With the season coming in nearly a month, I thought I’d put this out there for those that still read the "Grading the Team's Performance" threads every Saturday night/Sunday morning. Because of the vast changes in the coaching staff, the metrics that I’ve changed (points and yards) will be adjusted to reflect a team ranked in the top quartile of the country in each stat. I will also warn, however, that I reserve the right to recalibrate the metrics by the conclusion of each 3rd game (UCLA, OSU, Missouri, Baylor). With that said, here’s what it will look like for at least the first 3 games of the 2011 Texas Football season: Offense: 1. Win 2. 31+ points (down from 35 last year) 3. 400+ yards (same as last year) 4. 100% Green Zone scoring 5. 40%+ on 3rd down 6. 1- turnovers 7. 4 plays+ 20 yards+ 8. 60%+ passing (up from 55% last year) 9. No sacks allowed 10. Eliminate foolish penalties* 11. Win 4th quarter Defense: 1. Win 2. 20- points allowed (up from 17 last year) 3. Force 2+ turnovers 4. Give offense the ball 2X inside 50 5. Force 5 3-and-outs 6. 54%- completions 7. No run over 20 yards 8. No pass over 25 yards 9. 4th and 4- stand 10. Less than 200 yards passing (down from 250 last year) 11. Less than 125 yards rushing (up from 100 last year) 12. Less than 325 yards total offense (down from 350 last year) 13. Score on defense 14. Shut out Special Teams: 1. No penalties** 2. No blocked punts allowed 3. No blocked PAT’s/FG’s allowed 4. No fumbles 5. 10- yards per punt return allowed 6. No kick return allowed past their own 40 7. 10+ yards per punt return 8. Return 1 kickoff past our own 45 9. Catch all fieldable punts 10. PAT’s 100% *=Just to clarify, to not grade positive here means 1 of 2 things: A) A player is guilty of a specific pre-snap penalty or any personal foul more than once. B) Pre-snap penalties and/or any personal fouls are committed 3 times combined. So, for example, if the left tackle gets two false start penalties in a game, that’s a negative grade. If the left tackle gets a false start and the right tackle gets a false start and no one else does, that’s a positive grade (unless something else happens). If one player gets a false start, another gets a delay of game, and another gets a personal foul, that’s a negative grade. Under zero circumstances do holding, offensive pass interference, block in the back, etc count against this. We are only talking about illegal motions, false starts, illegal procedures, clipping, chop blocks, or any other personal fouls. **=The only exception to this is if Texas purposefully takes a delay of game penalty to afford the punter more room.
Seems fair to me and changes make sense. This adds a new wrinkle to watching games sort of like doing scoring for baseball. When we get a gain of over 20 yards I notice it and keep tally. Thanks. Hopefully they won't be as painful this year.
Looking forward to reading these every week...thanks for the preseason prep. Two things I'm especially interested to see: 1. How the new staff scores compared to previous years, especially offensively. 2. Any progress made versus last year's less than stellar performance. Thanks again for doing this Hp.
Oh hell, the preseason just got real. When slugga rolls out the grading matrix, you know the smell of CFB is just around the corner.
^ I'll be even happier when people start posting pics of Nathan Vasher and Eric Metcalf on the countdown thread.
I always felt like the caliber of competition should be factored in somehow. As you alluded later in the thread, we'll see higher numbers against cupcakes and lower numbers against real teams. I always figured that 7 of 11 on offense against Rice didn't seem good. But if we earned the right 6 (the first 6) of the 11 against ou, I'd feel like the O had a good outing. Similarly, if we pulled 20 of the total 35 against ou, that seems more than respectable. But 20 of 35 against Rice probably indicates some significant problems. Just a thought. I know the disclaimer you've stated about these grades.
HP Can you compare GDs and WMs results to the new staff. It would be interesting to see if what you say about GD kicking butt against weaker teams and performing bad against equal or better teams holds true. Plus, I would like to see if WM defense compares to our new product. Thanks for what you do, makes me more interested in the tactics of the game instead of just enjoying the viewing of the game.
