Winning football: Third/Fourth downs, turnovers, explosion plays

[NUCat320]

I don’t have the stats, of course, but I’ve believed for about a decade that winning two out of the three categories above means a victory.

For so long, NU eschewed even trying for the big play. This meant that the defense needed to take the ball away, and especially that NU needed to keep the ball on third down. Or fourth down. And it’s no coincidence that NU’s most consistent success came when NU got aggressive on fourth down.

NU was bad on third downs today — only 3 of 12. NU had only 9 g-d first downs to Maryland’s 25.

But, Kirtz had two deep deep catches and Henning another, while Maryland eked out three, including one after the game was decided.

It’s so nice to have a head coach and an OC that seek to move the ball through deep completions. It’s on tape now, and it’ll lead to more underneath room, more scrambling room, and hopefully — eventually? — some room to run. Take the top off the defense and suddenly you’ve got space underneath. It’ll be beautiful.

(Aside: Komolafe had been in the doghouse since he lost a fumble early on. He provided a spark that I’d hoped to see all season tonight.)


What a satisfying win.

 

[EvanstonCat]

I don’t have the stats, of course, but I’ve believed for about a decade that winning two out of the three categories above means a victory.

For so long, NU eschewed even trying for the big play. This meant that the defense needed to take the ball away, and especially that NU needed to keep the ball on third down. Or fourth down. And it’s no coincidence that NU’s most consistent success came when NU got aggressive on fourth down.

NU was bad on third downs today — only 3 of 12. NU had only 9 g-d first downs to Maryland’s 25.

But, Kirtz had two deep deep catches and Henning another, while Maryland eked out three, including one after the game was decided.

It’s so nice to have a head coach and an OC that seek to move the ball through deep completions. It’s on tape now, and it’ll lead to more underneath room, more scrambling room, and hopefully — eventually? — some room to run. Take the top off the defense and suddenly you’ve got space underneath. It’ll be beautiful.

(Aside: Komolafe had been in the doghouse since he lost a fumble early on. He provided a spark that I’d hoped to see all season tonight.)


What a satisfying win.

This. I don’t think we can or should live and die on relying solely on the D. The O is still mediocre, but exactly your point - we took shots, we got some explosive plays, and we were able to score when given the chance.

Make no mistake though, without a +4 TO margin including a scoop and score, it’s doubtful we win. The O showed something, but still needs to improve. 3/12 on 3rd down conversions and 9 total first downs ain’t going to win many ball games. Glad this was one of them.

 

[Katatonic]

The other way to win is doing what Vandy did to Bama last week.

Ball control and converting a high no of 3rd downs by making them manageable (made easier by having a QB who can extend passing plays with his legs or get the 1st down himself) and not consistently being in 3rd and long.

Vandy only punted on 2 drives and neither was 3 and out (something that happened all too frequently for the Cats over the past decade).

But the thing is, in order to run that kind of "complementary O" need a decent O-line and good backs.

But even then, an opposing D can sell out to stop the run, so need a plan B (explosive plays down field).

The problem with Fitz Turtle ball is that Pat usually wasn't willing to let the O loose until they were already behind by 3 scores, which created the very game environment that Fitz wanted to avoid - an environment conducive to having turnovers.

 

[freewillie07]

This. I don’t think we can or should live and die on relying solely on the D. The O is still mediocre, but exactly your point - we took shots, we got some explosive plays, and we were able to score when given the chance.

Make no mistake though, without a +4 TO margin including a scoop and score, it’s doubtful we win. The O showed something, but still needs to improve. 3/12 on 3rd down conversions and 9 total first downs ain’t going to win many ball games. Glad this was one of them.

We did not need +4 in turnovers to win.

To win by 27? Sure.

But the sccop and score was revenge for the BS no-safety and put us up 24-10. By that point I was pretty darn comfortable the Cats would pull it out. Rest of the TOs were just Maryland being demoralized.