A Modest Proposal

As I was looking back at the statistics used to measure college football over the past couple of months, I noticed a couple of deficiencies in how things are tracked--specifically for offensive players.

I would like to (modestly) propose two new statistics which would be easy to track and provide a much more solid understanding of what a player has accomplished.  Just to be clear...I think these should appear right in the boxscore next to all the other stats.

1.  Individual First Downs

The basic unit of a football offense is the first down.  Obviously, touchdowns are more important, but first downs lead to touchdowns.  I think if you knew that a particular player was earning a significant number of the team's first downs, it would increase the perception of the contribution.  For example, I believe that Freddie Barnes, in addition to his 155 catches, contributed a significant number of 3rd down conversions for the team.  Once you had this number, you could divide it into the the total offensive first downs for the team (as well as passing and rushing first downs) and get a relative contribution number.

2.  20+ plays

This is another factor that I think is really important.  A 20 yard play is significant, both in terms of real estate but also in terms of momentum and energy.  This doesn't get adequately covered in the LONG category, because that gives you only their longest play, and no idea of how frequently such a play occurred.  It could be captured in average, but might not, especially for a receiver.  This stat could also be aggregated for the team, and that would seem to present us with a new way to evaluate how a team moves the ball and who contributed.

Just two humble and modest suggestions.