Year2 has some good stuff about passing efficiency in this post.
An outstanding season passing efficiency score is 160 or above. Some years don’t even have a single player reach that level. The majority of players who do hit 160 or above are either seniors or upperclassmen who leave for the pros early. Since 2000, when the NCAA stats archive begins, only 24 players have hit 160 passing efficiency and returned the following year.
It gets lost in the shuffle sometimes, but don’t forget that Aaron Murray was closing in on a 160+ rating for the season in his freshman year (his passer rating before the disastrous bowl game was 162.725). Last season his rating declined to 146.41 due to drops in his completion percentage and yards per attempt and the increase in interceptions. If you compare the game logs between the two years, his 2010 numbers are much more consistent. His second worst rating that year (130.25 against Florida) would have only been his fifth worst effort in 2011.
Get The Picture 
I blame AJ. Imagine if he hadn’t missed the first four games.
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Good God, look at those LSU numbers. Incidentally, I only three days ago re-watched that abomination and cannot imagine a more deflating series of events in any pigskin I have ever seen.
That thing “should” have been 21-0 (21-7 at the least!) at half-time. Instead, with the WR stone-hand action and sketchy HoneyBadger return the Bengals were right there in it. Which gave way to the obligatory backbreaking turnover deep in the Dawgs end. From there, no one cared.
It may be the most surreal game I’ve witnessed.
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Sanders Commings hold onto a Jordan Jefferson pass and it’s 28 points.
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Agreed, agreed, agreed. I have wondered from time to time how Jefferson OR Jarrett Lee would have tried to cope with a 28-point hole in the second half. I don’t think it would have been a pretty sight for Tiger fans to behold. AM’s a great kid off the field from what I’ve read and has undeniable talent. There are some games of his (Florida 2010, esp the first half, and South Carolina 2011) that almost made me want to throw the set out the window but I can’t find it to tax him over the LSU game when his receivers (except Aron White) were dropping sure catches as if they were hot coals. If only he has grown a little more willing to get out of his own way, then hopefully we finally get to see him play to his fullest potential in games that matter – starting at Mizzou three weeks from this coming Saturday. And having an O-line that doesn’t play like a bunch of nervous, overweight wallflowers at a high school prom would be a big help too.
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with that much ground to make up LSU wouldn’t have had to put the second half on the shoulders of Jordan Jefferson, rather than run it with those excellent backs.
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*would have had to
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Yup — and as it played out, I suppose that stable of RBs ground the Dawg-D down eventually. A painful lesson.
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To add into the “what ifs” about that game – we have a saying at our tailgate – in the first half, LSU gained 12 f^&%ing yards!
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You know what else sticks out? Check AM’s completion % vs. UF. The Gatahs have disrupted the passing game some.
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Tell you what. People need to start educating the media on just how good Aaron Murray is. Murray should have been in SERIOUS Heisman talk last year, considering the level of pass defenses Murray faced in 2011.
Take Matt Barkley, USC. Kid faced no top thirty passing defenses last year. His statistics are BOGUS JUNK.
Murray would throw for 4500 yards, and 45 td’s complete 72% and just 5 interceptions if he played for USC.
Look at Aaron Murray. Murray went up against ten of the top thirty passing defenses in the country, and STILL threw for 3100 yards and 35 td’s and completed 59%.
Does Murray compare to Drew Brees first two seasons? Murray’s td’s (59) and accuracy (60%) and interceptions (22) is right up there with Drew Brees (64 td’s/62% accuracy/32 int’s) after their first two seasons.
Kid is awesome, but the media doesn’t realize how good the pass defenses are that Murray faces, and how bad the pass defenses are that Matt Barkley faces.
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For you stats to carry some weight you’ll have to filter the stats down to how Murray fared against top 30 pass defenses verusus a standard for how well a good qb should have or did fare against top 30 pass defenses. Not saying Murray’s no good but you only get credit for doing better than your peers against good competition not just for facing good competition.
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Hell, just educating our fan base would be a start.
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Murray was just mentally exhausted after the regular season ended. His Coach had been on the hotseat, and every game was pressure packed, by the time LSU rolled around, Murray hung in there for 2 quarters, but just ran out of gas in the second half.
Facing ten top thrity pass defenses in a Coach’s Hotseat season will do that to you.
But with a pressure packed season, after starting out in a deep 0-2 hole, Murray won 10 games in a row, and had LSU after 2 quarters, and saved Richt’s job. That kind of pressure, and facing all those top thrity pass defenses, just wore Murray out.
I hope Murray will get Coach Richt some big leads so Murray can get some rest during the season, especially down the stretch, so he’ll have enough in his tank, to finish LSU off this time.
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Murray did a hell of a better job in the first half than the box score shows. Its a shame there were so many drops. Big drops.
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You’re right about AM being mentally worn out by the end of the season. As a matter of fact, it was the mental mistakes that costs the Dawgs the wins when we gave up the ball deep on our side of the feild so many times last year. I hope Aaron is making a mental note of these miscues for this season. There is no doubt in this kid’s talent and leadership, if he can limit his mistakes in the big games (especially on our end of the field) I humbly feel it will help cement his legacy at UGA.
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Mark Richt has lost control of blaming Bobo.
#mason4heisman
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Murray didn’t lose a game for UGA in 2011. Boise, defense let them score 5 td’s out of 6 red zone trips–Murray costs 0 points. South Carolina, defense let them score 2 td’s in 2 red zone attempts, and special teams fell apart, Murray costs only 14 points. LSU, receivers dropped passes, and Ty Matt had 2 back breaking punt returns, and LSU went 3 td’s for 3 on red zone trips, murray costs 7 points. Mich St, special teams kick return breakdown, and a missed game winning field goal in overtime, defense give up long drive at end of regulation, Murray costs 7 points. UGA didn’t lose any of those games because Murray had 1 or 2 bad plays in them.
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Bingo.
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Your palace or mine?
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I disagree on the Michigan State game. Up 16-0 and he throws a pick that gives a short field that leads to their first score. Then, still up 16-8 and moving the ball near midfield, Murray throws a horrendous pass right to a Michigan State player who was a few yards off our receiver. The MSU player takes it to the house and suddenly the game is tied. The second play is a good example of how Murray tends to tighten up when there is a momentum swing toward our opponent and he compounds things with his poor decision making in those moments.
We lost to the 4 best teams we played last year and, while Murray wasn’t solely to blame for any of them, he had his share of bad moments in all of them.
In my opinion, he doesn’t have a future in the NFL due to his height. He might be 6 feet tall on a good day and that’s just not big enough for a pocket passer. He might carry a clipboard for a few years, but he’ll never be a productive player in the league. Zeier had a similar frame and it hurt him at the next level.
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Murray’s NFL prospects are solid, his numbers compare well to Drew Brees, and Murray plays in the toughest conference against the best pass defenses, so should he put up another Drew Brees like season (35 td’s, 12 int’s, 62% accuracy), he’s all set to get a chance at the NFL level. When you consider Murray faced 10 top thirty pass defenses in 2011, and still compared with Drew Brees, you understand why NFL teams will want him.
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If UGA wins the SEC East (which the media is predicting) and Murray has a good season (which he would have to have for UGA to win the SEC East), look for Murray to leave early for the NFL and be at worst a second round pick. This would be particularly true if the Dawgs would win the SECCG and most particularly (gasp!) if they won the BCSNCG. That is why Mason is red-shirting and staying at UGA rather than leaving for another program. You can bet that he’s been told that privately.
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Im a Aaron Murray fan, but WHY can’t SOMBODY do some REASERCH and give us some REAL STATS on how Murray did against hard pass defenses (top-twenty or top-thirty) last year? I beleive you would find that MASON has not nearly as many INTERCEPTIONS against that defenses as MURRAY.
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I really do like Murray – a lot – I just wish he’d save some of his big stat days for the big games…he never completely self-destructs, he just seems to kind of get by in some of the big games. I haz no stats to back up that claim.
I think they need to give him more freedom to run – I loved that about him in 2010, think it got the team fired up, and while I don’t want to see him injured, if he is the kind of kid who feels the weight of responsibility to make something happen, I’d rather him run than throw it into coverage. Plus, his being a somewhat threat to run keeps the defenders honest, which may mean fewer interceptions.
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Just knock off the runs like that on the first possession of Half 2 vs. LSU. Dat hurtz.
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yeah, every time he takes off, i kinda hold my breath. he either gets popped really good or he gets a little careless with the ball trying to squeeze a little bit more out of the play.
as the someone alluded to in the other Murray article, 65% completion percentage or whatever passing metric he wants to achieve would be nice but a little more ball security (throwing/running) and he’d be at that elitest of elite level.
here’s to hoping 2012 is the year he rounds the curve.
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