speaking of CFB metrics

by Jay , San Diego, Thursday, February 26, 2009, 10:45 (5918 days ago)

Irishoutsider cited a lot of important play-level metrics below. One thing I started getting hooked on last year was looking at drive metrics. Dave (El Capitan) set up a neat aggregator that goes out and collects all the higher-level drive metrics available on the NCAA stats website. I also collected Notre Dame drive stats as the year went on and sliced them in different ways. Brian Fremeau (an ND grad who does a lot of excellent drive-related stuff for the stats-heavy website Football Outsiders) was also in on the discssion at various times last year, and has some excellent stuff to share, including a metric he developed called the Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI). Link here:

http://bcftoys.blogspot.com/

I like thinking about games in terms of individual drives because they really sharpen the game for you, and they raise the stakes. You only get about 10-12 drives per game. That's 10-12 bites at the apple to put points on the board. Suddenly, field position, special teams, and probabilities of scoring from various territories jump to the forefront of your mind. Turnovers (both minimizing your own and forcing them from the other team) take on increased importance (especially in terms of the resulting field position). While watching games last year, I would find myself mentally keeping tabs on the # of drives per team, where they started, and what the outcomes were. It changed how I watch the game.

I can post some more stuff on this topic (including some spreadsheets) if people are interested. Brian and El Capitan are here as well - they might be interested in batting things around.

Tags:
stats, drives