International Centre for Special Teams Research

So, the hallowed halls of the International Centre for Special Teams research are now teeming with scholars blowing dusts off ancient scrolls and dipping their quill pens into pots of black ink.  Abacuses (abacuii??) click in rooms on monastic humility.

The first report is out.

The basic idea here is that it isn't the small yardage differences that you are really worried about. If you typically have 35 net yards on a punt, you don't really care if it is 31 or 39. What matters is when it is 20 or 50, or when a game changing play (touchdown, turnover, block) occurs.

On that idea, I hereby found the International Centre for Special Teams Research. I score each play....most plays will be worth no points, meaning that what occurred was in the neighborhood of what should be expected. Plays above that get positive points, plays below that negative.  Total scoring explanation is here.

BG had a good game with special teams, though, in retrospect, most of the points on both sides were earned on the punting game.  In fact, it might be the best (hot) punter on punter action in the modern era.

BG ended up with a +5 on the day, net.

Positive plays included:

52 yard punt net.
61 yard punt net.
punt down on 2 (+2)
Punt down on 4 (+2)

Negative plays included

Missed PAT (-1)

The bulk of the plays were otherwise within a normal range....kickoffs returned in the 20s, a 39 yd FG, made PATs, etc.

On Idaho's side, they ended up at +3

Positive plays include:

Punt puts BG on 19
Punt 51 yard net
Punt 53 yard net and inside 20 (+2)
Punt return of 18 yards leads to net 40
46 yard net on punt after safety
48 yard net punt

Negative plays include

KO return start on 16 after penalty
KO fumbled out of bounds at the 1
BG KO return to 40 with Idaho penalty
Missed 2XP

This is BG's second best performance dating back to the Marshall game last year, as you can see below.