Passer Ratings
The regular season is over, and now we are in the crazy part of the season. We all know the craziest part of the season is recruiting season but playoffs and bowls are also crazy in my book. I thought this is a good time as any to look back at the regular season and with the help of the newest Maze correspondent genuvar, I managed to get hold of some data. I have only scratched the surface of this data and I am liking it already. I thought we start with something that everyone knows, the QB passer ratings.
We are going to work our way to the ratings and we are going to be looking at things through the lens of the coaches, conferences and the players themselves. We are going to first look at the count of coaches in conferences.
So we know that the Big East has 11 coaches and we would expect them to have the most number of QBs. The Big East have done really well with their 11 coaches this season with probably 10 of them making the bowls, which means a lot of bowl money for next season's recruiting season. They will be battling each other in the northwest so the bowl money will not matter too much. It will likely come into play when they run into Penn State, Boston College and Maryland, or if they decide to go long distance. This should already be known but I thought lets plot it anyway.
From the looks of the numbers the Big East has the most QBs by far, this makes sense considering the number of coaches in the conference. The conference has a lot of teams ranked and a lot who will make the level 4 and 5 bowls, and I think they will do so on the backs of these QBs. Everyone knows that having a solid group of QBs will take you far in GD let alone in Wilk. You can see how the mid major conferences are towards the bottom and they usually get smoked when they face the teams from the big conferences. I think the lack of depth at the QB position costs them a bit in games against teams that have a wealth of depth at the position.
Looking at the graph above the Conference USA is just chucking it. They are throwing the ball more than the other conferences by a good margin. The WAC with their small number of coaches like to air it out too. I think Con-USA is helped by TD running the shotgun formation. The MAC hopefully is moving the ball on the ground because their air attacks suck. Even with the smaller number of QB the mid major conferences are able to fully utilize their resources. Imagine what they would be able to do with more resources.
BEAST sitting at the top of the hill. This should not be surprising, the conference has dukelegend and z32 in it. The SEC might need to have a rethink of what the SEC does. Run the ball guys, you can not be the second conference in terms of the total passing yards. It would be difficult to change to a running conference for the SEC with awags there as he does not know what running the ball is, though he ran a bit this season.
Look at that Hawaii with bjschumacher is carrying the torch for the WAC. Everyone knows awags likes to throw the ball so it should not be a surprise to see him towards the top of this list, same with z32fanatic. The top of the list should not be too surprising but the bottom of the list surprised me a bit with genuvar propping everyone, I would have sworn he threw more. It would be interesting to see what the order is when we look at the running data.
Again the BEAST leading the way. They know how to move the ball and also score once they move it. I wonder what the difference is between the touchdowns in the air and those on the ground. The power conferences lead the way with their touchdowns through the air. The difference between the power conferences and the mid majors is kind of scary, the Sun Belt is trying their hardest to mingle with the big boys but man the rest of the mid major conferences are lagging.
awags almost had a 100 touchdowns in the air for the regular season, that is kind of impressive. jeff18 at Boise State is the only one not to be in double digits for touchdowns through the air. We see the same characters towards the top of the list. If you are moving the ball through the air chances are you are also scoring through the air a lot.
BEAST has the most pass attempts by a country mile. These guys will be going to town on your defense. It will be an air raid all day with them fellas. Needless to say but the power conferences are again leading the way.
No surprise there with the BEAST leading the way with the catches made. Will be interesting to see who is making the catches (stay tuned for that). The order has not changed when going from pass attempts to the catches.
I can not even imagine making 1000 pass attempts but we have three coaches who thought that is the way to go. Only one of them runs shotgun. TD is close to that top group but you need to step it up buddy. Genuvar is propping the entire group, I did not see that coming at all. I think genuvar has figured out a way to win his own way because he has been winning. I always fret when I face him. This should not be much of a surprise but chrondon is in the bottom third of the group. We all know he loves running the rock.
Truedevil does not throw the most but he knows how to get the ball to his guys when he throws. Awags leads the way in making sure his guys are open to make the catches he needs to move the ball. The top end of the graph is very similar to the previous graph about attempts. The bottom of the graph is also very familiar.
You live by the sword and you die by the sword. The BEAST throws a lot and that increases the chances of throwing it to the wrong team, and they do so by a country mile. I am not sure if the MAC is even trying, only four picks all regular season? They do not throw a lot so I guess it makes sense that they do not throw it to the other guys.
We have many coaches who did not throw the ball to the wrong team at all. That is very impressive guys, well done. Everyone take note and follow their path. We also have a coach who liked giving the other guys a chance with the ball, forty-one interceptions it a bit much, fermor and his Pitt team were young at the QB position, so it kind of makes sense.
Looking at the chart above William Curtis is that guy, he shades James Stephens if we extend the decimals a bit. Karl Burgess should look familiar, he was on the Heisman watch list for most of the season. Also used the 100 minimum attempts because 100 is a nice round number.
Everyone knows ez likes to throw the ball, least of all me. He threw all over my Cal Bears in the CC game. We have the usual suspects towards the sharp end of the ratings list. With his rebuild Darryl Jones is towards the bottom of the list but I bet he will be moving up the list as time goes in west Texas. Did not expect to see ebel towards the bottom of the list, considering he runs the shotgun.
Love seeing mid major conferences at the sharp end of the table. B1G sits at the top of the hill. SEC passing the ball, what has the world come to, oh wait they have awags. Sun Belt doing a better job with their QBs than the PAC-10 and the other power conferences.
I was expecting the redshirt seniors to be leading the way but that is not the case. We have the redshirt freshman leading the way, how about that. This is misleading, these guys are most likely to hit the field when it is garbage time and just start chucking it down the field. They are also most likely to take the field against Sim AI teams, but either way this shows the future is bright for chucking the ball.
I think that is enough for now. Will continue working on the data and see what I can come up with and share with everyone, until the next time, take it easy.
