This team is different...

[txbo]

It's different because Heupel has walked in their shoes.

And he was very good at it. Many would say he was a prototypical overacheiver.

 

[KnoxToTheBoro93]

I have probably watched the highlights from yesterday 10+ times. The offense is a machine, it's unstoppable when clicking. Napier's approach going for it every 4th down showed to me he knew that Florida was outmatched and couldn't stop Tennessee. We were the better team. No flukes or meltdowns from the other team. We were simply flat out better. He pulled out all the stops to try to stay in that game. This year just feels different, I expect us to win every week. I know we will drop 2 or 3 games probably but I dont see any team on the schedule and say for sure we have no chance like years past. I finally have faith in the program again. I havent felt this confident since the 90's. We haven't played our best football yet and are sitting 8th in the country with a 4-0 record. I know defense has struggled some but they have done just enough to get the W. With Huepel's offense thats all we need. To think how far we have come since Pruitt's last year, it's a small miracle from the football gods. Huepel has done a masterful job, even the most optimistic fans wouldn't have predicted this amount of success in year 2 when he was hired. It was a long rebuild. He is growing as a coach along with the players. This year his clock management is 100 times better. This team is disciplined, precise, methodical, and a blast to watch.

I was one of the few that loved the hire my number 1 reason was his history of elite Qb play we had been lacking elite Qb play and coaching for a long time even before Dobbs because he did so much off raw talent and will… elite Qb play hides a lot of weaknesses I knew we could be successful then what he preaches about love and accountability and having fun while working hard I knew he would put a respectable team on the field… add on that he is and X and O guru and always wants to be better the future is very bright on rocky top GB

 

[Stephen Gray]

He had like 1 losing season in his whole tenure as a head coach iirc. Many 10+ win seasons. Consistently seemed to have very talented football teams. Never could win it all but I’d love to have had his results in the years following the Fulmer ouster as opposed to what actually happened. Also, I agree that he seems like a legitimately good guy.

Actually, I just checked. His worst season he went 6-7. The season they fired him he went 10-3. Kirby Smart is a great coach and it worked out for them, so not criticizing the decision, but the only real problem with Richt’s results are the low number of SEC championships (2) and no national championships.

 

[EZE]

Agree - he was so happy to see his players happy and celebrating with their fellow students!

The game should be about the players first and foremost. Yes, you want a coach who coaches them hard and holds them to a high standard…which he appears to do. BUT, he allows his players to have fun at the same time, and it shows on the field. And should ultimately pay off in recruiting too, now that he is winning noteworthy games.

Who wouldn’t want to play at a place where football is properly treated like a game?

 

[volfan2024]

Definitely a determined team

 

[J C Higgins]

I have probably watched the highlights from yesterday 10+ times. The offense is a machine, it's unstoppable when clicking. Napier's approach going for it every 4th down showed to me he knew that Florida was outmatched and couldn't stop Tennessee. We were the better team. No flukes or meltdowns from the other team. We were simply flat out better. He pulled out all the stops to try to stay in that game. This year just feels different, I expect us to win every week. I know we will drop 2 or 3 games probably but I dont see any team on the schedule and say for sure we have no chance like years past. I finally have faith in the program again. I havent felt this confident since the 90's. We haven't played our best football yet and are sitting 8th in the country with a 4-0 record. I know defense has struggled some but they have done just enough to get the W. With Huepel's offense thats all we need. To think how far we have come since Pruitt's last year, it's a small miracle from the football gods. Huepel has done a masterful job, even the most optimistic fans wouldn't have predicted this amount of success in year 2 when he was hired. It was a long rebuild. He is growing as a coach along with the players. This year his clock management is 100 times better. This team is disciplined, precise, methodical, and a blast to watch.

No argument from me but FWIW some information about going for it on 4th down from a statistician (not a coach) based upon an NFL model. Lot of variables and caveats as you can see but interesting nonetheless.

From a NYT article

4th Down: When to Go for It and Why


Sept. 4, 2014


Smarter Football

See how this article appeared when it was originally published on NYTimes.com.

This post is meant to be a quick tutorial on fourth-down strategy, neatly summarized in the chart above. (You can also read a post that explains the history of me — the NYT 4th Down Bot.)

First, the No. 1 lesson from my 10 years of data analysis about what to do on fourth down: Teams need to go for it much more often than they do. It does get a little complicated toward the end of games, but coaches should almost always consider going for it.

In a reasonably close game, and any time until the last 10 minutes of the fourth quarter — when time and score become even more important considerations — here are my recommendations.

In General

Coaches traditionally punt or kick on fourth downs, a convention inherited from the days when scores of 7-6 and 10-9 weren’t uncommon and a punt was more likely to pin an opponent on his side of the field. The modern N.F.L. is starkly different. It’s a pass-happy league in which offenses can zip up and down the field, easily gaining back the field position a punt may have purchased.

Touchdowns are obviously worth more than twice the points of a field goal. But a key and often overlooked consideration is that, despite the high accuracy of today’s kickers, field goals are not automatic. Coaches often behave as if they were.

Punts are no longer as valuable as they once were — the more freely offenses can move down the field, the less important field position becomes — and field goals aren’t as valuable as squishy human brains perceive, so that leaves the go-for-it option looking better every day.

More than half of all plays in the N.F.L. gain 4 or more yards, which means the numbers are on the offense’s side and a conversion is more likely than not. That’s why it frequently makes sense to go for it.

Near your own goal line, going for it on fourth-and-1 is better than punting: You’ll probably make the first down; if you don’t, your opponent will have good field position, but a punt would have given your opponent pretty good field position anyway. Near your opponent’s goal line, going for it is better because your opponent is left with poor field position even if you fail — and you’ll often get the ball back near midfield in short order.

As a rule of thumb:

On fourth-and-1, go for it any place on the field where that is possible, starting at your 9-yard line.

On fourth-and-2, go for it everywhere beyond your 28-yard line.

On fourth-and-3, go for it almost everywhere beyond your 40.

As the down-to-go distance increases, your chances of successfully converting a first down become smaller — and the decisions become more nuanced. On fourth-and-medium, punting is a good idea close to your end zone, and kicking a field goal is wise closer to your opponent’s. But around midfield, depending on the distance you have to go, I still recommend that coaches go for it.

Again, those rules of thumb, which vary depending on the specific teams involved:

On fourth-and-4, go for it between your 45 and your opponent’s 29.

On fourth-and-5, go for it between midfield and your opponent’s 33.

On fourth-and-6, go for it between your opponent’s 47 and your opponent’s 35.

As the yards-to-go increases, the low risk of succeeding on fourth down makes punting or kicking a field goal a wiser option for most places on the field, except in that nether region where you’re barely out of field-goal range but too close to punt. There, the risk of missing a field goal is too high, and the field position advantage you gain by punting is not as positive, especially if you punt in the end zone.

On fourth-and-7, go for it between your opponent’s 44 and your opponent’s 36.

On fourth-and-8, go for it between your opponent’s 41 and your opponent’s 37.

On fourth-and-9, the only place I recommend going for it is around your opponent’s 38.

On fourth-and-10 and worse, I don’t recommend rewarding your offense with another down.

Punting vs. Kicking

In general, if the numbers do not favor going for the first down, I recommend attempting a field goal rather than punting anywhere inside the opponent’s 37-yard line.

In the Final Minutes

My rules of thumb apply only before the time remaining becomes a critical consideration. If a game gets to that point, I use a more advanced method for weighing the options, but my recommendations are still based on the data.


Things to Remember

Finally, one strategy and one caveat that will help you sound smart or, at the very least, help you avoid embarrassment:

First, considering my aggressive recommendations on fourth-and-short, your third-down strategy should change as well. Given that I recommend going for it on fourth-and-1 in all cases — and that you’ll usually make it — designing a play to gain, say, 5 yards on third-and-6 can make more sense. Richard Thaler, the University of Chicago economist who’s a friend of mine (really), offers this advice to coaches: “When you cross midfield, pretend your punter is hurt. It will improve the calls on both 3rd and 4th downs.”

Second, my model is for an average N.F.L. team: a baseline from which to deviate. Having a league-leading offense, a terrible punter or a Hall of Fame kicker means that a data-literate coach would adjust accordingly. My recommendations are the starting point — not the final word — for decision making.

Here’s an example: In Week 15 of the 2013 season, down by one with 43 seconds remaining in the game, the Baltimore Ravens had a fourth-and-8 on the Lions’ 43. A field goal — 61 yards, very long even in the N.F.L. — would have won the game, but my data told me it was very unlikely to succeed (a 15 percent chance, on average). I recommended going for it. But the Ravens didn’t have an average kicker. They had Justin Tucker, an excellent kicker, who made the field goal and won the game. My report disapproved, in part because it was based on kickers worse than Justin Tucker.

That game was an exception, though. My recommendations will apply to most teams in most circumstances. They’ll help you figure out when your team’s coach — or your most hated team’s coach — is hurting his team.

Get used to it. It will happen a whole lot over the next five months.

 

[unfrozencvmanvol]

We already have better

On the day Heupel wins his third SEC championship.