Tyler in the final four games

Back on November 1, we noted that Coach Brandon had said that Tyler had struggled following the WKU game last year, due to injury. And, that he was healthy. We compared the numbers, and found the following:

First four games 127 of 190, 1304 yards, 10 Tds, 4 Ints, 10 sacks, 66.8% and 6.9 yds/attempt
Last four games 76 of 136, 848 yards, 5 Tds, 6 INT, 14 sacks, 55.9% and 6.2 yds/attempt

Now that we are tying up loose ends in the July doldrums, I thought we might take a look back and see what he did for the FINAL four games. No doubt, he was healthier, but I'd also like to go back and test another theory, too.

First, the comparison.

First 4 games 127 of 190, 1304 yards, 10 Tds, 4 Ints, 10 sacks, 66.8% and 6.9 yds/attempt
Middle 4 games 76 of 136, 848 yards, 5 Tds, 6 INT, 14 sacks, 55.9% and 6.2 yds/attempt
Final 4 Games 86-131, 971 yards, 10 Tds, 1 INT, 65.6% 3 sacks, 7.4 yds/attempt

Dang. We DO see marked improvement during the last four games, when we made our run to the bowl game. This all bears out the idea that Tyler was healthier and ready to go coming down the stretch. His completion % was comparable with the first third of the season, but his TD/INT ratio, sacks, and yards per attempt were significantly improved. We did throw lots less, but with a high percentage and lots fewer mistakes. And, the combined sacks and INT for the last group (4) is much improved over the middle part (20) despite comparable attempts.

Now, I had a theory I wanted to test: that following the Miami debacle (in the middle group) that we put together a much stronger running attack which also freed a healthy Tyler Sheehan to produce. Let's check that out.

First 4 games: 106-410, 3.86 yards per rush
Second 4 games, 118-444, 3.76 yards per rush
Third 4 games, 160-750 4.69 yards per rush

Well, you have some pretty significant stuff here. First, the running game was pretty much the same for the first and second parts of the season. (Remember Coach lecturing us that BG is a passing team?). That worked for the first part of the year, and then didn't work when Tyler wasn't healthy and maybe other teams were catching on that we weren't running. Once we got AT into the acct for the final four games, we ran the ball much more often, had almost as many yards as in the first eight games combined, and had a respectable yards per rush.

So, to sum up the conclusion, I think the evidence bears out that Tyler Sheehan did return to form in the final four games, aided both by his own returning health (presumably) and maturity, but also by a stronger running game to get defenses guessing.

Remember, we ran all the time in this offense when Urban Meyer coached here, and Coach Brandon was OC. If you can can run, the pressure on the LBs is incredible, and those holes will open up for the quick hitters.