MSU National Stat Update

[ShotgunDawg]

Folks, it's complete & utter futility on both sides of the ball. What's crazy is if we did't lead the country in fumble recoveries & in the top half of INTs, it would be even worse. It should be worse than it is.

Total Offense - 82

Rushing Offense - 42

Passing Offense - 109

Total Defense - 68

Rushing Defense - 75

Passing Defense - 75

Kickoff returns - 118

Opponent Punter Returns - 108

Opponent Kickoff Returns - 98

Sacks - 90

Sacks allowed - 108

Tackles for loss - 104

Tackles for loss allowed - 51

Fumbles recovered - 1

Interceptions - 34

[Prediction? Pain.]

Just posted this in a similar thread on SPS. Worth repeating here for those who are interested in a deeper dive, I suppose. Remember that most SEC teams have only played a few conferences games so far, so these may change quite a bit over the next month or so. Based upon our last two SEC games, and with games against LSU and A&M coming up, I'm guessing that most of these rankings are going to change a lot soon, and not for the better.

Here's a look at our ranks in the SEC in those kinds of categories, with games against FCS schools filtered out.

Passing offense

Yards per attempt: 6th
Completion %: 7th
QB Rating: 6th
Sack Rate: 94th nationally (doesn't count UT yet)

Rushing offense

Yards per carry: 7th
Rate of TFLs & 0-yard rushes allowed: 21st nationally (doesn't count UT yet)

Total, Scoring, and Misc. Offense

Total (yards per play): 9th
Scoring: 8th
3rd D Conversion: 9th
RZ TD%: 2nd

Passing defense

Yards per attempt allowed: 13th
Opponent's Compl. %: 6th
Opponent's QB Rating: 10th
Interceptions: 3rd
Sack Rate: 83rd nationally (doesn't include UT)

Rushing defense

Yards per carry allowed: 11th
Rate of TFLs and forced 0-yard rushes: 97th nationally (doesn't include UT)

Total, Scoring, and Misc. Defense

Total (yards per play allowed): 13th
Scoring: 10th
Opponents' 3rd D Conversion: 6th
Opponents' RZ TD%: 8th

[ShotgunDawg]

To me these stats are the case for firing him.

What you see here isn't 1 major problem. Like, if we just fix this then we will be a good program.

No, what you see here is complete futility which is a sign of much larger, cultural type problems that simply can't be fixed with current leadership.

[Tbonewannabe]

I was actually looking at the defensive stats last week and our defense is actually pretty similar to the 2016 Sirmon shit show defense. I do realize that we are dealing with suspensions and Shoop is a better DC than Sirmon but that is a crazy comparison especially since LSU and Bama will probably blow it up.

[BeastMan]

The advanced metrics are worse. A few stats shown during the game Saturday: 12.6 missed tackles a game worst in the SEC. We blitz on 50% of defensive plays which is 1st in the SEC (I think) and we get pressure 29% of the time which is 12th in the SEC.

But beyond metrics and stats which are analytically telling us the story, we’re truly a terribly coached, lazy, no hussle football team. On UT’s last drive where we need a stop on 3rd down we ran a blitz with Cole off the edge and he ran straight in to the DE, Kobe Jones I think, and they blocked 2 players with 1 guy rendering the blitz useless and they got a big play. Now I’m not sure exactly whose fault it was. Jones was either supposed to get outside and Cole blitz inside or vice versa but they both got caught in no mans land and ran right into each other.

Another infuriating play brought to attention by Swain (former UT player/radio guy) was Tommy’s INT where he overthrew Dedric Thomas. Now there is zero doubt it was a bad throw. He overthrew him. But the outside WR’s job was the run a hard go route to clear out the corner. He pulls up way early and runs the most loafing, lazy route you’ve ever seen and the corner was able to easily come off and grab the overthrow. If the outside wr runs any semblance of the route he’s supposed to the CB isn’t there, the bad throw in incomplete, and we’re still in business.

https://twitter.com/swainevent/status/1183505587759398914?s=21

What kills me more than anything is how these guys do not play hard. They don’t even try. They are the laziest bunch we’ve had since the end of Sherrill. They talk so much shit on the field. After the game they post all these pics on themselves with stupid captions like they’re studs. These guys don’t care about winning games. They’re all about themselves. And guess who the lack of effort and discipline is on? Joe Moorehead. This isn’t a matter of them not executing his system. It’s a matter of our players not respecting him or the program and not playing hard.

[Tbonewannabe]

The advanced metrics are worse. A few stats shown during the game Saturday: 12.6 missed tackles a game worst in the SEC. We blitz on 50% of defensive plays which is 1st in the SEC (I think) and we get pressure 29% of the time which is 12th in the SEC.

But beyond metrics and stats which are analytically telling us the story, we’re truly a terribly coached, lazy, no hussle football team. On UT’s last drive where we need a stop on 3rd down we ran a blitz with Cole off the edge and he ran straight in to the DE, Kobe Jones I think, and they blocked 2 players with 1 guy rendering the blitz useless and they got a big play. Now I’m not sure exactly whose fault it was. Jones was either supposed to get outside and Cole blitz inside or vice versa but they both got caught in no mans land and ran right into each other.

Another infuriating play brought to attention by Swain (former UT player/radio guy) was Tommy’s INT where he overthrew Dedric Thomas. Now there is zero doubt it was a bad throw. He overthrew him. But the outside WR’s job was the run a hard go route to clear out the corner. He pulls up way early and runs the most loafing, lazy route you’ve ever seen and the corner was able to easily come off and grab the overthrow. If the outside wr runs any semblance of the route he’s supposed to the CB isn’t there, the bad throw in incomplete, and we’re still in business.

https://twitter.com/swainevent/status/1183505587759398914?s=21

What kills me more than anything is how these guys do not play hard. They don’t even try. They are the laziest bunch we’ve had since the end of Sherrill. They talk so much shit on the field. After the game they post all these pics on themselves with stupid captions like they’re studs. These guys don’t care about winning games. They’re all about themselves. And guess who the lack of effort and discipline is on? Joe Moorehead. This isn’t a matter of them not executing his system. It’s a matter of our players not respecting him or the program and not playing hard.

My buddy pointed out when we were trying to score a TD at the end of the game and we had an Oline slowly jogging up the field as time was running off the clock. At that point you still have a chance to score a TD and get an onside kick but this Olineman cost the team probably 5-10 seconds. The team just doesn't hustle. You might have players busting ass like Shrader but overall the team is not giving "Relentless Effort". Josh Robinson actually called out the team. He said this effort wasn't what the team was built on.

[BeastMan]

My buddy pointed out when we were trying to score a TD at the end of the game and we had an Oline slowly jogging up the field as time was running off the clock. At that point you still have a chance to score a TD and get an onside kick but this Olineman cost the team probably 5-10 seconds. The team just doesn't hustle. You might have players busting ass like Shrader but overall the team is not giving "Relentless Effort". Josh Robinson actually called out the team. He said this effort wasn't what the team was built on.

Yep. Same at the end of the KSU game. I bet if you really watched film, you’d be shocked at what you saw. What that tells you is that there is zero consequence for lack of hussle. Jeremy Pruitt is not a good coach but you saw him jump an OL for not getting off the field fast enough after an injury timeout.

[TaleofTwoDogs]

Looks to me like the CB never took his eyes off the QB and didn't even concern himself with the outside receiver. Is this due to the fact that the CB realized that the WR was just half-assing it and was not going to be a target. Also more concern to me is not the interception (shit happens) but the lack of effort of our players to mitigate the turnover.

[BeastMan]

Looks to me like the CB never took his eyes off the QB and didn't even concern himself with the outside receiver. Is this due to the fact that the CB realized that the WR was just half-assing it and was not going to be a target. Also more concern to me is not the interception (shit happens) but the lack of effort of our players to mitigate the turnover.

They were playing man to man. He wasn’t cleared because of an awful route. The technique he was playing was inside underneath leverage. The WR ran such a lazy route he never had to flip his hips and run. Turrible

[Prediction? Pain.]

I was actually looking at the defensive stats last week and our defense is actually pretty similar to the 2016 Sirmon shit show defense. I do realize that we are dealing with suspensions and Shoop is a better DC than Sirmon but that is a crazy comparison especially since LSU and Bama will probably blow it up.

Yeah, I've noted the same thing. It's depressing to see. I've been hoping that the defense would gradually improve as the season progresses since a big part of the problem is our lack of experience. The unit seemed to be sort of better against UT, but that was at full strength and against a mediocre-at-best offense playing not to lose. I wouldn't be surprised if the LSU and Alabama games are on par with our 51-3 nightmare against Alabama in 2016. Frankly, if the D can even sort of keep up with those teams, I'd take that as a good sign.

Similarly, I've noticed is how the offense's across-the-board average-to-poor play is hearkening back to our recent bad offenses, too. In 2011, for instance, we were pretty damn bad offensively. 90th nationally in the FEI offense rankings (https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/feioff/2011) (a drive-based efficiency stat). And traditional stats weren't any better. Excluding FCS games, bottom third of the conference in scoring offense, total offense (yards per play), RZ TD%, and yards per passing attempt. And somehow we did all of that was with an NFL-caliber, 1,000-yard rusher on the roster (Ballard).

One big difference that year was that we had a solid defense to lean on. (17th nationally in FEI defense.) (Not totally dissimilar to 2013 and 2010, though those offenses, while not stellar, weren't nearly as bad as 2011 or 2019.) I guess it's obvious, but when you're bad on both sides of the ball, the results aren't going to be pretty.