Big Plays (20+ Yards) From Scrimmage in 2008

**ISU_Alum_2000** · 09-04-2008, 12:30 PM

I touched on this last year (Link to thread: (Big Plays (20+ Yards) From Scrimmage in 2007)), but I wanted to start fresh this season, and track it all the way.

For the purpose of this exercise, I define a "Big Play" as a play from scrimmage that gains 20 or more yards. Kick, Punt, INT and Fumble Returns are not included.

In 2007, the Big Play Scoreboard finished like this:

ISU: 35
OPPONENTS: 39

Here's how things look for 2008...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
GAME #1 : South Dakota State (W, 44-17)

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/boxsco...019&page=plays

ISU:

1Q 2nd-7, IASt34 14:20 A. Arnaud passed to C. Franklin to the left for 24 yard gain
4Q 3rd-6, IASt44 14:08 P. Bates passed to H. Jones to the right for 27 yard gain
4Q 2nd-10, IASt32 6:48 J. Harris rushed to the right for 68 yard touchdown. G. Mahoney made PAT

SDSU:

4Q 3rd-10, IASt41 9:11 K. Minett rushed up the middle for 21 yard gain

GAME
----
ISU: 3, 119 Yards, 39.7 Avg.
SDSU: 1, 21 Yards, 21.0 Avg.

SEASON
------
ISU: 3, 119 Yards, 39.7 Avg.
OPP: 1, 21 Yards, 21.0 Avg.

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GAME #2 : Kent State (W, 48-28)

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footbal...019&page=plays

ISU:

1Q 2nd-6, IASt43 3:35 P. Bates rushed up the middle for 27 yard gain
1Q 3rd-4, KeSt24 2:16 P. Bates passed to R. Sumrall to the right for 24 yard touchdown. G. Mahoney made PAT
2Q 3rd-13, KeSt49 11:05 A. Arnaud passed to R. Sumrall to the right for 49 yard touchdown. G. Mahoney made PAT
4Q 1st-10, IASt45 12:09 A. Arnaud passed to R. Sumrall to the left for 22 yard gain
4Q 3rd-8, IASt39 1:51 P. Bates rushed up the middle for 56 yard gain

KSU:

1Q 1st-10, IASt23 11:28 E. Jarvis rushed to the right for 23 yard touchdown. N. Reed made PAT
2Q 1st-10, IASt29 14:06 J. Edelman passed to E. Jarvis down the middle for 29 yard touchdown. N. Reed made PAT
2Q 3rd-8, KeSt43 3:31 J. Edelman passed to L. Muldrow to the right for 31 yard gain
3Q 2nd-10, KeSt10 6:05 E. Jarvis rushed to the left for 42 yard gain
4Q 2nd-12, IASt36 12:29 J. Edelman passed to S. Bayes down the middle for 36 yard touchdown. N. Reed made PAT
4Q 3rd-10, KeSt34 9:00 J. Edelman rushed to the right for 21 yard gain

GAME
----
ISU: 5, 178 Yards, 35.6 Avg.
KSU: 6, 182 Yards, 30.3 Avg.

SEASON
------
ISU: 8, 297 Yards, 37.1 Avg.
OPP: 7, 203 Yards, 29.0 Avg.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GAME #3 : Iowa (L, 5-17)

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footbal...028&page=plays

ISU:

1Q 2nd-9, IASt21 10:15 A. Arnaud passed to H. Jones to the left for 21 yard gain
4Q 2nd-10, IASt44 11:47 A. Arnaud passed to R. Sumrall down the middle for 20 yard gain
4Q 1st-10, IASt33 6:14 A. Arnaud passed to A. Robinson down the middle for 30 yard gain

IOWA:

1Q 1st-10, Iowa32 13:40 R. Stanzi passed to A. Reisner down the middle for 26 yard gain
1Q 2nd-10, IASt43 13:06 S. Greene rushed to the left for 31 yard gain
1Q 3rd-1, Iowa30 0:32 R. Stanzi passed to A. Reisner to the left for 37 yard gain
4Q 3rd-4, IASt25 13:46 S. Greene rushed to the left for 20 yard gain

GAME
----
ISU: 3, 71 Yards, 23.7 Avg.
IOWA: 4, 114 Yards, 28.5 Avg.

SEASON
------
ISU: 11, 368 Yards, 33.5 Avg.
OPP: 11, 317 Yards, 28.8 Avg.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GAME #4 : UNLV (L, 31-34 OT)

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/footbal...040&page=plays

ISU:

3Q 1st-10, UNLV28 7:38 A. Arnaud passed to R. Sumrall to the right for 28 yard touchdown. G. Mahoney made PAT
4Q 4th-2, IASt23 0:38 A. Arnaud rushed to the left for 25 yard gain
4Q 2nd-10, IASt48 0:21 A. Arnaud passed to R. Sumrall down the middle for 24 yard gain
4Q 2nd-10, UNLV28 0:10 A. Arnaud passed to R. Sumrall down the middle for 28 yard touchdown. G. Mahoney made PAT

UNLV:

1Q 3rd-7, IASt20 4:58 O. Clayton rushed to the right for 20 yard touchdown. K. Watson made PAT
1Q 3rd-3, IASt48 1:37 O. Clayton passed to F. Summers to the left for 48 yard touchdown. K. Watson made PAT
2Q 3rd-2, IASt44 4:18 O. Clayton passed to C. Flair to the right for 22 yard gain
2Q 1st-10, IASt48 0:15 O. Clayton passed to R. Wolfe down the middle for 26 yard gain
3Q 3rd-10, UNLV34 4:15 O. Clayton passed to R. Wolfe down the middle for 22 yard gain
OT 1st-10, IASt25 O. Clayton passed to P. Payne to the left for 25 yard touchdown

GAME
----
ISU: 4, 105 Yards, 26.3 Avg.
UNLV: 6, 163 Yards, 27.2 Avg.

SEASON
------
ISU: 15, 473 Yards, 31.5 Avg.
OPP: 17, 480 Yards, 28.2 Avg.

**CY ST8T** · 09-04-2008, 12:33 PM

So the play that SDSU ran and fumbled forward wasn't planned?

**dinger** · 09-04-2008, 12:42 PM

seemed way worse than that last year to me. im guessing most of those 39 plays were closer to 30 yards.

**bellzisu** · 09-04-2008, 12:57 PM

Keep us updated weekly if you could.

**wartknight** · 09-04-2008, 01:03 PM

Definitely a stat I'm interested in you taking the time to track.

**Cyclonick182** · 09-04-2008, 01:06 PM

Itll be really interesting to see how this season stacks up to 07. One of my biggest complaints of last season was the seemingly enormous lack of big plays.

**wartknight** · 09-04-2008, 01:11 PM

Do you have the average yardage of opponents "big plays" from last year?

**CycloneWarning** · 09-04-2008, 01:22 PM

That is a pretty cool stat and will be interesting to follow. My personal opinion is that you would add +/- turnover ratio and get a pretty telling statistic of offensive and defensive big plays.

**The_Architect** · 09-04-2008, 01:41 PM

Other than the occasional Seneca Wallace play, we havent had a "game-breaker" since JJ Moses. I define that as someone who is threat to take to the house on every play. Even though Blythe always had big play potential, he was never a threat to take a play 50+ yards.

**ISUFan22** · 09-04-2008, 04:29 PM

I remember you doing this - thanks for picking it up again.

**dinger** · 09-04-2008, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by wartknight

Exaggeration is a BILLION times worse than understating.

i laughed out loud at this signature and not very quietly. co workers think i'm losing my mind (more so than already have)

**ISU_Alum_2000** · 09-30-2008, 01:00 AM

Updated (for the first time since the first game) through the UNLV game.

I will just continue to update the original post to keep all the info together.

The current "scoreboard" looks like this:

SEASON
------
ISU: 15, 473 Yards, 31.5 Avg.
OPP: 17, 480 Yards, 28.2 Avg.

Interesting that 3 of our 4 Big Plays against UNLV happened in the last 0:38 of regulation. What an amazing finish. Too bad we couldn't complete the comeback victory.

**d4nim4l** · 09-30-2008, 09:27 AM

Thanks for the update!

My biggest concern is the lack of 20 yard+ runs for us. Passes are all fine and dandy but only four runs going over 20 yards is disappointing. Especially when one is in mop up duty (Harris) and three were by QBs scrambling.

**cstrunk** · 09-30-2008, 03:16 PM

Through 4 games, it looks pretty similar to last year. I really think we could open it up if we played more aggressively on offense. Think 2nd half of UNLV game... like the last drive.

**jaretac** · 09-30-2008, 03:35 PM

It should include returns. With the way that special teams and defense has played so far this year. We would be way ahead.

Still, last year our average number of big plays per game was:
ISU: 2.92
OPP: 3.25

This year:
ISU: 3.75
OPP: 4.25

As I think most of us know, the offense has stepped it up from last season, however the defense is not nearly as good. If only we could combine this years offense with last years defense. It would be
ISU: 3.75
OPP: 3.25