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Decided to make a thread of some statistical takeaways from the Orange’s opening game loss to North Carolina
SU had five scoring opportunities, and scored just six points from those chances. Red zone inefficiency continues to be an issue, compared to UNC, who posted 31 points on seven chances.
The Orange got nothing from its offensive line and running backs. Stuffed on 30% of running plays, while its runners generated 0.4 open field yards per rush.
Compare this to UNC, who had 2.7 open field yards per rush.
Compare this to UNC, who had 2.7 open field yards per rush.
Syracuse’s offense had a 17.5% success rate on all of its plays, which was the worst in the ACC. Only GT’s offense was less explosive.
Only Wake Forest (who played Clemson) got less production from the RBs at the second level.
Only Wake Forest (who played Clemson) got less production from the RBs at the second level.
The offensive line had its issues, but Syracuse’s running backs were a bigger issue in the run game based on the data.
Obviously the fourth quarter, where the Orange’s defense wore down as the offense was unable to stay on the field skews their numbers.
But a second look at the defense suggests that they weren’t quite as good as the numbers indicated either.
But a second look at the defense suggests that they weren’t quite as good as the numbers indicated either.
The Orange continue to force turnovers, which has been a staple of the last few years. Trill Williams wasn’t really targeted at corner, Mikel Jones and Andre Cisco had interceptions.
But on a play-by-play basis, the Orange gave up the third highest success rate in the ACC.
But on a play-by-play basis, the Orange gave up the third highest success rate in the ACC.
Not every offense will be as good offensively as UNC, especially SU’s next two opponents in Pitt and GT.
But SU’s defensive line allowed 3.1 line yards, where only GT was worse. 4th lowest in stuff rate, and 2nd worst in efficiency allowed.
But SU’s defensive line allowed 3.1 line yards, where only GT was worse. 4th lowest in stuff rate, and 2nd worst in efficiency allowed.
My concern is that if North Carolina wasn’t also super sloppy and made self-inflicted wounds the entire game, the score would have been uglier a lot sooner.
There’s not much optimism in the underlying play-by-play data, and Pittsburgh’s dominant DL is up next week...
There’s not much optimism in the underlying play-by-play data, and Pittsburgh’s dominant DL is up next week...
I’ll end this thread with this chart of the SU offense based on predicted points added (a way of measuring efficiency) by quarter. This is about as bad as it gets.
