Yeah, we really need to speed things up.
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Typical ignorance by focusing on ONE metric, and then ignoring everything else.
You can run a 14-play drive that takes 30 seconds between snaps and accounts for a total drive time of 9 or 10 minutes.
You can also run a 7-play drive that takes 30 seconds between snaps and accounts for a total drive time of 5 minutes.
"Efficiency" is not just about whether you score on the drive. It also involves your starting field position, the number of yards you gain per play, the way in which a team uses the extra time to change plays to more successful ones, avoidance of penalties, and the non-reliance on third-down and fourth-down conversions.
As you note, of the "slowest" GOOD teams, Miami is the second-worst when it comes to scoring offensive points per game. 128th in pace does not mean you will be 128th in points. But IN THAT GROUP OF TEAMS, we are second-worst.
Now, I'm going to post the top teams by MARGIN OF VICTORY. And Miami is ranked 9th. One is tempted to say "see, this is proof that Miami is doing well". But the reality is that if you are 27th in offensive scoring and 9th in margin of victory, that means your defense is amazing. And this is true. And teams that lose fewer games tend to have a higher margin of victory.
But also look at the trends. Miami's margin of victory in 11 games is 17, but in the LAST THREE (the ones where we decided we needed "style points", our margin of victory is 26.3. Meaning, our margin of victory in the first 8 games was a lot lower.
Who is also "putting the pedal to the metal"? How about ND, with a 24 point margin of victory, but 41.3 in the last 3 games. And UGa, now at a 15.8 margin of victory after winning by 25.7 over the past 3 games. Or SMU, winning by 12.1 overall, but winning by 23.3 over the past 3 games.
Meanwhile, you can see teams that are struggling to finish the season strong. Pitt has been declining (fortunately). BYU. Oklahoma. USC. Alabama. Vandy. Of course, a lot of those schools are playing quality opponents in November, when Miami has beaten some weak ACC opposition over the same 3-game span.
The point is simple. When we run fewer possessions AND struggle to put teams away, we put ourselves at risk of losing that could easily be avoided by RUNNING MORE PLAYS AND POSSESSIONS.
Here is the ultimate comparison, from your chart above. Comparing the rank of SECONDS PER PLAY to the number of PLAYS PER GAME.
125 Indiana - 48th in plays per game at 70.2
111 Notre Dame - 126th in plays per game at 62.3
97 Oregon - 96th in plays per game at 66.5
126 Vanderbilt - 116th in plays per game at 63.5
108 aTm - 60th in plays per game at 69.1
136 Ohio Taint - 117th in plays per game at 63.4
123 James Madison - 37th in plays per game at 71.6
100 UTSA - 53rd in plays per game at 69.9
106 Alabama - 57th in plays per game at 69.7
105 Georgia - 30th in plays per game at 72.5
128 Miami - 76th in plays per game at 68.1 (and we had 72.6 plays per game in 2024)
118 BYU - 63rd in plays per game at 68.9
If we ran 72.6 plays per game in 2025 like we did in 2024, we would be ranked 29th. We'd be just ahead of UGa.
So even by taking a long gap between plays, it is still possible to run MORE plays per game. Indiana does. aTm does. JMU and UTSA do. Alabama and Georgia do. BYU does.
Yes, we realize that ND and Oregon and Vandy and Taint are SUPER-EFFICIENT. They take time, they slow down, they score on most of their possessions. But this is not the ONLY way to succeed. There are actually MORE TEAMS that are ranked higher in plays-per-game than time-between-plays than there are teams that are the reverse of that.
That's all I'm asking. Make the "30 seconds of delay", the staring at the sidelines...PAY OFF. Run more plays. Score more points. It's not complicated.