(11-02-2016 11:32 AM)Tygrys Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 09:31 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 09:24 AM)Atlanta Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 08:19 AM)macgar32 Wrote:  

(11-02-2016 07:53 AM)Tygrys Wrote:  I guess if you operate under the assumption all 3 and out drives are 3 incomplete passes then you would be correct. However, that is rarely the case... Drive time and time of possession are clear indications of how fast an offense is operating. There is another post where I pulled time of possession for games and we have only had one game where we lead in time of possession. As I pointed out the one game we lead in time of possession we only the ball for 3 or 4 more minutes than the opponent despite the score being 77-3

When you are scoring on big plays, defense scoring TDs and scoring on special teams your Time of possession tends to be low as well.

And yes they can be indications but also not a smoking gun...Tulsa plays just as fast as us...Why did they win the time of possession battle...Because they got first downs and were able to run the ball at will.

Tulsa First Half Drives...Shouldn't their defense have been tired as well?

#2 1:03
#3 1:55
#4 :40
#6 1:23
#7 :27
#9 :50

Essentially the only reason Tulsa won the TOP battle is because on one drive where they were trying to drain the clock we allowed them to score a TD by running the ball 10 out of 11 times on one drive scoring a TD and the one pass was complete.

Actually that is not correct. Most of Tulsa's possessions were longer than ours because Tulsa sustained their drives resulting in scores. I recognize that Tulsa plays fast, even faster that us but Tulsa led in TOP from the opening kickoff. TOP is posted at the bottom of the scoreboard for all to see. And after 2 extended Tulsa drives that resulted in scores to open the game, Tulsa led in TOP by a substantial margin. Our issues were a series of unsuccessful drives of short duration. Only a 4th qtr Memphis drive that included a lot of ground work evened up the rushing totals & provided some TOP balance.

Tulsa had 3 drives entirely in the 4th quarter that totalled over 9 minutes and on one drive they rushed for 82 yards so unless we played an 18 minute fourth quarter we did not balance the TOP battle it actually got worst 9 minutes to 6 in the fourth.

Defenses get tired when they cannot get stops not because their offense plays fast. Our offensive issue is not pace it is discipline and we make too many mistakes to sustain a drive so we normally have to score on big plays.

Right, and I am simply questioning if part of that is due to or amplified by trying to play at such a fast pace. Would slowing down from time time help cut down on false starts, illegal motion, receivers not being set for at least a second, missed blocking assignments, etc. To be fair, this not some original thought of mine, the announcers spent a lot of time talking about it in the Tulsa game. I simply tend to agree with them that it is causing serious problems trying to go too fast (not fast in general, just too fast).

Again, the goal in not just lay blame on pace but ask if it is a major contributing factor to a series of problems.

Tulsa is just one example, 7 out of 8 games we have lost the time of possession battle and it seems like it is really starting to catch up to the defense. I absolutely believe in a compounding effect of time on the field for our defense. We have gotten progressively worse as the season has gone on. Total time spent on the field for Memphis looks like this:

Offense - 212 minutes
Defense - 268 minutes

Our defense is a known weakness, it just seems like we should be game planning to minimize their time on the field, no maximize it...

I agree that slowing down may cut down on mistakes...

But I think our defensive woes have more to do with key injuries than it has to do with anything else.