The stats (total offense, turnovers) were fairly even. They rushed more and had more TOP.
I realize how careful you have to be by extrapolating results on limited data, i.e. the lack of properly cross-correlating performance when facing different opponents with different styles of play, etc., etc. However, I do look at percent differences to give me a
feel for general performance.
UT does a great job of providing stats on their site, so looking at the indicators typically discussed by the talking heads on the college football shows, I see the following (generally speaking).
First Downs: We went from an increasing "trend" of around 20% to a -45%
Third Down Efficiency dropped by around 15%
Yards Gained went from a positive "trend" of 30% to drop of 40% (i.e. -40%)
Rushing yards moved from a slight positive "trend" to a negative 75%
Passing yards up 40% then down (negative) 25%
Kick return yards fell by around half (i.e. 50%)
Punt return yards were on par for past performances
Turnovers remained the same, averaging roughly 2 per game
Penalties started "trending" up with UO and haven't shown signs of receding yet
Time of possession was slightly greater than 30 min with OU, then fell off slightly (under 30 min) with UGA and UF
Again, I think reading over football performance metrics without accounting for the vast variety of variables with multivariate regressive models is more about "reading tea leaves" then it is about science. But, we are generally showing regression at the moment and that's the only point I was trying to make. What's causing the regression i.e. did the guys psych themselves out, did some of the staff fail to prepare, are we too limited in our scheming and performance abilities, etc.? Well, that's for the folks that get paid a lot more than I do to figure out and correct.
