Second half scoring breakdown

[tc_mem]

I have been lurking the for a while.  Personally I have been happy with the direction the program has been going but I have been concerned about our half time adjustments.  As a fan, under CBP I always felt we would surge in the second half.  It was a sharp contrast after so many years of Nutt being inconsistent in the second half.  The past two years have seemed like we have slide back some on second half performance.  With the hiring of Dan Enos I decided to go back an take a look at our second half offensive scoring the last two years, CBP's last two years and Central Michigan's last two years.

Team  - Year - Total Points - 2nd Half Points - % of total points scored in 2nd half.
Arkansas - 2014 - 451 -139 - 33.5%
Arkansas - 2013 - 248 - 117 - 47.2%
2 year stats - 663 - 256 - 38.6% of our points were scored in the second half.

Arkansas - 2011 - 478 - 225 - 47.0%
Arkansas - 2010 - 474 - 208 - 43.9%
2 year stats - 952 - 433 - 45.5% of our points were scored in the second half.

CMU - 2014 - 350 - 171 - 48.9%
CMU - 2013 - 279 - 142 - 50.9%
2 year stats - 629 - 313 - 49.8% of their points were scored in the second half.

I liked the Dan Enos hire as soon as I saw his name because I like to follow MAC football and he tends to have solid teams, they just never seemed to get over the hump.  His points per season is a little less that ours but the second half production is much better.  I was excited with the name and after digging a little I am really looking forward to seeing if he can help fix our second half woes.

EDIT: Added Arkansas 08-09 and Wisconsin 11-12 as per request in the thread

Team  - Year - Total Points - 2nd Half Points - % of total points scored in 2nd half.
Arkansas - 2009 - 448 -215 - 48.0%
Arkansas - 2008 - 263 - 151 - 57.4%
2 year stats - 711 - 366 - 51.5% of our points were scored in the second half.

Wisconsin - 2012 - 414 - 209 - 50.5%
Wisconsin - 2011 - 618 - 265 - 42.9%
2 year stats - 1032 - 474 - 45.9% of their points were scored in the second half.

EDIT #2: Tennessee stats
Tennessee - 2012 - 434 - 197 - 45.4%
Tennessee - 2011 - 244 - 83 - 34.0%
2 year stats - 678 - 280 - 41.3% of their points were scored in the second half.

[Hawgfan27]

The only thing that makes me nervous is for an offensive minded coach Arkansas actually bested CMU in nearly every offensive category.  Total yards, ppg, 3rd down percentage, time of possession.  I'm hopeful when Enos has the pieces in place to run the offense he attempted to run at CMU he will be even more productive, but from a statistical standpoint it doesn't necessarily sound like an automatic upgrade.  However I am elated to have a former QB coaching the position and having a coordinator who's overall philosophy better meshes our current coach. 

[tc_mem]

The only thing that makes me nervous is for an offensive minded coach Arkansas actually bested CMU in nearly every offensive category.  Total yards, ppg, 3rd down percentage, time of possession. I'm hopeful when Enos has the pieces in place to run the offense he attempted to run at CMU he will be even more productive, but from a statistical standpoint it doesn't necessarily sound like an automatic upgrade.  However I am elated to have a former QB coaching the position and having a coordinator who's overall philosophy better meshes our current coach.

I agree.  One of the hard parts of running a pro style offense is that you need a certain type of team.  It is easier to spread the ball and put up big numbers with athletes (especially at the mid major level).  Once you get in a pro style / ball control system you need the man power to pull it off.  Pittman has been delivering the hawgs up front to do the dirty work, but I don't think Enos has had the type of team (or even able to really amass the type of team) he needs to really pull off a pro style attack at CMU.  With CBB track record I am happy to think Enos will be a great fit for us.

[HF#1]

If you are trying to compare CMU and Arkansas apples to apples, you might as well bang your head against the wall.

[DoctorSusscrofa]

Kind of interesting to use the two best years of BP when you could have used the first two years against BB's first two.  But whatever.

[redeye]

Solid post OP!  I was worried about that after seeing a 2nd breakdown in one CMU game, so it's nice to know that was an outlier.

If you have more time, you should do Wisconsin for '11-12, because I've heard this was a problem with Bielema there, although I've never verified that myself.  Like you, I also expect stronger 2nd halves with Bielema's system.

[Atlhogfan1]

It is hard to adjust at halftime when your options are limited.  Too many of you are basing your opinions on a very low point in our program.  We've had one qb who has sometimes been injured.  No real deep threat with Wilson's 2013 injury.  We had to use our TE to try and threaten defenses vertically.  We have had to play true freshmen in the oline and then ask them to block against defenses stacked to play the run because they knew we were one dimensional. 

A lot of darn has changed since the Spring of 2013 when Mitchell left leaving us not only void of playmakers at wr but zero depth at qb.  We didn't even have proven RB depth going into 2013.  Best returning offensive players were the center and FB.

[tc_mem]

Added to the OP as requested:

Team  - Year - Total Points - 2nd Half Points - % of total points scored in 2nd half.
Arkansas - 2009 - 448 -215 - 48.0%
Arkansas - 2008 - 263 - 151 - 57.4%
2 year stats - 711 - 366 - 51.5% of our points were scored in the second half last year.

Wisconsin - 2012 - 414 - 209 - 50.5%
Wisconsin - 2011 - 618 - 265 - 42.9%
2 year stats - 1032 - 474 - 45.9% of their points were scored in the second half last year.

Kind of interesting to use the two best years of BP when you could have used the first two years against BB's first two.  But whatever.

CBP's first two years were more second half heavy than his last two years.  They were not scoring as much but they were doing a higher percentage in the second half then.  I am hopeful Enos can get us moving in the right direction in this manner, as we got spoiled as fans with CBP's (teams) second half performances.

CBB's 2011 Wisconsin team was just insane and the 42.9% of the points they scored in the second half is kind of misleading as they were blowing out almost everyone they played!  I think the the next two years under Enos will be closer to CMU's  last two years and Wisconsins 2011-12, than what we did under Chaney.

[tc_mem]

After my last reply I started to wonder what did Chaney's Tennessee teams look like in all this so here is the 2011-12 Vols info.

EDIT #2: Tennessee stats
Tennessee - 2012 - 434 - 197 - 45.4%
Tennessee - 2011 - 244 - 83 - 34.0%
2 year stats - 678 - 280 - 41.3% of their points were scored in the second half.

[SoCal Hog]

This is interesting, but I think the numbers alone are not going to tell the story. A team that is behind or even at half time is certainly going to try to put up a lot of points in the second half. A team that is ahead will try to grind out the clock. For example, in the Texas Bowl, Hogs were up 24-7 at half, and only scored 7 points the rest of the way. Was that an offensive failure (little or no adjustments, poor playcalling, inadequate QB skill, slow receivers, etc.) or was the game plan shifted to burn clock? Examining numbers apart from actual game setting is not always a good measuring stick.

[tc_mem]

This is interesting, but I think the numbers alone are not going to tell the story. A team that is behind or even at half time is certainly going to try to put up a lot of points in the second half. A team that is ahead will try to grind out the clock. For example, in the Texas Bowl, Hogs were up 24-7 at half, and only scored 7 points the rest of the way. Was that an offensive failure (little or no adjustments, poor playcalling, inadequate QB skill, slow receivers, etc.) or was the game plan shifted to burn clock? Examining numbers apart from actual game setting is not always a good measuring stick.

I fully agree (the 2011 Wisconsin team is a perfect example of this), but in this case the numbers seem to back up what most fans were feeling about the second half performances.  I have not felt confident in what we would do in the second half in many years now.  Under CBP we were good in the second half, CBB was good in the second half at Wisconsin most of the time (there were a few bad games but that is true for almost every coach at some point).

The last two years we have been digging out of a hole.  I always had that feeling but never did any number crunching to see that until today.  I think CBB has picked a great guy in Enos to run the offense and get our second half performances back where they should be.

[ADavisTheGOAT]

CMU scored 34 points in the 4th quarter of their bowl game. BRING THAT ASS HERE BOY!

[redeye]

The numbers certainly seem to imply that Chaney was the problem.

[gawntrail]

The numbers certainly seem to imply that Chaney was the problem.

(fill in the blank) confirms that Chaney was the problem.

[Atlhogfan1]

Personnel was also a problem.  We couldn't even feel comfortable with our qb running.  That is very limiting to a college offense and we saw the effectiveness of it on a few plays in the bowl.   


It was good to have this OC change.  Enos may do very well.  He is much better set up to do so than Chaney was.  The way he is evaluated should reflect it. 

[DeltaBoy]

I m looking toward seeing him call the game. CHANEY seems to bog down in the 2nd half.

[Bebop]

The numbers certainly seem to imply that Chaney was the problem.

I've been saying that sense the A&M game, not to gloat or anything.

Seriously, I think it became more evident as the season progress (or a lack thereof).

Edit: "since", not "sense". lol

[jabohog]

To me, the Missouri game is one of the best examples. We had that game but the offense couldn't do crap in the second half except put our defense on the field way too much. The defense tired and that was it.

[redeye]

I've been saying that sense the A&M game, not to gloat or anything.

Seriously, I think it became more evident as the season progress (or a lack thereof).

I've suspected it at least since we played Florida last year.  The funny thing is that I was beginning to appreciate Chaney near the end of this season and thought we'd see great improvement next year.  The only thing I can't get over is playing Allen the entire game against Missouri, but then we don't know for certain that was Chaney's fault.  I also can't get over not having a decent backup last year, even though I realize we were thin.

Chaney loved to play the percentages.  I just think he was too smart for his own good sometimes.

[Kevin]

I think Chaney is like a college professor, he can draw it up, break it down on film, but when the game starts, cannot make adjustments

There is a difference in classroom smarts, and real life smarts

[redeye]

I think Chaney is like a college professor, he can draw it up, break it down on film, but when the game starts, cannot make adjustments

There is a difference in classroom smarts, and real life smarts

Great analogy!

[Bebop]

I think Chaney is like a college professor, he can draw it up, break it down on film, but when the game starts, cannot make adjustments

There is a difference in classroom smarts, and real life smarts

I agree. He may have a great playbook but has problems applying it in real situations.