PFF Curiosities - BYU vs Sam Houston

-- A season-opening dive into some stats of note, courtesy PFF

The Mysterious Middle of the Field
A common complaint about BYU's offense is that it doesn't throw to the middle of the field. What exactly is the middle of the field? PFF sorts where QBs throw the ball based on 12 quadrants (each pass either going left, center, or right, and each pass going either a distance of a) 0-9 yards, b) 10-19 yards, c) 20 yards or more, or d) behind the LOS). Here's how it looks in grid form:

For this analysis I'm assuming our reference to the middle of the field refers to the quadrant circled in blue (i.e., passes in the middle of the field that aren't short (therefore greater than 9 yards) but also aren't bombs (less than 20 yards).

So does BYU struggle to target this area of the field?

Well, compared to peers BYU has been around average. Over the last two years, on average, FBS quarterbacks targeted the "middle of the field" on about 12% of their throws.

In 2022 Jaren Hall was right on this number, throwing 12% of his passes to this area of the field.

In 2021 he was a little worse, targeting it only 10.1% of the time.

In 2020, Zach was a little better, targeting it 13.4% of the time.

Going back to the beginning of the Grimes area BYU QBs have been targeting this zone about 11.7% of the time.

Should we emphasize this patch of the field more? Maybe. Some of the best QBs in the game seem to light this space up. Check out how often some famous names from the last couple years throw to this area of the field.

Bryce Young 18.4%
Anthony Richardson 17.3%

Michael Penix 17.2%

Jordan Travis 16.4%
CJ Stroud 16.2%

Jackson Dart 15.5%

Drake Maye 14.7%

Do good QBs throw to the middle of the field more because they recognize its value? Or do they throw to the middle of the field more because they have more skill than other QBs?


OK, so good QBs throw to the middle, but do good passing teams?
Kind of? Here are the top ten teams from 2022 in terms of passing yards per game. And here's how often they throw to the middle of the field. Reminder, 12% is the national average.

Washington 11.3%
Western Kentucky 11.9%
USC 11.4%
Georgia Southern 13.2%
Tennessee 14.5%
Arizona 13.5%
SMU 10.3%
Houston 14.3%
Wake Forest 16.3%
Mississippi State 10.9%

So of the top ten passing teams from 2022, 5 were under 12% and 5 were above. On average they were a tick above the national mark, coming in collectively at 12.7%. Hmm. 

Of course all these numbers ignore the fact that BYU is typically able to recruit a middle of the field workhorse a la Dennis Pitta more easily than a field-stretching Puka Nacua. My verdict? I'm with the complainers on this one. I wouldn't mind seeing BYU up their target percentage here to 14%.

Note 1: Uhh, it's just one game but Slovis only attempted one pass to this area of the field. That's good for a 3% target rate (lol).

Note 2: If you want to go back to the Anae and Detmer eras for fun, 2016 Taysom threw to this area 9% of the time and 2014 Taysom threw at it 7.6% of the time. That surprised me. I felt like the Anae 2.0 scheme attacked this area more. 

We Graduated Tackling School! (knock on wood)
Last year in the back-to-back debacles against Arkansas and Liberty BYU missed 42 tackle attempts. That’s an incomprehensible number. For comparison sake, the gruesome 2017 team played LSU, Utah, and Wisconsin and only missed 30 tackles in those three games. When you’re significantly worse than the 2017 squad that’s saying something.

Last week against Sam Houston PFF claims BYU only missed 2 tackles. I bet that’s the lowest number I’ve seen from BYU since I’ve been doing these curiosity posts. 

Cornerback Evaluation
If you’re a cornerback what’s better? Never being thrown at, or being thrown at and stopping everything that comes your way? Jakob Robinson and Eddie Heckard played each role last week. Robinson was targeted a ton – 13 pass attempts! – but only 5 were completed (and as we know, two were picked and one broken up). 13 balls went his way and Sam Houston only got 37 yards out of those passes (good for 2.8 yards per throw, woof). 

Meanwhile Sam Houston basically decided to never throw at Eddie Heckard? According to PFF they only threw at Eddie three times, and each time it was when Eddie was matched against a running back (or in other words, on plays where Eddie was lined up against a receiver, SH never threw his way). Those three passes resulted in a total gain of … 6 whopping yards. Quite the start for the lockdown duo.


Tooley Alignment
In 2022 Tooley lined up on the line of scrimmage on 8% of his defensive snaps. In game one against the Bearkats he was on the line of scrimmage on 17% of his defensive snaps. In related news Tooley only rushed the quarterback 8 times in the entirety of the 2022 season (a number that seems so low it makes me doubt the PFF analysts, but then I remember the Tuiaki factor). In game one of this season BYU rushed him 4 times. He’s halfway to his 2022 mark after just one game. I like it! Tooley is such a diverse player. The more BYU moves him around the better.

Who Got Dem Snaps - OL Edition

Of BYU's starting offensive line, four of the five went the distance playing every snap. Caleb Etienne on the other hand yielded 12 snaps to backup Brayden Keim. Was this cause Etienne got dinged and I missed it? Or because Funk is trying to evaluate his best five still? The offensive line did not impress on Saturday so if Etienne got pulled for a little bit it wouldn't surprise me. But it would surprise me that no one else on the line did.