The Myth of Total Yardage

[Reliable Source]

On surface inspection it looks like ND outgained USF, but what is the real story? Officially Total yardage is Yards gained on the ground + Passing yards. But that stat doesn't begin to tell the story. We gained yardage in a lot of different ways and we scored 3 FGs which don't give any credit for yardage, ND had none. So here's my analysis.

                                              USF      ND

Total Yards                                     254      508

Yards from Fumble Rec. (Incl            141   

Marc Punt recovery-net 45)

Interception Returns(incl touchback

yards net 20)                                  20

Net Penalties                                  -43       -73

Net Punt returns                               34       -1

Field Goals Net                                 102        0

Kick Returns                                      67     110

Punts                                             256     171

                                                     _________

Total movement on field                    831     715

When you see these stats you'll notice that we kicked their butt in every aspect of the game except passing Yards(Even rushing we were 126 vs 117 for them) and Kick returns(we scored more so they returned more kicks). The reason they have such big passing numbers is because they were BEHIND the entire game and we were playing soft prevent defense. Anybody that can't see how we dominated this game,wasn't watching that closely. Quite simply we didn't put up big passing yards because we didn't have to. And of course we won the only stat that matters, points on the board.

[GoUSFBULLS274]

Who cares? We won.

[fuhbull11]

Who cares? We won.

Nice way to treat someone who put in a little work to uncover some game stats. Everyone clap for BULLS274

[DELdaBull]

Nice work Bill. Some things get lost in total yards, but all day ND was doing what they wanted to us. We just made some HUGE plays and capitalized on ND mistakes.

[Who'sYourData?]

I didn't see the clip from Snyder yet, but apparently it was our defensive strategy to keep the ball in front of us.  Give up yards, not points. 

I'd say the strategy worked out pretty well, though it does give ND a reason to think they should have won.

[GaUSFBull]

Gets way harder to score in the red zone ... your offensive play-calling is pretty limited.  We really tightened up there on D, especially in the 1st half.  With a bunch of open field, the Rees-Floyd combo was money, but we had a better chance to defend in the red zone with less space to work with.  Glad the first half went the way it did or we lose the game.  I'll give them 1000 yards in the game if we stop them in the red zone. 

[Guest]

Nice work Bill. Some things get lost in total yards, but all day ND was doing what they wanted to us. We just made some HUGE plays and capitalized on ND mistakes.

See, and the stats don't really bear that out.

Yes, the 1st half had two ND drives that went down the field and ended in turnovers (fumble, int).  But did you see the defense that force the Irish to punt FIVE TIMES.  You read that right. FIVE punts in the first half.

Then Rees came in after the 2 hour half-time.  That was different. Rees was able to push USF around... most of their yardage came after the delay.  (46-yard drive after a crappy punt, ended with Lanaris' INT, 66-yard drive for their first TD, 54-yard drive that ended with a missed FG, 76-yard drive for a TD, 2-play drive for Young's INT, and the final 99-yard drive for their last TD). (That last one was in prevent mode).

I would like to think, without the lengthy delay, the yards might not have been as easy for Rees.

[Reliable Source]

Who cares? We won.

Well obviously a lot of broadcast personnel and it's the meme being propagated by ND fans. I've heard this crap 4-5 times now. Unfortunately perception is reality when it comes to rankings and bowl selection. So, I guess, I care.

[Reliable Source]

I didn't see the clip from Snyder yet, but apparently it was our defensive strategy to keep the ball in front of us.  Give up yards, not points. 

I'd say the strategy worked out pretty well, though it does give ND a reason to think they should have won.

He talks about keeping Floyd in front  of the defense. We played that, kept their scoring down and created other oppos while we were doing that. We took an experienced QB and dismantled his confidence so bad that he got yanked.

[usfgrad84]

Interesting analysis. Definitely puts into perspective the fact that the game was one, not because ND played poorly, but because USF won because we made plays.

We won because Jerrell Young made a great play to stop the runner at the goal line and then made an even greater play on the strip.

Webster made the play to pick it up and run for the TD.

TREX made the play on the PR to set up the FG

Bonani made the plays on the FGs

Shields made a great run after catch on 3rd down to keep the TD drive alive.

Landi made a great TD catch.

Murray ran hard and got tough yards to keep the drive going.

BJ and the entire offense engineered a 16 or 17 play time consuming drive for the TD when they needed to.

They can harp all they want about total yards and mistakes they made, but we made mistakes that killed drives too (welch dropped easy first down, Popek false start on 3rd and short, Barrington Face Mask near goal line, Giddins offsiide). We just made plays to overcome them. That's how the game was won.