Surprises Buried in Press Release from Oregon

[Charles Fischer]

Every week I receive a press release (among many others) that has all the stats and information that refer to the next game.  I found a number of interesting tidbits, and a few that raised my eyebrows.

 

Fast FishDuck Facts:

 

--Oregon's yardage in rushing (1,052) and passing (1,054) are surprising close.  I would have thought a 60/40 split towards the rush, since we've had some trouble passing at times?

--Oregon's third down conversions are the same as our opponents at only 42%?
--Oregon's Red Zone scoring percentage is impressive at 91%, but an exception before halftime last game was a killer.

--This one I am stunned at: the Sacks by Oregon are the same as our opponents at 10 each!  (I would have thought we should have been much higher at this time, considering preseason hype)

--Oregon has the third longest home winning streak in the nation at 15.

--The overall series is led by Cal (?) at 41-40-2!

--Oregon is tied for 1st in the nation with the fewest turnovers given up.

--The Ducks are just giving up 16.7 points per home game this year.

--Oregon leads the Pac-12 in scoring at just 35.80 points per game?

 

Personnel Surprises:

 

--The biggest ignored feel good player story of the year--is Camden Lewis as he has gone 6-6 in Field Goals and 23-23 for PATs.  I never would have thought it would happen!

--I think it sucks that we have to face an Oregon Alumni in the coaching staff of Justin Wilcox, (HC) Bill Musgrave, (OC) Peter Sirmon (DC) and Keith Heyward. (DBs and coaching alumni)

--Verone McKinley III is in a 5-way tie for most interceptions in the nation.

--Alex Forsyth is back and listed as the starter at center!

--Keith Brown is listed as the starter at the weakside linebacker. (WILL)

--Keyon Ware-Hudson, a redshirt freshman 288 pound defensive tackle (No. 95) is listed as a starter.

--The two Tight End slots (which is unusual to list it that way) are simply listed as "or" between the four of DJ Johnson, Moliki Matavao, Terrance Ferguson and Spencer Webb. 

--Wide Receiver is even more jumbled as they list them as the following: Pittman or Redd, Hutson or Johnson, Franklin or Johnson?

 

I was surprised by a number of these...some good, and some not so...

 

 

[Haywarduck]

Statistics are used to influence those who read them, almost always. It takes getting into them to really draw any conclusions.

 

Oregon's opponents, without tosu, are 8-14, this includes a pretty good FSU. Comparing our output to the teams we played isn't a great way to look at our statistics. 

 

Also we are averaging 2 sacks a game against these opponents, the leaders are closer to 4, big gap. 

 

Our passing attempts are at 40%, running attempts are at 60%. I would imagine our qb run attempts close to leading the nation.

 

Turnovers are a fickle thing, worries me we may end up giving up more turnovers and that will have a huge impact going forward. This team can't score well without the turnovers. Seems like it almost puts us in the hurry up offense mode when we get a turnover. We catch the defense on their heals, which we don't do well otherwise. This may also be why our scoring in the red zone is up.

 

Home game statistics are against two teams a combined 1-9, the other FSU at 4-2.

 

Some great news on the player front. I hope these individuals can lead this team to it's potential. The problem I see is there is a bit of sunshine in the statistics where dark clouds might be looming.