Interesting Numbers from 2007

by marmotman on Jul 28, 2008 4:36 PM EDT

------------------------------------------------UT------OPP

SCORING....................... 455 382

Points Per Game............. 32.5 27.3

3RD-DOWN CONVERSIONS.......... 81/202 86/213

3rd-Down Pct................ 40% 40%

TIME OF POSSESSION/GAME....... 28:25 31:35

RUSHING YARDAGE............... 1946 2305

Yards gained rushing........ 2128 2622

Rushing Attempts............ 459 545

Average Per Rush............ 4.2 4.2

Average Per Game............ 139.0 164.6

TDs Rushing................. 19 15

So what does this tell us? Well for one, our average per rush was identical to our opponents', so why not try it more? We lost in the time of possession, even though we did outscore our opponents by 5 points per game. Those extra six carries per game could have kept our D off the field. Interestingly, we scored more touchdowns on the ground.

I think Cutcliffe carried the Ole Miss frame of mind back to UT and didn't show our O-line enough confidence. The UCLA game should tell us a lot about Clawson's opinion of the hogs.

Just trying to beat a dead horse.

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I'd love to pick apart Cutcliffe's mind on last year.

I also got the feeling that he didn’t trust the team enough to move away from the quick passes. I don’t know what it was exactly that caused that, but they did seem to avoid the run and the long pass.

A part of the difference in rushing was the teams that we faced – particularly MSU and Arkansas. Then LSU went with a backup QB, which probably made them run a bit more than they otherwise would have. But the difference is still obvious.

by David Hooper on Jul 28, 2008 6:08 PM EDT reply actions

We did play some run-happy teams,

That does skew things a bit. I remember when we could just lean on teams in the third and fourth quarter, and the entire month of November. I’m probably a bit delusional, but I think our talent level is not that far off from where it was in the 90s.

by marmotman on Jul 28, 2008 8:25 PM EDT up reply actions