First down play calling

[PSYclone22]

Below is a look at our 1st and 10 plays against Texas Tech. We showed good balance with 15 passes and 13 rushes in the first 3 quarters. Among those runs were 3 Purdy runs, so they may have been pass calls (at least two were read options or called runs off the top of my head).

Purdy is at his most efficient when we are passing on first down and he's not forced to handle too many 2nd and long or 3rd and long passes (he's still very good at those).



Additionally, here's our yards per play on first down by opponent broken down by rush and pass. The yards gained per play are surprisingly close for each game outside of the OU Brock Purdy show.

 

[dirtyninety]

Hard to believe those yards on 1st and 10 against SE Louisiana....but I am sure it is factual. makes you wonder what the heck we were doing on 2nd and 3rd down in that game. Charts....not a conspiracy.

 

[Cy$]

keep this content on discord please.

 

[PSYclone22]

Hard to believe those yards on 1st and 10 against SE Louisiana....but I am sure it is factual. makes you wonder what the heck we were doing on 2nd and 3rd down in that game. Charts....not a conspiracy.

Louisiana game was rough. Here it is for your reference. Way too over-reliant on rushing on 1st and 10 until the game required us to pass in the 4th quarter.

We had SEVENTEEN rushes on 1st and 10 in that game in the first 3 quarters compared to FOUR passes (and the 4th pass came as the last 1st and 10 of the third quarter).

Note the change in the horizontal axis from the Texas Tech one.

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

I disagree that passing on first down sets us up better than running. Breece is good for 5 almost every time. Case in point first drive second half we passed three in a row. Three and out.

 

[PSYclone22]

I disagree that passing on first down sets us up better than running. Breece is good for 5 almost every time. Case in point first drive second half we passed three in a row. Three and out.

Breece has run the ball 49 times on 1st and 10 this year and has gotten 5 or more yards 24 times (less than 50%). I wouldn't call that almost every time.

Purdy has passed 40 times on 1st and 10 this year and has gotten 5 or more yards 24 times also (60%).

I love Breece Hall but at some point I hope we can all be in agreement that passing is more efficient than running.

 

[beentherebefore]

Hard to believe those yards on 1st and 10 against SE Louisiana....but I am sure it is factual. makes you wonder what the heck we were doing on 2nd and 3rd down in that game. Charts....not a conspiracy.

Maybe Louisiana can be to us as we were to the Hawks in years "they should have won," but still lost. I am happy with the improvement since game 1. Better than in 2002 when the floor fell in after a great start.
#OneGameAtATime

 

[Pope]

So we threw 15 times and ran 13 times on 1st and 10 against Tech. Against Louisiana, the first 21 times we had a 1st and 10, we threw 3 times and ran 18 times. What on earth we're we thinking.

 

[burn587]

So we threw 15 times and ran 13 times on 1st and 10 against Tech. Against Louisiana, the first 21 times we had a 1st and 10, we threw 3 times and ran 18 times. What on earth we're we thinking.

The game plan was pretty clearly “ram the ball down their throat and not show too much of the playbook to future opponents.” It didn’t work after downing went down and it’s been a trend for first games under Campbell. Count me firmly in the “run your normal plays and get live reps” camp.

 

[ISUMojoMan]

All you really need to do is a small bit of research to learn how our offense works. Many times we run what is called a run pass option. If the opposing team has loaded the box we will pass it because we should have one on one coverage. If the box is not loaded we should be able to run it since we have more blockers than defenders close to the line of scrimmage. But we still have to execute those running plays. We did not execute those plays against ULM or we shot ourselves in the foot.

Notice now that we are able to run more consistently our passing game opens up. Teams have to devote more resources to our run which leaves us in single coverage. It’s not as simple as a coach “calling the right play” it’s all about the quarterback making the right read and the team executing the play.

A much smarter conversation would talk about the reads we are making and not the plays a coach is calling.

 

[cyrocksmypants]

So we threw 15 times and ran 13 times on 1st and 10 against Tech. Against Louisiana, the first 21 times we had a 1st and 10, we threw 3 times and ran 18 times. What on earth we're we thinking.

Coaches were listening to the posters in the game day threads that always ***** that we don’t run it enough if we’re running less than 90% of the time.

 

[khardbored]

The game plan was pretty clearly “ram the ball down their throat and not show too much of the playbook to future opponents.” It didn’t work after downing went down and it’s been a trend for first games under Campbell. Count me firmly in the “run your normal plays and get live reps” camp.

Agree with this. We aren't just vanilla in our opening games, we're hyper-vanilla. And it often doesn't work out well.

 

[DeereClone]

Breece has run the ball 49 times on 1st and 10 this year and has gotten 5 or more yards 24 times (less than 50%). I wouldn't call that almost every time.

Purdy has passed 40 times on 1st and 10 this year and has gotten 5 or more yards 24 times also (60%).

I love Breece Hall but at some point I hope we can all be in agreement that passing is more efficient than running.

How many of those passes were incomplete and therefore we gained nothing? How many of those rushes that didn’t reach 5 yards still reached 2-4 yards to help shorten the chains for 2nd and 3rd down?

Also, the clock continues to run on a “failed” run play, and it doesn’t on a failed pass play, and we have to figure that in somewhere when going against high-powered, high-tempo offenses.

 

[PSYclone22]

How many of those passes were incomplete and therefore we gained nothing? How many of those rushes that didn’t reach 5 yards still reached 2-4 yards to help shorten the chains for 2nd and 3rd down?

Also, the clock continues to run on a “failed” run play, and it doesn’t on a failed pass play, and we have to figure that in somewhere when going against high-powered, high-tempo offenses.

10 of Purdy's 40 1st and 10 passes were incomplete (25%).

14 of Hall's 49 1st and 10 runs were for 1 yard or fewer (29%).

And in regards to the bolded section, at some point we need to take into consideration that we have a GOOD team, and shortening the game via running the clock may actually be a detriment to our success.

Iowa State football is a good team that is favored in most games. The more possessions that occur in each game improves our chances that weird variability will occur in the other team's favor.