Stats Corner: The Advanced Stats of the Championship Game

Last week we compared the Advanced Stats of Fresno State and Boise State and the Broncos lead in the Advanced Stats. However, the Bulldogs were able to pull off the win. This week on Stats Corner, we are going to look at the results of the conference game through the Advanced Stats to see why the Bulldogs won the game.

Backed Up

The Bulldogs won the field position battle by almost 7 yards, 63.3 yards from endzone for Fresno while Boise was 69.9 yards. Meaning the Broncos had to get a first down just to start where the Bulldogs were. Both teams were backed up twice, 88 and 87 yards for the Bulldogs, one of those resulted in a touchdown, while the Broncos had two drives starting 80 yards from pay dirt. Also, Fresno had 3 drives start on Boise’s side of the field while all of Boise’s drives started from more than 50 yards out.

Net Start Field Position-Fresno State

Offensive Field Position-Fresno State

Defensive Field Position- Fresno State

Offensive Long Drive- Tie

Defensive Long Drive-Tie

Backed up State Fresno State 3-Boise State 0

Third Downs

While both teams convert 5 first downs, the Bulldogs had a higher success rate 5-15 33.3% compared to 5-17 29.4% for the Broncos. On four downs the Bulldogs were perfect 1-1 with the Broncos going 0-1. The Broncos had to start every drive in their territory and having a low 3^rd down conversion rate makes it difficult to sustain long drives.

Offensive 3rd down converted-Tie

Offensive 3rd conversion rate-Fresno State

Defensive 3rd down converted-Tie

Defensive 3rd conversion rate- Fresno State

4^th Down Conversions- Fresno State

Third Downs Advanced Stats-Fresno 3-Boise 0

Down and Distance

Boise State had the best results on first down average 3.8 yards per play, while Fresno State average 3.6. The Broncos improved that to 4.0 yards on second down, while the Bulldogs dropped to 2.7. However, on 3^rd downs the Broncos average 3.8 while the Bulldogs jumped to 5.9 yards. A big difference was Boise State had 11 first down plays that went for zero or negative yards while Fresno State had 8 first down plays that went for zero or negative yards. Putting yourself behind the chains makes the offense more predictable. Of Boise State’s 17 3^rd downs plays only once went for double digits (the first one for 22 yards) and 7 went for 0 yards while Fresno had 5 3^rd downs of double digit gains and 7 which went for 0 or negative yards.

Yards on 1^st down- Boise State

Yards on 2^nd down- Boise State

Yards on 3^rd down- Fresno State

2^nd down and distance- Boise State

3^rd down and distance- Boise State

Down and Distance Fresno State 1-Boise State 4

Red Zone

Not counting the kneel down to end the game Fresno was in the red zone 3 times and scored twice. The Broncos were in the red zone once and scored on that trip. The one empty trip was a missed field goal.

Redzone attempts-Fresno State

Redzone offense percentage scoring-Boise State

Redzone defense percentage scoring-Boise State

Redzone Advanced Stats- Fresno State 1-Boise State 2

Total Advanced Stats Fresno State 8-Boise State 6

While Fresno State did will the Advanced Stats battle, the most important advantage was Field position and 3^rd downs were they held a 6-0 advantage of the Broncos. Starting with a shorter field and being able to convert 3^rd downs and create long drives, allowed the Bulldogs to hoist the trophy.