 

I guess that they allow teams to get into the redzone and then deny them.  Sounds like FG opportunities, though

[puc86]

It must be nice to have and offense as prolific as 75th.

[Bull Matrix]

This is a payback game for USF as they blew it up in Philly last season. As Clubber Lang wound say, I predict pain!!

[JTrue]

4 hours ago, Grateful Dad said:

At the beginning of the season, I circled this game as an L for USF.  I believe @NewEnglandBull or @JTrue challenged me reminding me that the home team has always won.  Well, Temple's stats do not support my prediction (although the game hasn't been played).  I snatched a post from the Temple BB, in which a poster breaks down their team.  It is as follows and long:

------------------------------------------------------

Since we have some time to stew over the UCF loss and examine where the Owls are in the AAC race, I figured it's also not a bad time to gloss over some of the stats. A wise man once said, "you are what your record says you are". Owls have shown signs of offensive struggles even in their wins and you combine that with defensive collapse the last two week, the end result is two ugly losses.

Anyways, here are some numbers so far

Offense:

-75th in total offense with 400 yards/gm

- 77th in scoring offense averaging 27ppg

-90th in redzone offense converting 80% of their trips into points. Interestingly enough, Memphis (92nd), UCF (96th), and SMU (109) are worse.

- 81st in 3rd down conversions with 38% conversion rate, take out the Bucknell game and they drop to 112th in the nation

- Temple's best quarter is the 2nd quarter where they rank 58th in the nation in points, the other 3 quarters Temple ranks below the 90s

- Temple's rush offense is good for 96th in the country at 138 ypg

- Offensive line is tied for 37th in the sacks given up, 34th in the nation in "passing downs" sack rate

- They rank 114th in "line yards", which is to say, the credit the offensive line gets per rush attempt, so our RBs are having to do quite a bit of work

- 111th in rush yards/attempt

-96th in the country in penalties

- 93rd in the country in yards per completion

- 68th in the nation in "explosive plays", ie. those that go for 10+ yards

Defense:

-74th in the nation in total defense allowing 400 yards per game

-68th in scoring defense in the nation allowing 27.8 ppg

- pass defense ranks 79th at 235 ypg. After allowing 4.8 yards per completion in their first 5 games, they are allowing 8.9 in their last 3 games

- 93rd in the country in allowing "explosive" pass plays (10+ yards)

- 37th in the country in sacks with 20

- 60th in sack rate and 63rd in passing down sack rate

- 19th in the nation in stuff rate, which is percentage of carries stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage

- 4th in the country in redzone conversion, only allowing 59% of attempts to go for points. Last 4 games it jumps to 70.75%, which would only drop them down 11th but still a fairly significant % increase.

- They are 110th in the nation in allowing teams to get into the redzone, 34 trips so far this season

- Defense ranks 114th in the nation in allowing 3rd quarter points. Significant struggle after halftime. 44th in the country in allowing 1st quarter points.

- Rush defense is 75th in the nation at 167 yards per game. UCF game was the first this season where they allowed over 300 yards rushing.

- 52 in the nation in allowing "explosive" rush plays

Special Teams:

- 106th in net punting

- 100th on ESPN's special teams efficiency rating

- 19th in the country in kickoffs average 63.68 yards

So there you have it and its sort of a surprise that the Owls have managed to be 5-3 to this point. With injuries, depth issues, difficulty sustaining drives and putting up points, too many penalties, and defense falling apart, Temple needed this bye-week badly.

-------------------------------------------------

Looking at the Temple stats, what plays or formations do you think we should use to take advantage of these stats?

Wasn't me. 

[Grateful Dad]

6 minutes ago, JTrue said:

Wasn't me. 

I went back and looked.  It was NEB.  I knew it was someone who knew more about football than I do.  Of course, that is a large population.

[NewEnglandBull]

4 hours ago, Grateful Dad said:

At the beginning of the season, I circled this game as an L for USF.  I believe @NewEnglandBull or @JTrue challenged me reminding me that the home team has always won.  Well, Temple's stats do not support my prediction (although the game hasn't been played).  I snatched a post from the Temple BB, in which a poster breaks down their team.  It is as follows and long:

------------------------------------------------------

Since we have some time to stew over the UCF loss and examine where the Owls are in the AAC race, I figured it's also not a bad time to gloss over some of the stats. A wise man once said, "you are what your record says you are". Owls have shown signs of offensive struggles even in their wins and you combine that with defensive collapse the last two week, the end result is two ugly losses.

Anyways, here are some numbers so far

Offense:

-75th in total offense with 400 yards/gm

- 77th in scoring offense averaging 27ppg

-90th in redzone offense converting 80% of their trips into points. Interestingly enough, Memphis (92nd), UCF (96th), and SMU (109) are worse.

- 81st in 3rd down conversions with 38% conversion rate, take out the Bucknell game and they drop to 112th in the nation

- Temple's best quarter is the 2nd quarter where they rank 58th in the nation in points, the other 3 quarters Temple ranks below the 90s

- Temple's rush offense is good for 96th in the country at 138 ypg

- Offensive line is tied for 37th in the sacks given up, 34th in the nation in "passing downs" sack rate

- They rank 114th in "line yards", which is to say, the credit the offensive line gets per rush attempt, so our RBs are having to do quite a bit of work

- 111th in rush yards/attempt

-96th in the country in penalties

- 93rd in the country in yards per completion

- 68th in the nation in "explosive plays", ie. those that go for 10+ yards

Defense:

-74th in the nation in total defense allowing 400 yards per game

-68th in scoring defense in the nation allowing 27.8 ppg

- pass defense ranks 79th at 235 ypg. After allowing 4.8 yards per completion in their first 5 games, they are allowing 8.9 in their last 3 games

- 93rd in the country in allowing "explosive" pass plays (10+ yards)

- 37th in the country in sacks with 20

- 60th in sack rate and 63rd in passing down sack rate

- 19th in the nation in stuff rate, which is percentage of carries stopped at or behind the line of scrimmage

- 4th in the country in redzone conversion, only allowing 59% of attempts to go for points. Last 4 games it jumps to 70.75%, which would only drop them down 11th but still a fairly significant % increase.

- They are 110th in the nation in allowing teams to get into the redzone, 34 trips so far this season

- Defense ranks 114th in the nation in allowing 3rd quarter points. Significant struggle after halftime. 44th in the country in allowing 1st quarter points.

- Rush defense is 75th in the nation at 167 yards per game. UCF game was the first this season where they allowed over 300 yards rushing.

- 52 in the nation in allowing "explosive" rush plays

Special Teams:

- 106th in net punting

- 100th on ESPN's special teams efficiency rating

- 19th in the country in kickoffs average 63.68 yards

So there you have it and its sort of a surprise that the Owls have managed to be 5-3 to this point. With injuries, depth issues, difficulty sustaining drives and putting up points, too many penalties, and defense falling apart, Temple needed this bye-week badly.

-------------------------------------------------

Looking at the Temple stats, what plays or formations do you think we should use to take advantage of these stats?

None of those stats show dominance in any one area. On offense let’s out “speed” them on the corners. If they get aggressive then pull a screen or pass to RB. QB draw will be there plenty too. Defensively, got to get pressure on the QB and we need three turnovers. They do run the ball well so play run stop first and foremost and put QB in passing downs. A few other points to keep in mind:

They are 1-2 on the road 

Have lost 2 games in a row

Only beat ECU by 10 (27 to 17)

Did beat Memphis (controversial call) so besting temple gives us confidence against Memphis. 

[Guest Jonesy Bull]

Thanks Grateful Dad! 

After looking at these Stats, I feel even better about our chances than before, and I was already leaning towards a close Bulls victory.  We definitely have better stats on Defense and if we get key take aways like we have been doing, then that bodes well.   Our Offense is starting to gel a little bit more with KB.  If we don't shoot ourselves in the foot, I really like our chances in this one!

Of course, we have been led down this road before and have been burned badly....so who knows.

[NewEnglandBull]

1 hour ago, Jonesy Bull said:

Thanks Grateful Dad! 

After looking at these Stats, I feel even better about our chances than before, and I was already leaning towards a close Bulls victory.  We definitely have better stats on Defense and if we get key take aways like we have been doing, then that bodes well.   Our Offense is starting to gel a little bit more with KB.  If we don't shoot ourselves in the foot, I really like our chances in this one!

Of course, we have been led down this road before and have been burned badly....so who knows.

We lose this game and I am going straight to my safe space for three days.............