Arkansas: Some of the screwiest numbers you will ever see
We know Arkansas is 1-2. For curiosity's sake, I went to take a look at their stats to see if there's anything glaring about a team that lost at home to Toledo and to Texas Tech. It left me shaking my head, because their numbers are all over the place. Here's a few examples:
Sacks allowed: 0 (1st in the nation, duh). Sacks by their defense (1, LAST in the nation)
Third down conversion percentage: 48.6% (16th in the nation, 1st in the SEC), and that's real good. Third down conversion percentage defense: 51.2% (118th in the nation, last in the SEC), and that's real bad.
Arkansas made their reputation on being a run-heavy offense. They're 79 in the nation at 171 YPG. Passing, on the other hand, is 28th at 305 YPG.
Here are the good numbers for them: they're 35th in total offense, 45th in total defense and 6th nationally in time of possession. They're in the positives on turnovers.
So what gives?
Well, they move the ball, but they don't score -- 82nd nationally. They stink in the redzone on offense -- 119th in the nation. Their redzone defense, on the other hand, is also subpar. They're 77th overall against the pass, but their pass efficiency defense is 102nd.
Then there's penalties. They're 76 in total penalties and 90th in penalty yardage. So they're not only getting hit a lot, they're getting hit a lot for big yards.
Got all that? Long story short, looks like Arkansas is a football team that can be dangerous, but has a very nasty habit of shooting itself in the foot. A&M needs to respect the former and force the latter in this game.
That's a little bit different
While looking at the NCAA stats, I decided to take a look at where A&M stood in terms of converting 3rd downs and stopping them. Those are points of emphasis for Kevin Sumlin, and with good reason. The Aggies are 21st in the nation on conversions, at 47.7%. Not bad. The defense is excellent, only allowing 23.6% conversions (16th in the nation). The last couple of years...not so good.
In 2014, they were 63rd in conversions and 69th in conversions against (which, honestly, was better than I expected). In 2013, with Johnny at the helm, the Aggies were 8th in conversions at better than 50%. The defense, on the other hand, was 78th and gave them up at a 41% clip. 2012 is the gold standard, of course, and the Aggies converted 3rd downs at a nearly 55% clip, which is remarkable. The defense wasn't shabby either, only giving up 33.2% conversions.
We've got a loooooooong way to go, but A&M can live with 48% 3rd down conversions. If the other guys are converting at a less than 1 in 4 clip later this year, this team is on the road to big things.
Intensity
It's still a bit of a surprise that you had multiple players say they didn't think the team played as hard as they could have against Ball State and Nevada. There's probably not much of a doubt that they really didn't, but they seem to think that they can flip the intensity switch backup to ASU levels just like that. Here's why they may be able to: it IS a conference game. They know Arkansas had it circled preseason and is desperate now. It's on national TV at Jerry World in prime time. It IS a conference game. They're aware of their shortcomings and believe they know how to fix it. The starters, who have been pretty exceptional, will get the lion's share of the snaps.
Here's why they may not be able to: is it really that simple, to just flip the intensity back on? Are they too overconfident?
There are a lot of teams who didn't blow out their lesser opponents last weekend, Ohio State being tops on the list. Maybe other teams were goofing around too. But I think everyone would have been far more content if they had blown the doors off of Nevada like they were capable of doing.
An impressive stat
Since returning to the game in the 4th quarter against ASU, Kyle Allen has completed more than 2/3 of his passes (34-51) for 506 yards, 8 TDs and just 1 INT. He's also run for two touchdowns.
20 names to remember as recruiting gets rabid
The Aggies are in the neighborhood of having 10 scholarships for 2016 left. Maybe a couple more, depending on mid-termers and stuff like that. So here are 20 guys to watch closely to fill those spots as we go down the stretch.
WR N'Keal Harry (5-star)
CB Byron Murphy (4-star)
CB Eric Cuffee (3-star)
S Devontay Anderson (4-star)
S Brandon Jones (4-star)
OL Jean Delance (4-star)
LB Michael Divinity (4-star)
LB Jeffery McCullough (4-star)
WR Tyrie Cleveland (4-star)
RB Devwah Whaley (4-star)
RB Trevor Speights (3-star)
ATH Sewo Olonilua (4-star)
DT Chris Daniels (4-star)
DT Ross Blacklock (3-star)
CB/S Eric Monroe (4-star)
WR Clyde Leflore-Chriss (4-star)
CB Kristian Fulton (4-star)
DE Wole Beitku (4-star)
DE Terrell Hall (4-star)
FB Devin White (4-star)
I would put Isaiah Chambers on the list, but since he's committing somewhere (A&M or TCU, probably, with odds favoring TCU), there's no point in it. Anyway, are there more perspective guys you can add? Sure. But these are some of the ones most likely on A&M's target list.
We know Arkansas is 1-2. For curiosity's sake, I went to take a look at their stats to see if there's anything glaring about a team that lost at home to Toledo and to Texas Tech. It left me shaking my head, because their numbers are all over the place. Here's a few examples:
Sacks allowed: 0 (1st in the nation, duh). Sacks by their defense (1, LAST in the nation)
Third down conversion percentage: 48.6% (16th in the nation, 1st in the SEC), and that's real good. Third down conversion percentage defense: 51.2% (118th in the nation, last in the SEC), and that's real bad.
Arkansas made their reputation on being a run-heavy offense. They're 79 in the nation at 171 YPG. Passing, on the other hand, is 28th at 305 YPG.
Here are the good numbers for them: they're 35th in total offense, 45th in total defense and 6th nationally in time of possession. They're in the positives on turnovers.
So what gives?
Well, they move the ball, but they don't score -- 82nd nationally. They stink in the redzone on offense -- 119th in the nation. Their redzone defense, on the other hand, is also subpar. They're 77th overall against the pass, but their pass efficiency defense is 102nd.
Then there's penalties. They're 76 in total penalties and 90th in penalty yardage. So they're not only getting hit a lot, they're getting hit a lot for big yards.
Got all that? Long story short, looks like Arkansas is a football team that can be dangerous, but has a very nasty habit of shooting itself in the foot. A&M needs to respect the former and force the latter in this game.
That's a little bit different
While looking at the NCAA stats, I decided to take a look at where A&M stood in terms of converting 3rd downs and stopping them. Those are points of emphasis for Kevin Sumlin, and with good reason. The Aggies are 21st in the nation on conversions, at 47.7%. Not bad. The defense is excellent, only allowing 23.6% conversions (16th in the nation). The last couple of years...not so good.
In 2014, they were 63rd in conversions and 69th in conversions against (which, honestly, was better than I expected). In 2013, with Johnny at the helm, the Aggies were 8th in conversions at better than 50%. The defense, on the other hand, was 78th and gave them up at a 41% clip. 2012 is the gold standard, of course, and the Aggies converted 3rd downs at a nearly 55% clip, which is remarkable. The defense wasn't shabby either, only giving up 33.2% conversions.
We've got a loooooooong way to go, but A&M can live with 48% 3rd down conversions. If the other guys are converting at a less than 1 in 4 clip later this year, this team is on the road to big things.
Intensity
It's still a bit of a surprise that you had multiple players say they didn't think the team played as hard as they could have against Ball State and Nevada. There's probably not much of a doubt that they really didn't, but they seem to think that they can flip the intensity switch backup to ASU levels just like that. Here's why they may be able to: it IS a conference game. They know Arkansas had it circled preseason and is desperate now. It's on national TV at Jerry World in prime time. It IS a conference game. They're aware of their shortcomings and believe they know how to fix it. The starters, who have been pretty exceptional, will get the lion's share of the snaps.
Here's why they may not be able to: is it really that simple, to just flip the intensity back on? Are they too overconfident?
There are a lot of teams who didn't blow out their lesser opponents last weekend, Ohio State being tops on the list. Maybe other teams were goofing around too. But I think everyone would have been far more content if they had blown the doors off of Nevada like they were capable of doing.
An impressive stat
Since returning to the game in the 4th quarter against ASU, Kyle Allen has completed more than 2/3 of his passes (34-51) for 506 yards, 8 TDs and just 1 INT. He's also run for two touchdowns.
20 names to remember as recruiting gets rabid
The Aggies are in the neighborhood of having 10 scholarships for 2016 left. Maybe a couple more, depending on mid-termers and stuff like that. So here are 20 guys to watch closely to fill those spots as we go down the stretch.
WR N'Keal Harry (5-star)
CB Byron Murphy (4-star)
CB Eric Cuffee (3-star)
S Devontay Anderson (4-star)
S Brandon Jones (4-star)
OL Jean Delance (4-star)
LB Michael Divinity (4-star)
LB Jeffery McCullough (4-star)
WR Tyrie Cleveland (4-star)
RB Devwah Whaley (4-star)
RB Trevor Speights (3-star)
ATH Sewo Olonilua (4-star)
DT Chris Daniels (4-star)
DT Ross Blacklock (3-star)
CB/S Eric Monroe (4-star)
WR Clyde Leflore-Chriss (4-star)
CB Kristian Fulton (4-star)
DE Wole Beitku (4-star)
DE Terrell Hall (4-star)
FB Devin White (4-star)
I would put Isaiah Chambers on the list, but since he's committing somewhere (A&M or TCU, probably, with odds favoring TCU), there's no point in it. Anyway, are there more perspective guys you can add? Sure. But these are some of the ones most likely on A&M's target list.
