Was it a New 4th Down Completion & Percentage Record set by the Wildcats for all bowl games?

[Alaskawildkat]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed, but apart from the fact that Coach Fitz went 4 for 4 in 4th downs in the Pinstripe Bowl, I have not seen any reports or commentary as to whether this set a new record of any type?

I assume it is a record for the Pinstripe Bowl and at least for Bowl games played by NU, but does it extend beyond that to being a new record for the B1G in bowls, or even nationally?

The "record" includes both 4 or more attempts at 4th downs and 100% of those attempts being successful in a bowl game. Has this ever been done before in any bowl game ever?

 

[Alaskawildkat]

With regard to the initial inquiry, I did find stats for the 2016 Season (at least up to December 31st) which confirm that Northwestern was the only team playing in a bowl game this season to have had four or more fourth down conversions in their bowl game, period.

As an interesting footnote, the only other team to have had four or more fourth down conversions with 100% of those attempts being successful in their final game of the year was Syracuse - also against Pittsburgh! Of course that was not a bowl game. (Gotta believe Fitz and friends did their homework in the film room and that was likely a factor in inspiring the fourth down attempts by the Wildcat Riverboat Gambler who - in light of that discovery - was likely actually playing his cards.)

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/fourth-down-conversions-per-game

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/fourth-down-conversion-pct

 

[NURoseBowl]

Forgive me if this has already been addressed, but apart from the fact that Coach Fitz went 4 for 4 in 4th downs in the Pinstripe Bowl, I have not seen any reports or commentary as to whether this set a new record of any type?

I assume it is a record for the Pinstripe Bowl and at least for Bowl games played by NU, but does it extend beyond that to being a new record for the B1G in bowls, or even nationally?

The "record" includes both 4 or more attempts at 4th downs and 100% of those attempts being successful in a bowl game. Has this ever been done before in any bowl game ever?

Paging Dr. Dugan, Dr. Statmeister Dugan . . . . .

 

[Deeringfish]

With regard to the initial inquiry, I did find stats for the 2016 Season (at least up to December 31st) which confirm that Northwestern was the only team playing in a bowl game this season to have had four or more fourth down conversions in their bowl game, period.

As an interesting footnote, the only other team to have had four or more fourth down conversions with 100% of those attempts being successful in their final game of the year was Syracuse - also against Pittsburgh! Of course that was not a bowl game. (Gotta believe Fitz and friends did their homework in the film room and that was likely a factor in inspiring the fourth down attempts by the Wildcat Riverboat Gambler who - in light of that discovery - was likely actually playing his cards.)

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/fourth-down-conversions-per-game

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/fourth-down-conversion-pct

That Syracuse did bit is pretty interesting

 

[Alaskawildkat]

That Syracuse did bit is pretty interesting

Agreed. Would be interesting to hear from anyone here with inside info to confirm whether a) That stat from the Syracuse-Pittsburgh game was recognized, and b) Whether it was a motivating factor in deciding to go for 4th down four times in our bowl game.

 

[Deeringfish]

Agreed. Would be interesting to hear from anyone here with inside info to confirm whether a) That stat from the Syracuse-Pittsburgh came was recognized, and b) Whether it was a motivating factor in deciding to go for 4th down four times in our bowl game.

I would be so disappointed to learn that it was just a coincidence.

 

[Wrestlerneverdiesasacatfan]

I love the confidence in the offense!

 

[Alaskawildkat]

As an interesting footnote, the only other team to have had four or more fourth down conversions with 100% of those attempts being successful in their final game of the year was Syracuse - also against Pittsburgh! Of course that was not a bowl game. (Gotta believe Fitz and friends did their homework in the film room and that was likely a factor in inspiring the fourth down attempts by the Wildcat Riverboat Gambler who - in light of that discovery - was likely actually playing his cards.)

That Syracuse did bit is pretty interesting

I would be so disappointed to learn that it was just a coincidence.

Perhaps I am reading too much into it, but I found the below bolded comment from the Pinstripe Website reporting as supportive of our suspicions. Most telling is that it followed a specific discussion of Northwestern's four fourth down attempts:

"..... Pitt twice forced Northwestern to gamble on fourth down on their go-ahead scoring drive and the Wildcats proved to be successful when rolling the dice.

Northwestern converted on fourth down a total of four times in the game.

.....

"We've done a lot of research on some things in the offseason," Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "We felt like we needed to be a little bit more aggressive in that situation all season. The guys went out and executed, did a terrific job."


http://web.pinstripebowl.com/news/article/20161228212436388/news/