Long-time readers of my Columbia blogs know that I consider
a QB’s 3rd down passing stats to be very, very important.
Yesterday I pointed out that Sean Brackett’s 40% completion percentage on 3rd down
last year was a major problem. He also only passed for a 1st down
28% of the time on 3rd down plays.
So how did the rest of the QB’s in the Ivies, specifically
the ones returning for 2013, do on 3rd down?
Patrick Donelly
Starting with Partrick Donelly, the wildy underrated QB at
Brown, I will list the stats of each of those returning starters each day for
the next week or so.
Donelly on 3rd down was 50 for 88 (.568) passing,
for 526 yards (5.9 YPA), 31 1st downs, (35.2% of his total attempts
went for a 1st down), had two TD passes on 3rd down and
one INT. He was also sacked five times for 43 yards lost on 3rd down.
In short, Donelly was damn good when it really counted and
that’s why Brown was damn good in 2012 and stands a great chance of remaining
so in 2013.
TOMMOROW: Cornell’s Jeff Mathews
Moment #86: A Fumble Leads to More Futility
I know, I know.
It’s just tedious to rehash every Columbia failure to score in
2012 when it had possessions starting inside opponent territory.
And I know coaches like to publicly denigrate statistics and
individual moments in games in favor of saying things like: “the only stats
that count are wins and losses.”
In the big picture, that’s of course true. But it’s those
individual moments that bring you wins and losses and I can GUARANTEE you the
Lion coaches have studies each of these events even more meticulously than I
am.
And if they can find a way to overcome Columbia’s maddening
tendency to avoid even getting a field goal despite great field position last
year, we’ll have a recipe for more wins in 2013.
So with the Lions still leading 3-0 with 3:30 left in the 1st
quarter, Columbia got another golden opportunity when Fordham’s Chris Watkins
never got the handle on a carry and Malcom
Thaxton recovered it for the Light Blue at the Ram 43.
Three plays later, the Lions were punting… again.
And Columbia was about to find out that missing scoring
opportunities don’t just hurt the offense they hurt the defense too.
2 comments:
Jake,
A great deal of our team's futility last year goes to the lack of having "play makers".They are also called "gamers". I think that Coach M is trying to put in a system with competition all the time in an effort to separate the gamers from the ret of the squad.
Think about those losses we had when forcing a fumble or making an interception or getting a sack on the opponent's last possession would have made CU the winner.
should have read "the REST of the ..
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