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Growth of the pass-offense in the SEC


StatTiger

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Here is a breakdown of pass-offenses in the SEC by decade:

Decade Att/Gm QBR Pct YPA INT-R TD-R YPG
1960-1969 19.3 101.2 49.1 6.21 15.1 25.0 120.0
1970-1979 18.1 104.9 47.9 6.61 15.9 23.3 119.7
1980-1989 24.8 116.2 54.1 6.93 21.5 25.1 171.8
1990-1999 28.8 122.9 55.1 7.13 26.3 21.1 205.2
2000-2009 29.7 126.7 56.7 7.12 30.2 19.7 211.6
2010-2015 29.5 136.4 59.9 7.60 34.4 17.8 223.9

 

The 60's and 70's was dominated by strong run offenses and passing when you had to pass. The 1980's brought out more balance in the offenses. LSU and Tennessee led the way with six top-3 pass-efficiency offenses (each) during the decade of the 80's.

Steve Spurrier's arrival at Florida during the 1990's really turned the conference around in terms of having to compete with his pass-offense. It changed how the other teams in the conference had to recruit to compete with Florida's offense as well as scheming to compete against the Fun & Gun. The top-3 teams in the conference with top-3 pass-efficiency offenses during the 90's were Florida (8), Tennessee (8) and Georgia (5). The Volunteers and Bulldogs had to compete with the Gator's Fun & Gun offense on a yearly basis while competing in the East Division. The 1990's brought about the first decade, where there were more TD passes completed than interceptions conference wide. Not only were teams throwing more often, they were becoming more efficient doing so. During the 1980's, 23% of the teams in the SEC had an efficiency rating of 130 or better. During the 90's, it increased to 32%.

During the following decade (2000-2009), we see the continued increase in pass-efficiency with nearly 43% of the teams in the SEC having a pass-efficiency rating of 130 or better during the course of a season. Florida had the most top-3 finishes in efficiency with 7. Auburn, Georgia, LSU and Tennessee were tied for second with 4 appearances each. Note the interception ratio of 1 every 30.2 pass attempts during this decade, compared to the 1 every 15.1 attempts during the decade of the 60's.

Six years into this current decade (2010-2015), we have seen the rise of more spread-oriented offenses across the country and in the SEC. This has brought about the best of both worlds in terms of offensive balance, which has placed more pressure on defenses. Alabama currently leads the conference in the most top-3 pass-efficiency finishes with 4. Arkansas and Georgia are tied in second place with three top-3 appearances this current decade. Once again, pass-efficiency continues to increase with 57.5% of the teams finishing with a 130 rating or better this decade. I mentioned the rebirth of the running game. During the decade (2000-2009), only 12.5% of the teams in the SEC finished the season averaging at least 200-yards rushing per game. During this current decade (2010-2015), it has increased to 25.0%. Pass offenses continue to improve along with an increase in the running game.

Thoughts?

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More specialized skill players.  Heck even specialized offensive and defensive lineman now.  The evolution of football is exciting to watch from afar.  When I was a kid everyone ran the wishbone, then the I bone, then pro set, back to I formation with play action, then 1 back, and now spread (either pass spread or zone read spread). Each time offenses get more dynamic and the players get more specialized.  You have specialized running backs now... Who wouldn't have loved to see Lionel James take a speed sweep from Cam Newton?

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Also can you imagine James Brooks playing in a spread offense of today.  He would put up video game type numbers.  

Or even a rival player, Ozzie Newsome,playing a flex TE role out of the slot...

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I think it is interesting to see Arkansas tied in 2ND with UGA for pass efficiency.  Although primarily a run team, their QBs have been efficient when called on.

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23 minutes ago, corchjay said:

Petrino is factored in for those years.  Very sophisticated passing attack.

He was there '08-'11. Stats #s refer to '10-'15

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3 minutes ago, johnnyAU said:

Balance is important. Maybe more now than ever. 

 

Define "balance."  Some folks think if the yards passing and rushing are pretty even, that's balance. Others say that balance is when the number of passing and rushing attempts are fairly close, that's balance. Interested to know what folks here (including you) define as "balance."  For me, "balance" just means that you have a credible threat in both the running and passing game and can take advantage of a defense that does not respect your ability in either area. That is to say that when you need to run, you can. And when you need to pass, you can. ,

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3 hours ago, corchjay said:

Petrino is factored in for those years.  Very sophisticated passing attack.

Bielema is a pretty underrated QB developer (or whoever he hires at that position). Allen was arguably the best QB in the conference last year. Russell was Russell. Tolzien was pretty good from what I've heard. That Stave guy seems pretty terrible, but I think him and Bielema were only together 1 year or so before he left

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^ Allen had a REALLY good year to be sure. SW's nowhere near perfect, but the prospect of him playing to that level isn't exactly far fetched--at least in his senior year. Cox and Pettway should be seniors and NCM and KD will be juniors.

Edited by AUwent
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1 hour ago, CleCoTiger said:

 

Define "balance."  Some folks think if the yards passing and rushing are pretty even, that's balance. Others say that balance is when the number of passing and rushing attempts are fairly close, that's balance. Interested to know what folks here (including you) define as "balance."  For me, "balance" just means that you have a credible threat in both the running and passing game and can take advantage of a defense that does not respect your ability in either area. That is to say that when you need to run, you can. And when you need to pass, you can. ,

That is what I mean by balance. You can do both, and can switch to one if necessary, but aren't only reliant on one.

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11 minutes ago, johnnyAU said:

That is what I mean by balance. You can do both, and can switch to one if necessary, but aren't only reliant on one.

A good point...I had not thought of it that way....and using your definition we are even less balanced than I considered because seems that we have generally been less successful in "must have" situations with our passing game than in running the ball. 

Perhaps the  "must have" passing situations had a lower probability of success but more often than not we have just not run good routes or called good plays.

So....wonder what 'balance' will look like this season?

 

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