Press Conference 11/1/2011 (Wake Forest Week)

[Whiskeyjack]

I agree with putting more emphasis on blocking punts - or at least lining up to give the impression of that emphasis. You wanna counteract the wide-split gunners? Have 2 more unblocked rushers.

That was probably the plan until Collinsworth got nailed with that bullsh!t Roughing the Kicker penalty against Pitt.

 

[BGIF]

See:
Beamer, Frank

I'll see your Frank Beamer and raise you one Brian Kelly. Checking out the NCAA Stats, ND leads in Special Teams Categories 3 to 2.

I'm not exalting ND's Special Teams, just comparing with your Standard. BTW, Beamer's Offense, Defense, and Special Teams have been at VT for 26 years. Kelly is in year 2.


VT has a 10.4 yd edge in Punt Returns (largely because they returned a put for TD).
VT leads Pt Ret Def also by 10.4 yds (ND gave up a 34 ret to USF and a 21 yd ret to UM in games 1 & 2. They also gave up 38 yds to USC on 3 returns. All in the losses.)
For all the crap Turk has taken, ND leads VT in Net Punting 38.2. to 31.5,with a 20% edge.
ND leads in KO Ret by George! 24.7 yd average with 2 TDs to 19.5 and 0 TDs.
ND leads in KO Ret Defense with holding opposing returners to a 1.3 yds less than VT.

CATEGORY	VT Rk	VT Yd	#	TD	ND Rk	ND Yd	#	TD	Lead
Punt Ret O	20	10.7	26	1	120	0.3	3	0	VT
Punt Ret D	19	4.5	11	0	111	14.9	7	0	VT
Net Punt O	116	31.8	45	NA	103	38.2	26	NA	ND
KO Ret O	101	19.5	29	0	19	24.7	37	2	ND
KO Ret D	83	22.4	28	0	59	21.1	38	0	ND

 

[BGIF]

That was probably the plan until Collinsworth got nailed with that bullsh!t Roughing the Kicker penalty against Pitt.

The call was debateable but regardless, his technique as I recalled wasn't proper. You don't abandon a basic play over one penalty. You correct that technique and move on.

When a WR gets a holding call, do you have all the WRs stop blocking for the rest of the season?

No, you go over the call on film, point out how to correct it, repeat it on the field in practice to see it sunk in, and you move on to the next item.

You either set up the block and at least apply pressure or you set up a return - and you keep them guessing which you're going to do. ND doesn't seem to do either.

 

[BGIF]

The new punt formation that has recently been adopted throughout college football allows more defenders to get downfield faster. During some cfb game the announcers were discussing it and said returns have been down throughout the game since the new formation has been used.

I don't know but I'll take your word (the announcers) for it. I don't know how the punt return numbers have trended from year to year. I do know that since 1919, ND's worse year was 1970 with 5.3 yds/punt UNTIL last year when ND had 1.3. This year ND's dropped over 75% from the all-time low to 0.3.

A quick eyeball of ND ave punt rets from '96 to '09, Holtz through Weis, looks like the yearly average was about 9-10 yds/punt ret. The high was 22.9 and the low 6.9 in back to back years for Allen Rossum in Holtz's last year and Davie's first. The numbers cluster around 9-10 for 14 years then plummet in the Kelly era.

BUT they don't start down with Kelly's first game. Allen returned 2 punts for 47 yds then got injured. Goodman in his first game returned 3 kicks for 27 yds. Good start. Then Goodman has 4 games with negative numbers, -2 to -4. Blanton fielded two punts 27 yds. That produced 1.3 yds/punt return.

This year Riddick has 2 for -2 and a turnover. Goodman's returned 8 for 5 yds. I didn't find a record of who did what with the Fair Catch balls.


That said. The #1 Team in the nation in Punt Returns, Miss, is averaging almost 28 yds/ret with 2 TDs even though they've only returned 8 kicks. The 2 TDs skew the numbers. For discussion say you give them 50 yds/TD return, without those 2 returns they're still averaging 20 yds/return.

Oregon St is the #2 best punt returner with 18 yds/punt ret AND 2 TDs. Take out 100 yds gross for the 2 TDs and they average about 7.5 yppr.

Stanford and Alabama are over 12.

The NCAA stats I looked at don't show an average and I'm not adding them all up. Of the 120 Div 1 teams the #60, UTEP, averages 8.06. The #61 team, LSU, averages 8.05.

15 teams average in the 7 yd range (7.00 to 7.99) and 15 teams average in the 6s.


I agree with Kelly that the numbers are in a relatively close range but ND's buried in the cellar. ND's not mediocre. One 80 yd return would jump ND up around #40 in the nation. But there isn't going to be an 8 yd return if you only Fair Catch.

There have been about 1000 punts in Div 1 so far with about 40 returned for TDs, only 4 %. But it only takes one return like Atkinson's KO Return TD to invigorate a team and ignite a stadium. Unfortunately ND is only trying to return KOs.

 

[koonja]

I'll see your Frank Beamer and raise you one Brian Kelly. Checking out the NCAA Stats, ND leads in Special Teams Categories 3 to 2.

I'm not exalting ND's Special Teams, just comparing with your Standard. BTW, Beamer's Offense, Defense, and Special Teams have been at VT for 26 years. Kelly is in year 2.


VT has a 10.4 yd edge in Punt Returns (largely because they returned a put for TD).
VT leads Pt Ret Def also by 10.4 yds (ND gave up a 34 ret to USF and a 21 yd ret to UM in games 1 & 2. They also gave up 38 yds to USC on 3 returns. All in the losses.)
For all the crap Turk has taken, ND leads VT in Net Punting 38.2. to 31.5,with a 20% edge.
ND leads in KO Ret by George! 24.7 yd average with 2 TDs to 19.5 and 0 TDs.
ND leads in KO Ret Defense with holding opposing returners to a 1.3 yds less than VT.

CATEGORY	VT Rk	VT Yd	#	TD	ND Rk	ND Yd	#	TD	Lead
Punt Ret O	20	10.7	26	1	120	0.3	3	0	VT
Punt Ret D	19	4.5	11	0	111	14.9	7	0	VT
Net Punt O	116	31.8	45	NA	103	38.2	26	NA	ND
KO Ret O	101	19.5	29	0	19	24.7	37	2	ND
KO Ret D	83	22.4	28	0	59	21.1	38	0	ND

This just goes to show you can prove anything with stats. Do you notice the discrepancies?

For example, you used 20% to show our KR advantage over V-Tech and we have a 6% advantage in KR defense...Do you realize they have a 356% advantage in PR yardage? How about a 33% advantage in PR defense? Their advantage in those categories are far more significant than ours.

And how to you measure who leads in special teams categories without even including field goals?

We're hitting a whopping 55% of our field goals compared to V-Tech at 77%

Not to mention, Frank Beamer is not known for his special teams statistics but more so making the right special teams calls in BIG moments. Now I haven't been around long, but almost every year when I see highlights of V-Tech making a special teams play it's in the 4th quarter in a big game. The only two big ND SP plays I can think of in the last two years that are in a tight game (correct me if I'm wrong) was Blanton's block for a TD last year against a way overrated Utah team who got absolutely killed by their 3 good oponents, and GAIIIs KR vs USC in the 2nd.

 

[irish1958]

I agree with putting more emphasis on blocking punts - or at least lining up to give the impression of that emphasis. You wanna counteract the wide-split gunners? Have 2 more unblocked rushers.

And have an easy throw for a first down to the uncovered gunners?

 

[koonja]

I don't know but I'll take your word (the announcers) for it. I don't know how the punt return numbers have trended from year to year. I do know that since 1919, ND's worse year was 1970 with 5.3 yds/punt UNTIL last year when ND had 1.3. This year ND's dropped over 75% from the all-time low to 0.3.

A quick eyeball of ND ave punt rets from '96 to '09, Holtz through Weis, looks like the yearly average was about 9-10 yds/punt ret. The high was 22.9 and the low 6.9 in back to back years for Allen Rossum in Holtz's last year and Davie's first. The numbers cluster around 9-10 for 14 years then plummet in the Kelly era.

BUT they don't start down with Kelly's first game. Allen returned 2 punts for 47 yds then got injured. Goodman in his first game returned 3 kicks for 27 yds. Good start. Then Goodman has 4 games with negative numbers, -2 to -4. Blanton fielded two punts 27 yds. That produced 1.3 yds/punt return.

This year Riddick has 2 for -2 and a turnover. Goodman's returned 8 for 5 yds. I didn't find a record of who did what with the Fair Catch balls.


That said. The #1 Team in the nation in Punt Returns, Miss, is averaging almost 28 yds/ret with 2 TDs even though they've only returned 8 kicks. The 2 TDs skew the numbers. For discussion say you give them 50 yds/TD return, without those 2 returns they're still averaging 20 yds/return.

Oregon St is the #2 best punt returner with 18 yds/punt ret AND 2 TDs. Take out 100 yds gross for the 2 TDs and they average about 7.5 yppr.

Stanford and Alabama are over 12.

The NCAA stats I looked at don't show an average and I'm not adding them all up. Of the 120 Div 1 teams the #60, UTEP, averages 8.06. The #61 team, LSU, averages 8.05.

15 teams average in the 7 yd range (7.00 to 7.99) and 15 teams average in the 6s.


I agree with Kelly that the numbers are in a relatively close range but ND's buried in the cellar. ND's not mediocre. One 80 yd return would jump ND up around #40 in the nation. But there isn't going to be an 8 yd return if you only Fair Catch.

There have been about 1000 punts in Div 1 so far with about 40 returned for TDs, only 4 %. But it only takes one return like Atkinson's KO Return TD to invigorate a team and ignite a stadium. Unfortunately ND is only trying to return KOs.

A) Their defense must be pretty pedestrian to only force 8 punts.

B) Since we're playing 'what if', take out GAIIIs two KR for TDs and see how bad our special teams is compared to V-Techs. We go from averaging ~ 24 yards per KR to ~16 yards per KR and V-Tech then has a 18% advantage.

C) How many teams could say that? About 40?

 

[Whiskeyjack]

To the extent some here might find it interesting, Football Outsiders recently created a ranking for ST.

ND is 61 and V Tech is 87.