Anyone watching the Boise State - Wyoming game (apologies, CableOne subscribers) could see that the Bronco defense was ridiculously dominant. But how ridiculously dominant? And Kellen Moore sure put up some gaudy yardage numbers against the Cowboys. But why and to what extent?
These are questions that BIFFF can help with thanks to an advanced stats look at Boise State football. From yards after catch to negative plays, enjoy BIFFF's findings after the jump.
The Bronco Institute of Football Facts and Figures (BIFFF)seeks to add context and numbers to Boise State statistics. Some of it is math, much of it is game charting, and the rest is pie charts.
The BIFFF Box Score
ESPN's box score is nice and all, but can it tell you stuff you didn't even know you wanted to know? No.
| Statistics |  |  |
Explanations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final Score | 51 | 6 | |
| Swing Points | 7 | 0 | Points on defense, special teams or drives < 25 yds |
| Turnovers | 2 | 3 | |
| Total Yards | 648 | 135 | |
| Net Yards | 578 | 100 | Yards on offense minus penalties |
| Wasted Yards | 109 | 70 | Yards on non-scoring drives (including penalties) |
| Yds on Scoring Drives | 539 | 65 | Yards on scoring drives (including penalties) |
| Passing Yards | 373 | 156 | |
| Completions | 21 | 12 | |
| Attempts | 31 | 21 | |
| Yds per Attempt | 12.0 | 7.4 | |
| Rushing Yards | 275 | -21 | |
| Attempts | 55 | 28 | |
| Average | 5.0 | -0.8 | |
| Penalty Yards | 70 | 35 | |
| Penalties | 8 | 6 | |
| Average | 8.8 | 5.8 | |
| Plays | 86 | 49 | |
| Yds per Play | 7.5 | 2.8 | |
| Run:Pass Ratio | 55:31 | 28:21 | |
| Negative Plays | 5 | 13 | Plays that gained negative yardage |
| Third Down Conversion Pct | 46% | 17% | |
| Conversions | 6 | 2 | |
| Attempts | 13 | 12 | |
| Avg Yards to go | 6.3 | 9.5 | |
| Avg Field Position | BSU 24 | WYO 29 | Average starting field position |
Notable:
- Swing points can be an indication of just how lopsided a game truly was. For instance, if Team A blows out Team B but scores 35 swing points doing it, the win was more fluky than anything. That said, Boise State only had seven swing points (Shea McClellin's fumble TD), so they still would have won 44-6 without them.
- Moral victories: Wyoming topped the Broncos in average field position. Expect a Mountain West Conference press release shortly.
- Wyoming had an average of nearly 10 yards to go on 3rd down, which means they might as well have not even run plays on 1st or 2nd.
- The Broncos nearly doubled up the Cowboys in total plays and more than doubled them in total positive plays.
The five most interesting stats from Boise State versus Wyoming
Wyoming's negative yardage would have led the team in receiving
How often and far did Wyoming go backwards on Saturday? The Cowboys had 17 plays that went for zero or negative yardage. Wyoming lost 78 yards on those plays. When you factor in that Wyoming also had nine incompletions, that makes for 26 plays from scrimmage that did not gain any yards. For those of you keeping track at home, that is more than half of the team's total plays.
Boise State receivers had more yards after the catch than Wyoming had total passing yards
Remember how Wyoming was not so good at tackling going into Saturday? Well, Boise State was just as good at running away from tacklers. Bronco receivers recorded 180 yards after the catch.
Ninety-seven of Kellen Moore's 107 yards on TD throws were all Kellen Moore
Even though Bronco receivers had buku yards after the catch on Saturday, they did not have them on Kellen Moore TD tosses. Austin Pettis only had 10 yards to go after hauling in his TD catch, and Titus Young caught his in the end zone. Arm strength Exhibit A.
Only three Wyoming drives included a first down
Eight of Wyoming's 12 drives ended in 3-and-outs. A ninth made it to fourth down where BSU got the stop. I really have nothing more to add to that. Except this: The other three drives went interception, interception, touchdown.
Doug Martin gained more yards running right than running left
Take that for what it's worth, which might not be much. Martin's 17 carries were split pretty evenly among left, middle, and right, and he just so happened to get 16 more yards running behind Will Lawrence and Matt Slater.
Your turn
What do you think of these stats? Did you make it through that table alive? Even more impressed at the domination of Boise State's defense? Share your thoughts in the comments.