ANALYTICS and WINNING …from another angle.

[press-on]

AN HONEST ASSESSMENT ABOUT ANALYTICS AND IT’S RELEVANCE TO THE GAME

LOOK, the genius of football is that it is a very simple game. You run. You throw. You execute or you don’t.
Your speed, it’s either faster or slower. You jump higher or lower. You are stronger or less. You react quicker or not. Your technique is better or worse. These are ultimately the elements of the game that define the game winner! Of course there are lapses and breakdowns. Surprises and deceptions. INJURIES.
But in the end it’s Mano a Mano. THAT is what makes it such a great game!

Someone once said, ‘Statistics are for Losers’. He was right. And the same is true for Analytics. Your teams, your warriors, are either going to out-execute their opponents or not. Da*n the stats. Either you have what it takes to prevail in the moment or you don’t. You’ve heard the quote, “we knew what they were going to do. We just couldn’t stop them.”

That’s why those that are perennial champions in the sport are the Ohio State’s, the Alabama’s, the Georgia’s and so on. Their rosters are chock full of 5 and 4 star athletes. The fastest; the quickest; and so on. And let’s not forget the Coaches. The best teams always have the Best Coaches! (Full Exclamation Point)

And then you have the rest of the teams that are left to fight and claw against each other. And we, the die-hard fans end up disputing after the game over the most trivial of events and the ANALYTICS, for they unfortunately are often mistakenly seen as the main difference in the outcome. NOT SO! The fact is our guys ultimately either DID or DID NOT execute throughout the game as well as their opponent.

So, in the end, we already know the final results. The best teams, year in and year out will always be those with the best athletes and the best coaches. Indisputable. So, what to do? …. Ah, you know the answer!

[SalUTEtheU]

I would respectfully disagree. Arizona knew what was coming because of Ludwig’s tendencies. Matt Patton on Twitter had some excellent breakdown of the play calling tendencies. If Mike Mitchell is in the game it is either a run up the middle or consistently to one side. Same for Bernard. He essentially showed that you can ignore the TEs in those situations. You can execute your ass off and still get stuffed because the defense knows what is coming. I agree execution is critical, but I think analytics are important. Look at the Moneyball Athletics, a winning team built strictly on analytics.

[Ute Dub]

Agree. Time to scout yourself for your tendencies. Scalley and Whit need to scout Ludwig and show him the scouting report.

[PlainsUte]

Moneyball shows you can make huge strides by using analytics, but in order to reach the pinnacle perfecting technique and intangibles come into play. Beane’s team never won a pennant, let alone a World Series. That’s where coaching and scouting have to identify and curate the “IT” factor that great teams and great players have despite lesser analytics.

When Utah was successful on 4th Down in Stillwater it was because Utah was consistently getting push at the LoS, just as they were able to run the ball at the end of the game and get the necessary 1st downs to run out the clock when OkState knew they were running. That was not true vs Arizona, so Whitt should have recognized that, especially after the 1st failed attempt. Either that or they should have gotten more creative with the play calling, because manu-a-manu they were not going to get that many yards running straight-ahead when Arizona was stacking the box. Improving Red Zone offense is something that I hope the team focused on during the bye week.

[RedUte14]

The Atheletics sure are a powerhouse…

[Jim Vanderhoof]

They need to do analytics to see if the non analytics are working better than the analytics. Really to me it comes down to situational football. Do you have the personnel and play calling ability to succeed in certain situations.

[press-on]

Thanks for each of your comments.

I don’t see this as an Analytics issue. As I see it, it’s apparently Ludwig tipping his plays, or tendencies if you will, which falls under the Good Coaching Heading we talked about. Do good or great coaches show their hand or ‘tendencies’? Not picking on Lud but if it’s a problem, it NEEDS to be fixed! Work the problem and fix it!

Back in ’03, under Urban, New Mexico came waltzing into town. We were doing pretty good to that point. They spanked us though, laying, if I remember right, about 47 points on us. Urban’s message to Whit that week was… “FIX IT!” And he DID!

If Lud can’t do that, then there’s a larger problem that needs to be addressed.

[The Miami Ute]

Rocky Long was New Mexico’s version of Whitt. Not only did he have pretty good success with the Lobos, but he also took San Diego State to a bowl in all nine seasons he was the coach there. Interestingly enough, The Lobos did the same thing in 2005 when they visited RES, so I’m not certain if New Mexico was Whitt’s kryptonite.

[Author]

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