I have been perusing the information at cfbstats in preparation for the final game of the year (rivalry!) against UTSA and found a few things.
Here’s a mini-breakdown of the season right here:
The passing offense is the worst since 2010, when we also had a similar disaster at the QB position. Then, three different QBs threw at least 50 passes: Riley Dodge 176, Nathan Tune 66, Chase Baine 53. Also in there was a young Derek Thompson, losing yet another year of eligibility for a lost cause.
It was a terrible year in which Nathan Tune began the year well enough then got a gruesome hip injury. He played only two games. In came Derek Thompson who threw 11 passes in the game against Army before succumbing to injury for the year.
Who was left? Well that would be Riley Dodge. He was the QB the previous season but had made the move to WR at the start of 2010. He was pressed into duty and gamely put up decent numbers. . . until he was also hurt. Who was up next? Fellow WR Chase Baine.
That’s right, the worst passing season in recent memory was largely due to two WRs playing QB.
Fun fact: 2014 has been even worse than that.
Here’s a less complex view:
What the comparison tells you is this: if Andrew McNulty puts up a stat line that reads 25/28 291 yards 4 TDs that will mean this team equaled the worst passing performance in the last six years.1 And that’s being generous as there is no way that I know of to throw negative interceptions.
The run game has only been only about 30 yards per game better than the 2008 pace, the year that North Texas was primarily a throwing team, having put up 42 passes a game. The 2011 season is a better comparison to this year. The run game averaged 152 per game. Compare that to this year’s 153. That team won five games. This team is at four with one to play.
The team needs to put up at least 627 yards of offense including 291 yards passing to not be the worst yardage-attaining offense in recent memory. This comes on the heels of the best in recent memory.2 Is it all because of Derek Thompson? I doubt it. A combination of poor quarterback play and poor running have combined to create this mess. We’ve had iffy quarterback play before with better run games. We’ve had poorer run games and better offenses. We’ve not had such a combination of bad since 2008.
2008: 363 ypg
2014: 315 ypg
If this game against UTSA is well and truly a rivalry game, we can hope and pray that records and season performance don’t matter. I mean they say that all the time. Surely they can’t be lying to us. This is our first chance at a late-season rival.3 UTSA’s defense is one of the best in the conference.
The stats say what you’ve all surely noticed with your eyes: this is a bad offense.
- Or whomever is doing the throwing. ↩
- By only 2 yards per game. By totals? Yes, 2013 was great but that was after 13 games. You can make the argument that offense in losses means less than offense in wins but that’s kind of ridiculous. Also, that 2009 team was a few bounces short of putting together a string of wins. They lost five games by four or less points. ↩
- If we compare ourselves to Texas, SMU would be our OU and UTSA would be our A&M. Yay for irrational comparisons. ↩
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