Thursday, September 29, 2005

Statistically Speaking | by Pat

• To quote directly from the und.com game notes, here's a reflection of how much the offense has improved this season.

With 560 yards of total offense in today's game, Notre Dame has now piled up over 500 yards of offense in three of its first four games. The team compiled 502 at Pittsburgh and 594 against Michigan State. The last time the Irish put up 500 yards of offense three times in a single season was 1996, when the Irish accomplished that feat four times. From 1997-2004, Notre Dame reached 500 total yards of offense in a game only five times.
• Darius Walker has now topped 100 yards rushing for the first four games of the season. He's the first player to do so in the first four games of the season. Allen Pinkett had 5 100-yard rushing games in a row so Darius can tie him with a century mark performance against Purdue. The ND record for consecutive 100 yard rushing games is 7, set by Lee Becton in 1993.

• Brady Quinn not only rapidly moving up the career attempts, completions, and yardage records, he also moved into a tie for 2nd place with 8 career games notching over 250 yards passing. The all-time leader is Jarious Jackson with 9 so it's possible that Quinn could reach a tie for first with a good showing against Purdue.

• Say what you will about his coverage, but Chinedum Nduwke is making an impact in the secondary. So far this season he has four fumble recoveries. Going back through the stats for the past 10 years, no player on the Irish defense totaled four fumble recoveries in a single season. Nduwke also has an interception giving him 5 turnover recoveries so far only a third into the season. Over the last ten year period, here are the Irish defenders who over a whole season have at least matched that total.
8 - Lyron Cobbins, 1995 (3 FR, 5 INT)
8 - Shane Walton, 2002 (1 FR, 7 INT)
6 - Quentin Burrell, 2003 (2 FR, 4 INT)
5 - Gerome Sapp, 2002 (1 FR, 4 INT)
• So far this season, Notre Dame has successfully completed 26 of 61 third downs into first downs or touchdowns. So just how have we been doing it? Who's the most likely target? Of the 26 successfully converted 3rd downs, one has been by penalty, leaving 25 conversions. Here's the breakdown.

Third Downs Converted, by Player

Player Rush
Pass
Total
Anthony Fasano

3
3
Jeff Samardzija

4
4
Maurice Stovall

5
5
Rhema McKnight

1
1
Asaph Schwapp
1

1
Rashon Powers-Neal 3

3
Brady Quinn
2

2
Darius Walker
3
2 5
David Wolke
1

1
Totals
10
15 25


Season-long Running Averages

Offense

Category Pitt UM MSU UW 2005
2004
Yards per rush
5.5
2.4
2.8
5.0
4.0
3.32
Avg yards per pass attempt
8.4 4.78.18.8
7.7 7.2
Avg yards per pass completion
11.0 11.7 14.8 13.1
12.4 13.4
Pass completion %
67%
63%
55%
68%
62%
54%
Third Down conversions
10/15 (67%)
4/15 (27%)
6/18 (33%)
6/13 (46%)
26/61 (43%)
68/183 (37%)
Rushing yd average 275.0
104.0
107.0
233.0
179.75 (39th)
127.4 (85th)
Passing yd average 227.0
140.0
487.0
327.0
295.72 (17th)
218.1 (54th)
Total offense yd average
502.0
244.0
594.0
560.0
475.00 (13th)
345.5 (81st)
Time of possession / game 32:45 30:55 35:4936:56
34:07 30:50
Red Zone Touchdown Efficiency
5/ 6 (83%)
2/2 (100%)
4/ 5 (80%)
3/5 (60%)
14/ 18 (77%)
25 / 36 (69%)

Defense

Category Pitt
UM
MSU
UW
2005
2004
Yards per rush given up
3.3
2.4
4.5
1.9
3.9
2.7
Avg yards per pass attempt
6.3 5.1
12.1 10.2
7.3 7.9
Avg yards per pass completion
11.0 11.7 20.421.5
14.0 13.6
Pass completion percentage
57%
43%
59%
48%
52%
58%
Quarterback sacks
5 2 1 3
11 30
Rushing yd average against 103.0
114.0
161.0
41.0
104.75 (32nd)
88.2 (4th)
Passing yd average against 220.0
223.0
327.0
408.0
294.5 (105th)
281.2 (116th)
Total yd offense average against
323.0
337.0
488.0
449.0
399.25 (76th)
369.4 (54th)

Turnovers

Category Pitt
UM
MSU
UW
2005
2004
Interceptions by ND
1
1
1
1
4
9
Fumbles Forced / Recovered
2/ 1
3/ 1
4/ 2
2/2
11/ 6
27 / 12
Turnovers gained
2 233 10 21
Had Intercepted 1
0
1
0
2
10
Fumbles / Lost 1/ 0
3/ 1
1/ 1
2/0
7/ 2
15 / 6
Turnovers lost
1
1
2
0
4
16
Turnover Margin +1
+1
+1
+3
+6
+5

Special Teams

Category Pitt
UM
MSU
UW
2005
2004
Kickoff return average
17.5
24.0
21.5
31.0
22.0
18.7
Kickoff return average allowed
16.0 18.0 20.8 16.0
17.9 19.9
Punt return average
23.0 19.0 11.0 15.5
15.8 10.8
Punt return average allowed
0.0
5.2
2.0
10.0
4.7
8.2
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