UM not worried ~ 3rd Down; Kaaya # 1 in 'Money Downs' in US

Cane2

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Brad Kaaya gunning for it on fourth down. (Getty Images)

“Some teams will say it’s third-and-9, let’s try to take a shot downfield,” quarterback Brad Kaaya said. “Or, it’s third-and-11-plus, throw a screen pass or something like that. For us, coach will say, ‘We have four downs here.’ If we know we have four downs, we call a play that’s high percentage, that’ll get us five or six yards and get us in fourth-and-manageable.

“We’re not going to worry about getting all seven yards. We’re going to call a play that gets us fourth-and-1, fourth-and-2, fourth-and-3. Then on fourth down, we’ll call a play that we know is our money play, our play that’s going to get us a first down.”

Why aren’t Miami Hurricanes worrying as much about poor third-down performance?

CORAL GABLES — Make no mistake: the Hurricanes are not pleased about failing to covert on three-fourths (6 out 24) of their third-down chances. They’re trying to increase their success there.

But they aren’t as concerned as you might think.

Through two games, Miami ranks a paltry 118th in the nation on third down, succeeding on 6-of-24 chances. But only one team – Illinois – has taken and converted as many fourth-down chances as UM.

Both teams are tied for No 1 at perfect 5-for-5 in college Football.

Miami, which tied for 26th in fourth-down success last year (60.9 percent) and tied for 33rd in number of attempts (23), is going for it at a greater rate. Stretched out over a 13-game season, they’d wind up with 10 more attempts than last year.

Coach Al Golden said instead of going for it all on third down, he might call a higher-percentage play to increase his team’s chances on fourth.

It’s one of UM’s new offensive approaches, in addition to greater use of tight ends and H-backs, much more shotgun and pistol than under-center looks and increased use of backs in the passing game.


Offensive coordinator James Coley said Golden came to him before the season about the change. “He said, ‘Hey coach, are you good with me giving you four downs for a drive?’” Coley said, breaking into a smile. “I’m like, ‘Yeah.’ As an offensive coordinator, the last thing you want to hear is ‘Get the punting unit ready.’”

“Some people will look at that and say it’s sort of screwy, but a lot of teams are doing that now,” Coley said.

Though two September games isn’t necessarily a proper sample size to assess a nation-wide trend, there seems to be more momentum across college football toward going for it on fourth down.

The team that led the nation in fourth-down attempts last year, Washington State, has gone for it 12 times in two games. That’s a pace toward 72 over 12 games – and 32 more than their nation-high total of 40 from last year.

Behind Wazzu and Kent State (12), Oregon (10), Vanderbilt, North Carolina State, Houston, Baylor, Idaho, Bowling Green, Wyoming, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern (seven attempts each) have shown to be early risk-takers. Ahead of Miami, which is tied with eight other teams with five attempts, is Buffalo, New Mexico, Texas State, Kansas and Arizona (six each).

So fourth-down attempts are up. What about success rates?

Last year, 11 teams converted fourth downs at 70 percent or better. Three were at or above 80 percent. That’s a slight uptick from 2013, but falls close to the success rates of 2008-2012 (according to data on the indispensable CFBStats.com).

Through two games this year, 29 teams have 100 percent success – but only 11 of those teams have gone for it more than twice. The sample size is a bit too small, here.

So why is Miami going for it more on fourth down?

Golden said his confidence in his defense in the last year-plus is the reason he’s changed his thinking.

“With our defense, as our defense has improved over the last 15 games, so has our ability to go for it on fourth,” Golden said. “If it takes four downs, it takes four downs. They’re both money downs to us. If it takes two, that’s what we’ll do. We do need to catch the ball better on third down though, for sure.”

Kaaya, who said coach Ed Croson at West Hills (Calif.) Chaminade approached play-calling in a similar manner, said he likes getting an “extra” down – he doesn’t feel more pressure.

“Obviously, you have to have a lot of trust in your defense, which we do,” he said. “You have to trust we can get the ball back for us.”

Through two games, Miami ranks No. 1 in takeaways (seven) and turnover margin (plus-six).

It’ll be interesting to see if Brad Kaaya and his posse remain this bold as the schedule gets tougher.
 
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Bad 3rd down rate? Kaaya just goes for it on 4th Down
CORAL GABLES - "As our defense has improved over the last 15 games, so has our ability to go for it on fourth," Miami coach Al Golden said. "I don't think there's any question we have the utmost faith in our defense now."

Miami has been dreadful on third downs to start this season, with only five teams at the FBS level off to a worse start than the Hurricanes' 6-for-24 rate there through the first two games.

But when adding in that 5-for-5 on fourth downs, it all doesn't look so bad to Golden.

When it comes to third-down conversion rates, no league at college football's top level is off to a better start this season than the Atlantic Coast Conference.

And on fourth down, the ACC is even better.

Going for it on fourth-and-whatever has looked easy around the ACC so far in 2015, with the league's teams combining to convert 31 of 38 chances — an wildly impressive 82 percent — in those situations. No other conference even comes close to that sort of percentage on fourth downs, and the only FBS teams in America off to 5-for-5 starts in that department are Illinois and Miami.

"We just have a lot of confidence in our guys," said Golden, whose team went for it twice on fourth downs on its first possession of the season — passing both times and converting both. "If it takes four downs, it takes four downs. They're both money downs to us."

The Hurricanes are hardly the only ACC team with a punting-optional approach.

ACC clubs are converting on nearly 50 percent of their third-down tries so far this year, and the gaudy fourth-down numbers make it look more impressive across the league.

North Carolina State has more fourth-down conversion tries this season (seven) than it has punts (six). The Wolfpack are 5-for-7 on the ultimate down already in 2015, after going 5-for-10 on those plays in 2014.

"It's always about execution," said North Carolina State coach Dave Doeren, whose affinity for going for it on fourth down goes back to his time at Northern Illinois before arriving in Raleigh in 2012. "You've got to execute and just make the right decision."

No. 14 Georgia Tech has long had a penchant for leaving its offense on the field on fourth downs. Sometimes it's to try drawing an offsides penalty (if that doesn't work, the Jackets will simply take a time-out), but it's also not uncommon for coach Paul Johnson to just give his triple-option offense one more shot at converting.

The Jackets have been a juggernaut offensively this season. Their totals through three games: three punts, and 3-for-3 on fourth downs.

Among ACC teams, Duke has the most fourth-down tries (117, according to STATS) since the start of the 2011 season. Take away the league's newcomers and the average for ACC clubs in that span is 80.3 fourth-down attempts.

There's one very notable exception on that front.

Ninth-ranked Florida State had a fourth-down conversion in last week's win over South Florida, after not having a single one in the entire 2014 season. Since the start of 2011, the Seminoles are a mere 9 for 24 when going for it on fourth downs, a clear sign that Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher is no fan of what he seems to deem unnecessary risks.

And why would he be, considering Florida State has one of college football's top kickers — maybe ever — in Roberto Aguayo.

"There's no set reason to go for it or not go for it," Fisher said. "We have a great field-goal kicker. A lot of times, I call that no man's land when you're out there. A lot of guys will go for it but we've got a great kicker, so a lot of times we'll get field goals."

The risk does seem to usually come with a big reward.

When ACC teams have converted on fourth downs this season, a trip to the end zone tends to follow. Out of the 31 conversions, 18 have come on what became touchdown drives.

"If it takes two," Golden said, "that's what we'll do."
 
Yeah, I wouldn't be too concerned about awful third down conversions two seasons in a row. I mean plenty of good teams are awful on third downs.


Wait...... what?

We'll just go for it on fourth? I mean we're 5 for 5

Makes sense.
 
Yeah, I would be concerned about awful third down conversions two seasons in a row. I mean ...

Wait...... what?

We'll just go for it on fourth? I mean we're 5 for 5

Makes sense.

Ah ha, now you see the brilliance of Brad Kaaya.
 
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You do understand the sample size of sucking *** on 3rd down is more than just this year??? Looking at successes on 4th down vs Bethune and FAU is as useful as the medium shirt in Golden's drawer
 
Cane2 has finally done it. He has officially been name the dumbest sports fan I've ever encountered. Holy christ
 
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Look at the other teams that we're joining as teams taking chances on 4th down - Wash St. with Mike Leach, who has explosive offenses but very unorthodox strategies, Oregon, a team that has had one of the most explosive offenses in the last several years, and a bunch of middle to lower tier programs. And the reason we're okay with sucking on 3rd down and taking chances on 4th down is because we have faith in our defense? Wow, talk about misplaced confidence.

This coaching staff has a canned excuse and explanation for each of their failings. We've been terrible on 3rd down offensively for several years, and to pretend that it's no big deal because we can just convert on 4th down is another ridiculous justification for our inability to perform at the level we should. It's even more unbelievable because we've put up these terrible 3rd down numbers against the easiest teams on our schedule, and I'm sure that our 100% 4th down conversion rate will regress to the mean once we play some real competition, so our "money downs" conversion rate should stay awesome!
 
Creating fake stats to make your failures on 3rd downs look intentional and acceptable.

I didn't think it was possible, but Folden has hit a new low.
 
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Creating fake stats to make your failures on 3rd downs look intentional and acceptable.

I didn't think it was possible, but Folden has hit a new low.

In all of college and pro football, the 4th down conversion stat is an afterbirth. Nobody wants it, or cares. At The Former U it completely replaces the 3rd down.

You can't make this **** up!

I know he's supposed to be bright, but I'm starting to worry about Kaaya's intellectual capacity.
 
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Hold on. Just hold one for ONE second. Let's think about this. I'll go along with it for a second and let's see how many times we've converted the first down after getting to third down, regardless of whether we get the first on the 3rd down or the 4th down.

According to CFBstats.com we have converted 6/24 3rd downs and 5/5 4th downs. In total we have gotten the first down 11 times out of 24 total times we've needed at least 3 downs. That means we converted on 45.83% of the times. If we look at the rankings of teams by 3rd down conversions alone, that puts us at 30 but doesn't take into account the calculations for 4th down for any other team. So AT BEST we are 30th at converting on 3rd down. Kind of...sort of...not really...after playing the cupcakes on our schedule.

I'll be back once I unpretzel my head
 
Al is trying to improve his special teams stats. Less punts, lower return yardage. He will be bragging about it soon, I am sure.
 
Al Golden has gone from egomaniac to just flat out bat**** crazy. He will be in a home within 5 years after he is fired.
 
Creating fake stats to make your failures on 3rd downs look intentional and acceptable.

I didn't think it was possible, but Folden has hit a new low.
LOL,would love to know what the rest of the coaching fraternity thinks of this new Golden innovation.Just when they think they're figuring this game there goes Golden changing it up on them.3rd downs don't really matter anymore just gain positive yards and set up a shorter 4th (money)down.Can't wait to see this new approach against teams that can actually make you pay for it by scoring quickly with a short field.
 
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