Via Brian Fremeau,
CHART: First Half Offensive Plays Per Game, 2007-2019
Tempo* peaked in 2013 and has been drifting down since.
*Tempo? 1st half only?
1) 1st half plays (except end-of-half clock kills) are non-garbage
2) 2nd half tempo can be more influenced by game state than by team preference pic.twitter.com/lpDKpeDHHi— Brian Fremeau (@bcfremeau) January 24, 2020
Interesting, no?
I wonder how much of that is due to the way officials now manage the snap when an offense makes substitutions. Thoughts?
***************************************************************************
UPDATE: Moar data.
In 2012, there were 11 FBS #CFB teams that averaged running 80+ plays per game and there were 31 who averaged running 75+ plays per game. In 2019, there was one team that averaged running 80+ plays and 13 that averaged running 75+ plays. Where have you gone tempo?
— SportSource Analytics (@SportSourceA) January 24, 2020
Filed under Stats Geek!, Strategery And Mechanics
“We remember the Sugar Bowl, I think it my junior year of high school, we let Alabama beat us twice,” Brinson said of a team that also lost to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship game. “We’re not letting Alabama beat us twice. In the Sugar Bowl in 2018, they… thought they should have been in the playoffs and lost to Texas.” -- AB-H, 12/27/23
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Officials definitely a part of it. Watching head coaches have to call a time out because the official is sitting over the ball while a DT slowly jogs off the field in response to a late offensive substitution was kind of amusing.
I think defenses are better adjusted to the hurried snaps. So it seems tempo is almost solely about limiting substitutions now? Hurry enough to get the official off the call but then take your time and make sure you’ve got your reads right?
Those would be my guesses.
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My guess is that once defenses adjusted and were prepared to expect hurry-up, most of the quick run-to-the-line and snap plays (especially after a first down) went from averaging 6-8 yards to 2-3 yards. At least it seems that way when it comes to the way UGA plays Auburn. Pace is still a factor, especially when offenses don’t want the defense to substitute, but the cheap/cheat yards are no longer there, so the OC may as well take the time to call a play from the full playbook as opposed to the few preset “Nascar” plays.
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I’ll never forget how fast Clemson went between snaps in 2013’s season opener against us. Chad Morris had their O screaming down the field. No chance to substitute. It felt like they were cheating on a few of those drives.
Watching from the top of the upper deck, near the moon, I was yelling at the refs to slow them down.
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Aided in no small part by Grantham’s inability to get signals in and then have the defensive players understand the call.
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Calling the plays from the booth through the sideline signals generally makes tempo a moot point it seems. Even LSU was running that play clock down to the nub throughout many games. Getting the best call against what a defense is showing must be more important. I never understood why Georgia took so long to call a play only to ride the tailback into the middle of the line with no threat of a QB keep, over and over again.
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It takes a while to figure out whether to run behind right guard or left guard.
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Seems like a lot of the teams aren’t trusting even really good qbs to make decisions by themselves. They are using a lot of clock having the QB look over to get instruction. They probably figure its more valuable than pace to be in the right play.
I saw both Trevor and Burrow do it a lot.
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I think past a certain point, running faster has diminishing returns. Defenses have also adjusted so just going fast doesn’t create the advantage it used to. The chess match continues.
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I got a cramp just reading the headline.
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The sweet spot seems to be winding up with an average in the 70s. You’re not going so slow you aren’t maximizing potential talent advantages, but you aren’t going mindlessly fast all the time (like a lot of those Mizzou offenses when Lock was QB, or Houston under Applewhite.)
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