Year 1 Comparison

[messageboardsuperhero]

It’s wild to look at how statistically similar we are to WSU’s year one with Leach in 2012.

Passing
WSU - 330 YPG; 6.4 YPA; 1.9 TDs PG; 1.8 INTs PG
MSU - 324 YPG; 5.9 YPA; 1.5 TDs PG; 1.8 INTs PG

Rushing
WSU - 29 YPG; 1.4 YPA; 0.5 TDs PG; 0.8 Fumbles PG
MSU - 26 YPG; 1.6 YPA; 0.6 TDs PG; 0.8 Fumbles PG

They scored 20.4 PPG and went 1-8 in Pac 12 play, while we are scoring 18.2 PPG with two games remaining against an All-SEC schedule.

This is not to excuse our current inconsistency offensively. You can tell we are playing a lot of young guys, and too many empty possessions and self inflicted errors against a really bad defense is the reason we lost last night. We need to continue to get better these next three weeks, and winning at least one of these last two games would help a lot.

That said, we are making some progress, and the offense does look better with Rogers than it did a month ago. We are basically in the same spot WSU was in 2012, except we have a good defense. They went from 20.4 PPG in 2012 to 31 PPG in 2013. We should make a similar jump next year.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

Would love to see us pull out that Auburn win at the end like they did against Washington in 2012. Yeah I know some people say we did that against LSU, but I consider that more a function of our talent (at the time) overwhelming theirs. And a bad defensive scheme by LSU.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

Would love to see us pull out that Auburn win at the end like they did against Washington in 2012. Yeah I know some people say we did that against LSU, but I consider that more a function of our talent (at the time) overwhelming theirs. And a bad defensive scheme by LSU.

I kind of think we beat Auburn- calling that one now. They just got killed by Bama, are about to get beat by A&M, and we have a bye week to get ready.

They don’t have the vertical passing game of OM or UGA, we are pretty good against the run, and Bo Nix’s home/road splits are shockingly different. Auburn also plays almost exclusively man to man coverage- even if they do try to play more zone, they won’t be as comfortable in it.

We are a bad matchup for them, IMO and we get them at home at a bad time on the schedule for them.

 

[patdog]

How's that comparison look if you throw out the outlier game?

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

How's that comparison look if you throw out the outlier game?

Still pretty comparable if you also throw out one of WSU’s outlier games against UNLV or UCLA. Remember WSU got three non-conference games to inflate stats a little, while we had no spring practice and an All-SEC schedule.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Take a look at Texas Tech’s first year when Leach was head coach there too.

This is the big reason why I wasn’t as positive as a lot of people here about how MSU’s offense would be this season.

And then you add covid and lack of spring training reps on top of that.

 

[PCAMinister]

Had WSU and TTech gone to 10 straight bowl games? I think we are reaching a bit here guys....

 

[Maroon Eagle]

I’m just looking at how Leach’s previous teams adjusted to the Air Raid in their first seasons.

Then you add an advanced strength of schedule difficulty along with covid and lack of spring training reps.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

Had WSU and TTech gone to 10 straight bowl games? I think we are reaching a bit here guys....

What we may have done the past 10 years doesn’t matter when you look at what we had coming back. If we had brought back Moorhead in a normal year, we are probably a 4-8 team this year. 5-7 at best.

ETA- WSU actually had an established passing offense when Leach got there. So while we probably have more raw offensive talent, what they had may have fit Leach’s system better.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

Take a look at Texas Tech’s first year when Leach was head coach there too.

This is the big reason why I wasn’t as positive as a lot of people here about how MSU’s offense would be this season.

And then you add covid and lack of spring training reps on top of that.

I was definitely one who underestimated the learning curve. I thought Costello/Hill would help with that and neither are contributing.

 

[TrueMaroonGrind]

How's that comparison look if you throw out the outlier game?

You have to look at both sides. Yes we probably had more talent on the roster due to past success. We are also playing no cupcakes and are dealing with the effects of Covid.

A numbers comparison isn’t going to bring in all context, but I see it as a reasonable comparison given the circumstances.

ETA: was trying to respond to PCAminister

 

[RockKickinSandPoundinSOB]

Had WSU and TTech gone to 10 straight bowl games? I think we are reaching a bit here guys....

Lol what the hell does that have to do with anything?

 

[diggidydog]

Might be 11 straight after this year...

Had WSU and TTech gone to 10 straight bowl games? I think we are reaching a bit here guys....

did WSU and TTech deal with the player loss that we have this year.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

I hope we are not on the Wazzu track. That means we will win 3 games in 2022. If that happens Leach will be canned and we will be going through this all over again.

 

[Felonious Junk]

Nm

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

I hope we are not on the Wazzu track. That means we will win 3 games in 2022. If that happens Leach will be canned and we will be going through this all over again.

Not talking about wins/losses at all- just offensive performance. We SHOULD consistently have better defenses here than WSU, based on recruiting footprint and DC money.

FWIW - After that 20.4 PPG output in 2012, Leach averaged over 31 PPG every season from years 2-8. And went to bowl games six of his last seven seasons.