QB Completion Percentage

[cymonw1980]

Thought this was interesting... QB's with the best completion percentage in Iowa State history (min 100 attempts) top four are all Matt Campbell guys:

Kyle Kempt 66.7%
Brock Purdy 66.4%
Zeb Noland 60.2%
Jacob Park 60.2%

No other QB in ISU history has broken 60% for their career (min 100 attempts). Not that comp% is the only factor.... but thought it was crazy that the 4 starting QB's CMC has brought in have been the 4 most accurate passers in ISU history.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/iowa-state/passing.html

 

[jmclone]

What's even crazier is that it's still been a revolving door at the position, multiple QBs starting each season. Speaks volumes to CMC and the staff that the QB position is playing at a high level despite that.

 

[STATE12]

Completion percentages across the board have gone up over the years due to the air raid and open space mentality that teams have gravitated towards. Still a great stat though, probably the most important stat/trait to successful QB play.

 

[STATE12]

Also, made me think about this image I saw on the ole twitter machine. Had to smile and shake my head as a Vikings fan...

 

[SoapyCy]

Completion percentages across the board have gone up over the years due to the air raid and open space mentality that teams have gravitated towards. Still a great stat though, probably the most important stat/trait to successful QB play.

wouldn't they go down because limited passing in previous years resulted in more sure-thing targets? if they're passing more wouldn't that increase opportunities for incompletions?

 

[Cyclonepride]

wouldn't they go down because limited passing in previous years resulted in more sure-thing targets? if they're passing more wouldn't that increase opportunities for incompletions?

The spread style features a high percentage of easy passes.

 

[DeereClone]

wouldn't they go down because limited passing in previous years resulted in more sure-thing targets? if they're passing more wouldn't that increase opportunities for incompletions?

Think of all the swing, bubble screen, inside slant, etc throws in the spread offense. Those are essentially running plays that are high percentage throws, boosting a completion percentage.

Back in the day they threw way less, and when they did they were trying to go over the defense for a big play.

 

[STATE12]

Think of all the swing, bubble screen, inside slant, etc throws in the spread offense. Those are essentially running plays that are high percentage throws, boosting a completion percentage.

Back in the day they threw way less, and when they did they were trying to go over the defense for a big play.

Not to mention the type with a player in motion pre-snap timed up for the QB to basically volley the ball forward to them from the snap. Counts as a pass/completion.

https://media.giphy.com/media/fVeGJhOaOqJ9Va3RG8/giphy.gif

https://media.giphy.com/media/lL2exTSkyytb8tUBSr/giphy.gif

 

[STATE12]

wouldn't they go down because limited passing in previous years resulted in more sure-thing targets? if they're passing more wouldn't that increase opportunities for incompletions?

The table below is from Pro Football Reference. This includes stats from the NFL, but I'd guess that the college game would be an amplified version of this.



The interesting part of this for me is the passing attempts. It isn't nearly as dramatic of an increase from 1990 as I would have expected.

 

[VeloClone]

The table below is from Pro Football Reference. This includes stats from the NFL, but I'd guess that the college game would be an amplified version of this.

View attachment 64694

The interesting part of this for me is the passing attempts. It isn't nearly as dramatic of an increase from 1990 as I would have expected.

Yeah. The earliest league records in 1932 they were attempting fewer than 11 passes a game. That rose slowly to 21 by 1946. In 1947 it jumped to about 25 and it was almost always in the high 20's every year through the 50s, 60s and 70s. In the 80s it climbed into the low 30s and has been there pretty much every year since - peaking at 35.7 in 2015 and 2016.

 

[HFCS]

I want to say Seneca started out with a crazy completion % both years and that tailed off as the year went on.

The game has changed a lot since then even though in terms of the difficulty of throws being made.

 

[jbindm]

Completion percentages across the board have gone up over the years due to the air raid and open space mentality that teams have gravitated towards. Still a great stat though, probably the most important stat/trait to successful QB play.

That was my immediate thought, too. More pass attempts but also easier throws for the QB to make. Accuracy trumps arm strength in today's game.

 

[Cycsk]

Players. Formations. Plays.

 

[VeloClone]

I want to say Seneca started out with a crazy completion % both years and that tailed off as the year went on.

The game has changed a lot since then even though in terms of the difficulty of throws being made.

Seneca also had the Baylor game where he had something like 22 completions in a row that was a Big 12 record at the time.

EDIT: Sorry, it was 18 in a row. He was 22 of 24 for the game.

https://cyclones.com/news/2001/9/29/848484.aspx

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

wouldn't they go down because limited passing in previous years resulted in more sure-thing targets? if they're passing more wouldn't that increase opportunities for incompletions?

Not when they're wide open off soft coverage all the time.

 

[Bipolarcy]

Austin Arnaud was the first Cyclone QB to finish a season with a 60 percent or better completion rate. He fell just shy of 60 percent for his career.

We seemed to have a lot of dropped passes when he was playing, so if you eliminated those, I think he would have been well over 60 percent for his career.

 

[CyCloned]

Saw this on Face Book: I'm sure having Butler to throw to helped, but still impressive:

 

[dualthreat]

Saw this on Face Book: I'm sure having Butler to throw to helped, but still impressive:

Well Ellingher had Lil Jordan to throw to. Impressive for Brock. He seems to know where to put the ball to make a great play. When it isn't there, he tucks it and makes plays with his feet.

That will continue in 2019