2015 Las Vegas Bowl advanced stats tale of the tape: Utah vs. BYU

Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl

BYU Cougars (9-3) vs. No. 22 Utah Utes (9-3)

December 19 ( 3:30 PM ET, ABC ), Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas

Spread: Utah -3

S&P+ Projection: Utah 27.2, BYU 26.4

Team Sites: Vanquish The Foe, Block U

_{Confused? Check out the advanced-stats glossary here.}

_{Statistical profiles index.}

_{Full Football Outsiders F/+ rankings can be found here.}

The Basics

Category	BYU		Utah
S&P+ (Rk)	38		33
Category	BYU offense	Utah defense	Utah offense	BYU defense
Yards per play (Rk)	5.76 (39)	5.04 (43)	5.03 (94)	4.81 (31)
Yards per game (Rk)	418.6 (47)	366.1 (43)	380.3 (74)	356.3 (37)
Points per possession (Rk)	2.65 (31)	1.67 (30)	2.44 (49)	1.67 (30)
Category	BYU offense	Utah defense	Utah offense	BYU defense
S&P+ (Rk)	32.8 (42)	20.4 (20)	30.4 (54)	23.5 (35)
Rushing S&P+ (Rk)	104.4 (63)	126.9 (4)	101.5 (71)	98.1 (77)
Passing S&P+ (Rk)	113.7 (33)	111.2 (28)	93.6 (88)	105.9 (45)
Standard Downs S&P+ (Rk)	109.9 (35)	119.5 (10)	99.7 (75)	98.1 (74)
Passing Downs S&P+ (Rk)	115.0 (37)	113.4 (29)	89.0 (97)	115.5 (24)
Q1 S&P+ (Rk)	121.6 (20)	108.3 (39)	114.4 (36)	99.5 (61)
Q2 S&P+ (Rk)	111.0 (41)	128.4 (10)	96.3 (86)	124.9 (14)
Q3 S&P+ (Rk)	123.7 (17)	123.0 (18)	97.1 (86)	103.8 (57)
Q4 S&P+ (Rk)	108.6 (39)	101.8 (64)	99.8 (83)	101.4 (66)

Five biggest advantages* (according to the advanced stats)

_{* or smallest disadvantages}

BYU

1. Passing Downs Explosiveness (IsoPPP) (No. 20 defense vs. No. 111 offense)
2. Passing Downs S&P+ (No. 24 defense vs. No. 97 offense)
3. Passing Explosiveness (IsoPPP) (No. 35 defense vs. No. 95 offense)
4. Passing Downs Sack Rate (No. 13 defense vs. No. 71 offense)
5. Explosiveness (IsoPPP) (No. 50 defense vs. No. 99 offense)

Utah

1. Run Stuffs (No. 19 defense vs. No. 83 offense)
2. Rushing S&P+ (No. 4 defense vs. No. 63 offense)
3. Rushing Explosiveness (IsoPPP) (No. 3 defense vs. No. 56 offense)
4. Adj. Line Yards (No. 22 defense vs. No. 61 offense)
5. Standard Downs Sack Rate (No. 54 defense vs. No. 88 offense)

Five Factors

Category	BYU offense	Utah defense	Utah offense	BYU defense
EXPLOSIVENESS	1.31 (42)	1.13 (13)	1.10 (126)	1.21 (40)
EFFICIENCY	42.7% (55)	39.2% (51)	43.1% (49)	39.0% (46)
FIELD POSITION	30.2 (61)	28.7 (46)	31.0 (41)	29.2 (55)
FINISHING DRIVES	5.5 (10)	3.9 (16)	5.1 (35)	4.0 (26)
TURNOVER MARGIN	EXPECTED: BYU 1.10 (59) Utah 6.90 (17)		ACTUAL BYU 7 (25) Utah 8 (18)

Offensive Footprint

Category (Rk)	BYU offense	Utah offense
Adj. Pace	-3.9 (99)	1.6 (43)
Plays per game	72.7 (71)	75.6 (49)
Possessions per game	12.9 (75)	12.4 (103)
Std. Downs Run Rate	47.0% (121)	67.6% (25)
Pass. Downs Run Rate	29.9% (79)	37.8% (34)
% of solo tackles	80.3% (23)	68.0% (110)

Defensive Footprint

Category (Rk)	BYU defense	Utah defense
Std. Downs Run Rate	58.4% (81)	51.9% (120)
Pass. Downs Run Rate	31.0% (86)	28.1% (114)
Overall Havoc Rate	17.4% (38)	20.0% (12)
Front 7 Havoc Rate	10.7% (36)	13.8% (7)
DB Havoc Rate	6.4% (64)	5.8% (80)
PD to INC	31.0% (79)	37.9% (25)

When BYU has the ball…

Standard Downs

	BYU Offense		Utah Defense
	Avg.	Rk	Avg.	Rk	Edge
Standard Downs S&P+	109.9	35	119.5	10	Utah
Standard Downs Success Rate	47.8	51	42.4	29	Utah
Standard Downs IsoPPP	1.13	55	1.11	17	Utah
SD Line Yards per Carry	2.80	75	2.43	12	Utah big
SD Sack Rate	6.2%	88	5.3%	54	Utah

Passing Downs

	BYU Offense		Utah Defense
	Avg.	Rk	Avg.	Rk	Edge
Passing Downs S&P+	115.0	37	113.4	29
Passing Downs Success Rate	32.4	46	33.1	94	BYU
Passing Downs IsoPPP	1.85	45	1.49	7	Utah
PD Line Yards per Carry	3.27	61	3.31	72	BYU
PD Sack Rate	6.5%	52	8.6%	37	Utah

When Utah has the ball…

Standard Downs

	Utah Offense		BYU Defense
	Avg.	Rk	Avg.	Rk	Edge
Standard Downs S&P+	99.7	75	98.1	74
Standard Downs Success Rate	47.4	59	44.1	47	BYU
Standard Downs IsoPPP	1.02	101	0.99	73	BYU
SD Line Yards per Carry	3.02	48	2.70	39
SD Sack Rate	3.7%	40	6.1%	31

Passing Downs

	Utah Offense		BYU Defense
	Avg.	Rk	Avg.	Rk	Edge
Passing Downs S&P+	89.0	97	115.5	24	BYU big
Passing Downs Success Rate	32.2	50	29.0	52
Passing Downs IsoPPP	1.38	127	1.49	6	BYU big
PD Line Yards per Carry	3.40	47	2.51	10	BYU
PD Sack Rate	7.6%	71	11.7%	13	BYU big

Individual Passing Stats

Team	Player	Ht, Wt	Year	Comp	Att	Yards	TD	INT	Comp Rate	Sacks	Sack Rate	Yards/ Att.
BYU	Tanner Mangum	6'3, 210	FR	242	390	3062	21	7	62.1%	25	6.0%	7.0
BYU	Taysom Hill	6'2, 234	SR	21	34	268	1	1	61.8%	3	8.1%	6.9
BYU	Beau Hoge	6'1, 198	FR	10	17	137	1	1	58.8%	1	5.6%	7.2
Utah	Travis Wilson	6'7, 233	SR	186	298	2024	13	10	62.4%	20	6.3%	5.9
Utah	Kendal Thompson	6'2, 195	SR	28	36	220	1	1	77.8%	0	0.0%	6.1
Utah	Chase Hansen	6'3, 216	FR	0	1	0	0	0	0.0%	0	0.0%	0.0

Individual Rushing Stats

Team	Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	Year	Rushes	Yards	TD	Yards/ Carry	Hlt Yds/ Opp.	Opp. Rate
BYU	Algernon Brown	RB	6'1, 235	JR	122	697	11	5.7	6.6	37.7%
BYU	Adam Hiné	RB	6'1, 216	SR	64	326	2	5.1	6.0	37.5%
BYU	Francis Bernard	RB	6'0, 235	FR	45	276	6	6.1	4.9	51.1%
BYU	Nate Carter	RB	5'9, 189	SR	37	148	2	4.0	10.5	18.9%
Utah	Devontae Booker	RB	5'11, 212	SR	268	1261	11	4.7	4.3	34.0%
Utah	Travis Wilson	QB	6'7, 233	SR	107	613	6	5.7	4.7	48.6%
Utah	Joe Williams	RB	5'11, 200	JR	79	386	1	4.9	3.8	41.8%
Utah	Kendal Thompson	QB	6'2, 195	SR	18	60	2	3.3	3.9	27.8%
NOTE: Quarterback run totals above do not include sacks (which are counted toward pass averages below) or kneeldowns.

Individual Receiving Stats

Team	Player	Pos.	Ht, Wt	Year	Targets	Catches	Yards	TD	Yds/ Catch	Yds/ Target	Catch Rate
BYU	Mitch Mathews	WR	6'6, 215	SR	98	52	729	11	14.0	7.4	53.1%
BYU	Devon Blackmon	WR	6'0, 187	SR	73	43	572	0	13.3	7.8	58.9%
BYU	Nick Kurtz	WR	6'5, 205	JR	54	35	522	2	14.9	9.7	64.8%
BYU	Mitchell Juergens	WR	5'10, 182	JR	47	32	416	2	13.0	8.9	68.1%
BYU	Terenn Houk	WR	6'5, 225	SR	44	31	422	2	13.6	9.6	70.5%
BYU	Colby Pearson	WR	6'0, 204	JR	29	22	210	1	9.6	7.2	75.9%
BYU	Francis Bernard	RB	6'0, 235	FR	16	15	137	2	9.1	8.6	93.8%
Utah	Kenneth Scott	WR	6'3, 208	SR	64	38	448	4	11.8	7.0	59.4%
Utah	Britain Covey	WR	5'8, 166	FR	55	41	518	4	12.6	9.4	74.5%
Utah	Devontae Booker	RB	5'11, 212	SR	47	37	318	0	8.6	6.8	78.7%
Utah	Harrison Handley	TE	6'5, 245	SO	31	19	270	4	14.2	8.7	61.3%
Utah	Bubba Poole	WR	6'1, 197	SR	29	24	145	0	6.0	5.0	82.8%
Utah	Tyrone Smith	WR	6'4, 188	FR	27	17	178	0	10.5	6.6	63.0%
Utah	Siale Fakailoatonga	TE	6'4, 254	JR	16	12	120	0	10.0	7.5	75.0%

Individual Defensive Stats

Team	Name	Pos	Ht, Wt	Year	Tackles	% of Team	TFL	Sacks	Int	PBU	FF	FR
BYU	Michael Wadsworth	DB	6'2, 221	SR	65.5	9.9%	2.5	0.0	0	4	0	0
BYU	Fred Warner	LB	6'4, 225	SO	53.0	8.0%	10.5	4.0	2	1	0	1
BYU	Harvey Langi	LB	6'3, 240	JR	50.5	7.6%	6.5	4.5	2	1	0	0
BYU	Bronson Kaufusi	DL	6'8, 280	SR	46.0	7.0%	16.5	10.5	1	1	3	0
BYU	Kai Nacua	DB	6'2, 213	JR	46.0	7.0%	1.0	0.0	6	6	0	0
BYU	Jherremya Leuta-Douyere	LB	6'0, 230	SR	39.0	5.9%	2.5	0.5	0	1	0	0
BYU	Manoa Pikula	LB	6'1, 235	SR	37.0	5.6%	3.5	2.0	0	0	0	0
BYU	Micah Hannemann	DB	6'0, 200	SO	35.5	5.4%	0.5	0.0	2	7	0	0
BYU	Sae Tautu	LB	6'4, 246	JR	31.0	4.7%	9.0	4.0	0	0	0	0
BYU	Michael Davis	DB	6'2, 195	JR	22.5	3.4%	0.5	0.0	0	9	1	0
BYU	Michael Shelton	DB	5'8, 169	FR	21.0	3.2%	2.0	0.0	1	2	0	0
BYU	Logan Taele	DL	6'2, 293	SR	18.0	2.7%	6.5	1.5	0	0	0	0
BYU	Sione Takitaki	LB	6'2, 240	SO	17.0	2.6%	7.0	3.5	0	0	0	0
Utah	Gionni Paul	LB	5'10, 225	SR	78.5	12.9%	12.5	3.0	4	3	2	1
Utah	Jared Norris	LB	6'2, 240	SR	68.0	11.2%	6.5	1.0	0	5	2	0
Utah	Marcus Williams	DB	6'0, 190	SO	48.5	8.0%	2.0	0.0	5	4	0	0
Utah	Tevin Carter	DB	6'1, 215	SR	43.5	7.2%	5.5	0.0	0	3	0	0
Utah	Jason Fanaika	DE	6'3, 270	SR	38.0	6.3%	9.5	3.0	0	2	2	0
Utah	Justin Thomas	DB	5'8, 178	JR	33.0	5.4%	1.0	0.0	3	4	0	0
Utah	Kylie Fitts	DE	6'4, 268	JR	30.0	4.9%	7.0	6.0	0	10	3	0
Utah	Reginald Porter	DB	5'11, 184	JR	30.0	4.9%	0.0	0.0	0	7	0	0
Utah	Cory Butler-Byrd	DB	5'10, 175	JR	25.5	4.2%	0.5	0.0	3	4	0	0
Utah	Viliseni Fauonuku	DT	5'11, 285	SR	24.5	4.0%	7.5	4.0	0	0	1	0
Utah	Stevie Tu'ikolovatu	DT	6'1, 320	JR	20.0	3.3%	6.0	2.0	0	1	0	1
Utah	Brian Allen	DB	6'3, 200	JR	19.0	3.1%	0.0	0.0	1	2	1	0
Utah	Lowell Lotulelei	DT	6'2, 302	SO	17.0	2.8%	5.0	1.0	0	1	0	0
Note: It appears "Fumble Returns" are getting pulled instead of "Fumble Recoveries." My apologies. Will try to get that corrected.

Individual Special Teams Stats

Team	Punter	Ht, Wt	Year	Punts	Avg	TB	FC	I20	FC/I20 Ratio
BYU	Jonny Linehan	6'0, 195	JR	58	43.0	3	17	17	58.6%
BYU	Rhett Almond	6'4, 190	FR	1	48.0	0	0	0	0.0%
Utah	Tom Hackett	5'11, 195	SR	55	47.8	8	21	21	76.4%

Team	Kicker	Ht, Wt	Year	Kickoffs	Avg	TB	TB%	OOB	Fair Catches	Onside Att	Onside Success
BYU	Austin Brasher	6'0, 183	JR	69	63.0	30	43.5%	0	2	0	0
BYU	Corey Edwards	6'0, 211	FR	7	56.4	1	14.3%	0	0	0	0
Utah	Andy Phillips	5'10, 210	JR	75	60.3	19	25.3%	0	2	0	0
Utah	Tom Hackett	5'11, 195	SR	1	4.0	0	0.0%	0	1	0	0

Team	Place-Kicker	Ht, Wt	Year	PAT	FG	Pct
BYU	Trevor Samson	5'11, 177	SR	48-51	14-16	87.5%
Utah	Andy Phillips	5'10, 210	JR	42-42	23-27	85.2%

Team	Kick Returner	Ht, Wt	Year	Returns	Avg.	TD	Fair Catch	Fumbles (Lost)
BYU	Riley Burt	6'1, 195	FR	8	25.9	0	0	0 (0)
BYU	Devon Blackmon	6'0, 187	SR	5	16.8	0	0	0 (0)
Utah	Cory Butler-Byrd	5'10, 175	JR	8	27.9	1	0	1 (0)
Utah	Britain Covey	5'8, 166	FR	6	24.5	0	0	0 (0)

Team	Punt Returner	Ht, Wt	Year	Returns	Avg.	TD	Fair Catch	Fumbles (Lost)
BYU	Micah Hannemann	6'0, 200	SO	10	3.5	0	4	0 (0)
BYU	Michael Shelton	5'8, 169	FR	8	12.1	0	8	1 (0)
Utah	Britain Covey	5'8, 166	FR	21	11.7	1	8	0 (0)
Utah	Boobie Hobbs	5'10, 175	SO	9	8.8	1	1	2 (1)

_{Stats via SportSource Analytics}