I was looking through some stats today and something jumped out to me. In NIU's 3 losses, the average time of possession is NIU 25 minutes - Opponent 34 minutes.

Yet, in their wins they average only 29 minutes a game.

You would think in a games where they win, especially like last week they would be able to dominate time of possession, not lose it. Obviously the W is what's important, but perhaps NIU's defense would get a tremendous lift if the offense could chew up some of that clock and keep them off the field

Yeah, having the ball longer probably would help.

Score points.

2 of their wins have come against teams who primarily run the ball, which chews up a lot of clock.

I don't think this stat really says anything.

NIU is getting doubled in time of possession, their defense looks tired

Once again this topic has proved to be more relevant than ever before!

NIU is 8-1 on the season, and in their one loss, Iowa had the ball 39 minutes, to just 21 minutes for NIU. Gotta keep possession of that ball Huskies!!!

Case in point, against Army, NIU squeaked out a victory while only holding possession of the ball for 17 and a half minutes! They were very fortunate to pull that game out!

What concerns me however is that NIU has only won the "time of possession" battle, or TOPB as I like to call it, once this whole season! That was against Akron.

I am very excited about this 8-1 team, but I'd be a little more excited if they weren't 1-8 this season in TOPB. I just don't know if I can fully trust a team that does not dominate TOPB week in and week out.

I will be watching this week anxiously and hoping the NIU can move the chains, put some numbers on the scoreboard, and most importantly keep that clock running when they have the ball!

Go Huskies!

I love you all equally

Time of possession means nothing with the offense we run. Nothing.

I agree that time of possession is not important, just get ahead and make the opposition get into a predictable pass calling mode, that is when the NIU defense thrives when they can pin the ears back and get after the QB.

(10-31-2012 01:01 AM)7 Wrote:  Time of possession means nothing with the offense we run. Nothing.

However it did against Iowa, the way they called that game, TOP was a part of that L.

(10-31-2012 01:01 AM)7 Wrote:  Time of possession means nothing with the offense we run. Nothing.

Thank you for your reply, I really do appreciate it and enjoy discussing my TOPB theories with others!

I understand that with a quick scoring offense you don't hold the ball long, but if you're not controlling the ball, your defense doesn't get time to rest!

If you have a defense that doesn't even have time to get a drink of water, or maybe a sip of some Blue or Red gatorade before they have to go back out, they might give up some points or be forced to waste time outs to get some gatorade

(10-31-2012 01:04 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  I agree that time of possession is not important, just get ahead and make the opposition get into a predictable pass calling mode, that is when the NIU defense thrives when they can pin the ears back and get after the QB.

But what about when there is 5 minutes left in the game and NIU is up 4 with the ball? They are not used to winning the TOPB so how can they run the clock out when they are so used to fast tempo? If they score too quickly, the other team will get the ball

I am going to bed now, but thank you guys for discussing the TOPB with me this evening, perhaps tomorrow we can pick it up again, after I get some rest!

TOP is basically an irrelevant stat with us because we're going fast & will almost never be great in that anyway. Look at plays. We ran 52 against Iowa and 53 against Army. We've been 75+ in 6 wins. In the Buffalo & Western Michigan games, we were just below 70. The Buffalo game was just a blowout anyway & them having 16, 11, 15 & a pair of 9 play drive (most of those were in garbage time) were why the total was down. I'm not really sure why we had so few plays this past weekend, I'm guessing it was some short fields & a few long plays. Yet still, in those 2 games, the totals are still way above Iowa & Army. Generally, with us, it's all about how many plays we get on offense.

(10-31-2012 01:04 AM)HuskieJWN Wrote:  

(10-31-2012 01:01 AM)7 Wrote:  Time of possession means nothing with the offense we run. Nothing.

However it did against Iowa, the way they called that game, TOP was a part of that L.

We lost that game because we had one first down & one long touchdown run after halftime. That was it. It wasn't time of possession, it was outright lack of offense.

(10-31-2012 01:07 AM)1eyed_jack Wrote:  

(10-31-2012 01:04 AM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  I agree that time of possession is not important, just get ahead and make the opposition get into a predictable pass calling mode, that is when the NIU defense thrives when they can pin the ears back and get after the QB.

But what about when there is 5 minutes left in the game and NIU is up 4 with the ball? They are not used to winning the TOPB so how can they run the clock out when they are so used to fast tempo? If they score too quickly, the other team will get the ball

I dont disagree, but in my mind it is kind of like asking Adam Dunn to lay a bunt down.

Against Army we had the ball for like 17 min compared to their 43 min and won. Doesnt that go exactly against what you are saying?? I get the point, and usually it does have some bearing on the outcome but not always

With the new generation of hurry-up offenses, time of possession is less meaningful than the number of plays run. I suspect that NIU has run an enormous amount of plays, particularly in their close wins.

In my first year coaching, I used to keep the chart for the defense, marking down our calls on each play to be used for film breakdown. Each sheet had 12 slots and I got five sheets. I remember asking the DC "What if I run out of sheets during the game?" He said, "If they run over 60 plays against us, just write "Asses Kicked" at the bottom of the 5th page and forget about it."

Every time you ask those D-linemen to put their hand on the ground, they get worn out. If they have to do it 12 times in a row about 30 seconds apart, they'll be exhausted.

We run a hurry up offense.. this is a ridiculous complaint.

Our offense is designed to wear down the defense by snapping the ball quickly. You can't win the TOP battle when you are snapping the ball with 20 seconds left on the play clock. Yes this offense is a quick strike offense, but really it is more of a quick snap offense...meaning we still run a bunch of plays, but those plays are run back-to-back-to back...

Winning the TOP battle is obviously a legit and time-tested football strategy, but it is simply not one NIU chooses to employ.

The negative to our offense is that Yes, the defense will be out on the field for a good chunk of the game. That is where depth comes into play. The D had to have depth, and right now I think you could argue that we have very good depth on D which allows us to forego the TOP battle.

Up to date MAC TOP stats below. One stat the MAC web site doesnt show is how many plays per game each team averages. It would then be interesting to see how quickly on average each team averages per play.

TIME OF POSSESSION G Poss. Time Avg/G
1. Kent State 8 260:11 32:31
2. Ball State 9 290:38 32:17
3. Toledo 9 283:07 31:27
4. Bowling Green 9 282:24 31:22
5. Ohio 8 245:16 30:39
6. Western Michigan 9 272:09 30:14
7. Central Michigan 8 235:37 29:27
8. Miami 8 234:48 29:21
9. Buffalo 8 228:25 28:33
10. UMass 8 224:49 28:06
11. Akron 9 246:44 27:24
12. Eastern Michigan 8 210:59 26:22
13. Northern Illinois 9 235:58 26:13