Punt Coverage

[Bison 4 Life]

Brown gave up 7 return yards on punt coverage or Brown accumulated 7 return yards on punt return?

Brown gave up 7 return yds all season. 11 punts and 7 yds.

[BisManBison]

That's a great stat! There must have been a fair number of touchbacks because the net average was 4.3 yards (43.7 vs 39.4) less than punt average. The Bison had a 13.3 yard average per punt return but their opponent average punt difference was also 3.4 yards (40.8 vs 36.5). We had a very different punt average and number of returns compared to our opponents, but the difference between our gross and net average is the same. The only thing that could cause that is the number of touchbacks.

21 yards of punt returns for the entire season is still incredible! Yes, Townsend had 1 return for 12 yards. Looking back at the box scores this is what I found:

SDSU - 1 for 0 yards
UNI - 2 for 2 yards
YSU - 1 for 5 yards
Furman - 1 for 1 yard
Coastal Car - 2 for 5 yards
Towsend - 1 for 12 yards

This adds up to 25 yards (overall season stats has 8 for 21 yards) but still pretty awesome. In 11 regular season games we gave up 7 yards on 4 punts. In 4 playoff games we gave up 18 yards on 4 punts. Statistically that is a huge increase in a third of the games. I wonder what happened to cause such a huge drop off.

GoBison stats show 8 returns for 21 yards on 52 punts, or a net return average of 0.4 yards per punt.

Teams clearly were gambling more to get something, anything during the playoffs lol.

[BisManBison]

Brown gave up 7 return yards on punt coverage or Brown accumulated 7 return yards on punt return?

Quickly scanning their box scores, they gave up 7 punt return yards in 11 games. I guess we can always look to improve.

[coloradobison]

Was their net punt avg better than ours though?

[runtheoption]

Quickly scanning their box scores, they gave up 7 punt return yards in 11 games. I guess we can always look to improve.

Agreed. We suck. Fire special teams, save 4-peat.

[IndyBison]

GoBison stats show 8 returns for 21 yards on 52 punts, or a net return average of 0.4 yards per punt.

Teams clearly were gambling more to get something, anything during the playoffs lol.

I factored in the total punt yardage, calculated total net yardage (punts times net average), and subtracted return yards to determine the net difference that had to be due to touchbacks. If these numbers are correct, we had 10 touchbacks in 52 punts (19%). Our opponents only had 2 touchbacks in 101 attempts (2%). That rate of touchbacks probably is not great, but the ability to limit any yardage on punt returns is huge. A 39.4 NET average would put him #19 in the NFL. The overall average in the NFL is 39.8 and the average touchback rate is 7%.

Take away the touchbacks and his numbers would have been even more incredible. If it resulted in a touchback then it likely wouldn't have been returned had it been shorter. The overall average would be lower but unless the ball goes out of bounds or is fair caught outside the 20 the net average would still be better.

[Kujava23]

Well I would say a couple of key items play a success in this number.

1. Punter with good hang time
2. Speed & tackling ability of players covering
3. FORMATION OF THE PUNT----the SHIELD punt formation is key to coverage

[bisonaudit]

Take away the touchbacks and his numbers would have been even more incredible. If it resulted in a touchback then it likely wouldn't have been returned had it been shorter. The overall average would be lower but unless the ball goes out of bounds or is fair caught outside the 20 the net average would still be better.

If you're evaluating the punter, though, you can't really take away the touchbacks though. Part of the punter's job is to not kick it in the end zone. It could be that we punted, on average, from better field position than our opponents which brought the touchback into play more frequently for Ben compared to our opponents. Ben had 25 inside the 20 out of 52 compared to opponents 26 in 101. That seems like an outstanding percentage and maybe some additional indirect evidence that field position was materially different for NDSU compared to opponents.

[td577]

That's a great stat! There must have been a fair number of touchbacks because the net average was 4.3 yards (43.7 vs 39.4) less than punt average. The Bison had a 13.3 yard average per punt return but their opponent average punt difference was also 3.4 yards (40.8 vs 36.5). We had a very different punt average and number of returns compared to our opponents, but the difference between our gross and net average is the same. The only thing that could cause that is the number of touchbacks.

21 yards of punt returns for the entire season is still incredible! Yes, Townsend had 1 return for 12 yards. Looking back at the box scores this is what I found:

SDSU - 1 for 0 yards
UNI - 2 for 2 yards
YSU - 1 for 5 yards
Furman - 1 for 1 yard
Coastal Car - 2 for 5 yards
Towsend - 1 for 12 yards

This adds up to 25 yards (overall season stats has 8 for 21 yards) but still pretty awesome. In 11 regular season games we gave up 7 yards on 4 punts. In 4 playoff games we gave up 18 yards on 4 punts. Statistically that is a huge increase in a third of the games. I wonder what happened to cause such a huge drop off.

There is no other way you can beat us, so I think in the playoffs there was a concerted effort in opponents return game to actually try to return punts. That Towson return would have been fair caught any other time this season by anyone else. At that moment, it worked and they got 12 yards. I know you were joking, but I had this feel in the playoffs that opponents were trying to make something happen that nobody was willing to try before. Either that, or the lack of familiarity with the Bison and how they were doing business all season butted heads. The MVFC just knows it is a futile effort. Either your returner is going to take a half a step and get smoked or just maybe the ball will bounce into the end zone. I also don't remember too many three and outs deep in our own territory.

All in all, amazing all season statistically. This team was dominating in every single facet of the game.

[bisonaudit]

Ben's 10 touchbacks:

Opponent	Quarter	Clock	Score	Distance	Position	Net
Delaware State	1st	12:08	0-0	9	38	18
SDSU	1st	4:00	0-0	1	75	55
SDSU	3rd	3:33	7-0	10	30	10
UNI	3rd	1:16	10-23	14	46	26
S Ill	1st	5:26	0-0	1	47	27
S Ill	2nd	14:03	0-7	4	58	38
S Ill	2nd	5:06	0-10	6	50	30
Ind St	4th	7:53	56-10	1	45	25
YSU	1st	13:36	0-0	8	45	25
YSU	2nd	8:46	14-7	1	51	31

As few as 2 of these decisions to punt are defensible.