Various Passing Statistics Through 10/24/2016

[ColoradoHusk]

I know a lot of Husker fans get down on Tommy for his "low" completion percentage and that he's not an accurate/efficient passer. I think completion % is only one measure to evaluate a QB, and there are many other valuable stats to measure how well a QB (especially Tommy) is playing.

While NU ranks in the 100's in completion percentage..

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/completion-pct

NU is in the top 20 in yards per attempt (#1 in the B1G)

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/yards-per-pass-attempt

#6 in the country in yards per completion (#1 in the B1G by far)

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/yards-per-completion

In the top 10 in team QB sacked percentage (also #1 in the B1G)

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/qb-sacked-pct

Just giving some people food for thought.

 

[Nebfanatic]

I know a lot of Husker fans get down on Tommy for his "low" completion percentage and that he's not an accurate/efficient passer. I think completion % is only one measure to evaluate a QB, and there are many other valuable stats to measure how well a QB (especially Tommy) is playing.

While NU ranks in the 100's in completion percentage..

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/completion-pct

NU is in the top 20 in yards per attempt (#1 in the B1G)

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/yards-per-pass-attempt

#6 in the country in yards per completion (#1 in the B1G by far)

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/yards-per-completion

In the top 10 in team QB sacked percentage (also #1 in the B1G)

https://www.teamrankings.com/college-football/stat/qb-sacked-pct

Just giving some people food for thought.

That yard per attempt statistic really makes the completion percentage irrelevant. Tops in the Big 10 for sacks against and yards per throw is fantastic
Though there is something to be said for consistently gaining yards (completing more passes) compared to getting chunk plays (what we do well)

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I know stats mean different things to people, but to me, the completion % has always been overblown. There are so many factors going into completion %, and it shouldn't be the only factor used when analyzing QB play.

I think the sacks against is a key stat. To me, a sack is almost like a turnover. Most of the time, a sack leads to a stop by the defense. Yes, the defense doesn't usually get the ball at the location of the sack, like a fumble or INT, but it is still a stop by the defense. There also can be fumbles caused by sacks.

For example, Hornibrook from Wisconsin was sacked 4 times against Ohio State. All 4 of those sacks led to Wisconsin being stopped on offense, including twice settling for a FG, and being sacked on the last play of the game in OT.

 

[Landlord]

I know stats mean different things to people, but to me, the completion % has always been overblown. There are so many factors going into completion %, and it shouldn't be the only factor used when analyzing QB play.

This is true to an extent, but interestingly enough, only seemed to be argued by fans of teams with quarterbacks who consistently throw low completion percentages

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I know stats mean different things to people, but to me, the completion % has always been overblown. There are so many factors going into completion %, and it shouldn't be the only factor used when analyzing QB play.

This is true to an extent, but interestingly enough, only seemed to be argued by fans of teams with quarterbacks who consistently throw low completion percentages

I see what you did there.

 

[Mavric]

Yards per attempt is generally a better stat but completion percentage is definitely not irrelevant.

In Nebraska's case - and college football in general - the better teams have a significant athletic advantage over many teams on their schedule. So you can just run guys deep and count on your WR to out-run or out-jump the defensive back and really boost your YPA, even if your completion percentage isn't that great.

However, that type of thing doesn't translate very well when you play better teams. You have to be an accurate passer to be able to complete the shorter passes that keep the chains moving to have consistent success - high completion percentage.

So you kind of have to look at a combination of both.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

It will be interesting to see where the stats rank at the end of the regular season, after NU is through the meat of its schedule and face tougher defenses.

A lot of people are counting on a much improved passing game next season with Lee or O'Brien at QB, but NU has been pretty good this year, so I don't know how much incremental improvement we will see.

 

[drfish]

Although it's apples to oranges considering the differences in style, I would point out that this Tommy's completion percentage is better than that Tommie's. Clearly that Tommie was throwing fewer high percentage passes and more downfield play action. That Tommie had a better TD to INT ratio though too. Anyway completion percentage isn't everything, though it is certainly not nothing either.

 

[Mavric]

And that's why you need better completion percentage stats.

When you get up against a good team, you can't just YOLOBomb your way to a good yards per attempt average. All of the sudden you find yourself completing 38% of your passes.

 

[Mavric]

This is talking about the NFL but I think it applies in CFB also. Continuing on above discussion.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Yeah, Mav, I really missed the boat when it came to Armstrong's passing this season. He was doing well, but then did really poor to end the season. There is probably numerous factors to that drop in productivity.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I agree with the "yards per attempt" being a very important stat. However, when you really have a potent offense, is when you have a high "yards per attempt" and also a high completion percentage. That probably means you have a very efficient QB, good WRs that are getting open and yards after the catch. If you have that, the running game opens way up.

No matter what, when you are sitting at a 50% or worse completion percentage, the other stats become less and less meaningful.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I agree with the "yards per attempt" being a very important stat. However, when you really have a potent offense, is when you have a high "yards per attempt" and also a high completion percentage. That probably means you have a very efficient QB, good WRs that are getting open and yards after the catch. If you have that, the running game opens way up.

No matter what, when you are sitting at a 50% or worse completion percentage, the other stats become less and less meaningful.

I disagree with that. If you have an amazing run game, and then you only use play action/deep passes the 50% mark could be acceptable.

I think that people confuse completion % with passing accuracy and efficiency too often. Yes, they are somewhat related, but not 100%.

Sam Bradford set a NFL record for highest completion % this year, but I don't think many would say that Minnesota's passing offense was efficient and great.

 

[Enhance]

I agree with the "yards per attempt" being a very important stat. However, when you really have a potent offense, is when you have a high "yards per attempt" and also a high completion percentage. That probably means you have a very efficient QB, good WRs that are getting open and yards after the catch. If you have that, the running game opens way up.

No matter what, when you are sitting at a 50% or worse completion percentage, the other stats become less and less meaningful.

And to add onto this, there's a reason the best teams/offenses tend to have quarterbacks with high completion percentages. If my maths are correct, six of the top 10 NFL QB's in yards per attempt are also in the top 10 in completion percentage. The other guys are all above 61 percent, too.

I agree with the general tone of this thread, though. Looking at any one stat exclusively will always be a bit thick-headed. You somewhat have to take a lot of them into account and then compare them to the situation.