4th down analytics in Baylor vs Oklahoma State
Math is starting to win in college football, but team strategy is still confusing.
There have been a couple of games in the Big 12 recently which have illustrated the coming wave of analytics-based decision making in football on 4th down. First there was this bizarre contestβ¦
What you see here in the stats is basically Texas dominating Texas Tech throughout the game except on 4th down, where the Red Raiders completely overcame the gap. Also amazing from that game, Texas forced two fumbles and fumbled once, Tech recovered all three. Texas defended five passes but had zero picks, Tech defended but one pass but also had an interception.
Pretty wild, pretty flukey, yet also truly a clutch performance by Tech.
More recently we got this one:
There were a number of quirks to this game as well. Those 4th down attempts really impacted the game flow, OSU recorded a safety on Baylor, and the βPokes had a kickoff return for a touchdown and another 50-yard return which set up a score.
What made this one interesting nationally were the decisions made on 4th down.
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