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Pac-12 Receiving Stats: Levine Toilolo Is The Nuclear Option

Never a good sign for a defense when Levine has the ball. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
Never a good sign for a defense when Levine has the ball. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
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If you aren't familiar with Bill Connelly's work at Football Study Hall and SB Nation, you do yourself a disservice. Connelly finds some of the best advanced statistics for college football and compiles them in an easily presentable and understandable fashion.

Thanks to Connelly's work in compiling advanced receiving stats and his generosity in sharing football data, I now have an answer to yesterday's question regarding the dominance of Robert Woods. And boy is there some breathtaking dominance on display here ...

Advanced stats and analysis on Pac-12 receivers (how many times they get targeted by their quarterbacks, their catch rate, their yards per target) are after the jump!

(For those who want to play around with Pac-12 data on receivers, click on the following link to download the spreadsheet and play around: Pac-12 Receiving Data Thru Five Weeks)

Top flight Pac-12 receivers

Offense Player Targets Catches Yards CatchRate YdsPerTarget Team Targets Target Rate
USC Robert Woods 73 55 747 75.30% 10.2 178 41.00%
Colorado Paul Richardson 53 29 474 54.70% 8.9 168 31.50%
California Keenan Allen 50 29 491 58.00% 9.8 133 37.60%
Oregon State Markus Wheaton 46 32 390 69.60% 8.5 162 28.40%
California Marvin Jones 44 23 375 52.30% 8.5 133 33.10%
UCLA Nelson Rosario 39 23 360 59.00% 9.2 112 34.80%
Arizona David Douglas 37 23 253 62.20% 6.8 229 16.20%
Utah DeVonte Christopher 37 21 330 56.80% 8.9 102 36.30%
Arizona Juron Criner 36 24 324 66.70% 9 229 15.70%
Colorado Rodney Stewart 36 24 338 66.70% 9.4 168 21.40%
Arizona State Aaron Pflugrad 35 25 375 71.40% 10.7 166 21.10%
Arizona Dan Buckner 34 25 343 73.50% 10.1 229 14.80%
Washington State Marquess Wilson 34 21 550 61.80% 16.2 152 22.40%


Is it even close when it comes to Woods? He's targeted 20 more times than any other Pac-12 receiver and hauls in nearly three-fourths of those passes, an incredible workload for a sophomore football player. As explained yesterday, those numbers are amazingly impressive considering the slight inaccuracies of Matt Barkley. He's evolved into an elite football player.

The Keenan Allen & Marvin Jones connection with Zach Maynard is equally impressive. Maynard seems to understandably find his brother a little bit more than Jones in terms of explosive football plays, but his accuracy issues have kept the offense from being that much more productive. (Ditto the Paul Richardson & Tyler Hansen relationship problems in Boulder).

Nick Foles shares the wealth, with David Douglas, Juron Criner and Dan Buckner all notching 30 or more targets and 60+% catch rates. Sadly, the Arizona offense always goes methodical in these situations, with no one averaging more than ten yards per target.

The most surprising name is Markus Wheaton. If Sean Mannion can start putting together four quarter performances, Wheaton could be a crucial receiver that stretches things out for other options like James Rodgers and Joe Halahuni. Don't sleep on those Beavers just yet.

Safety valve receivers

 

Offense Player Targets Catches Yards CatchRate YdsPerTarget Team Targets Target Rate
Utah Dallin Rogers 17 16 143 94.10% 8.4 102 16.70%
Stanford Ryan Hewitt 12 11 115 91.70% 9.6 96 12.50%
Washington Chris Polk 11 10 128 90.90% 11.6 134 8.20%
USC Marc Tyler 8 7 75 87.50% 9.4 178 4.50%
Arizona State A.J. Pickens 7 6 64 85.70% 9.1 166 4.20%
Arizona State Kyle Middlebrooks 14 12 93 85.70% 6.6 166 8.40%
Arizona Gino Crump 27 23 193 85.20% 7.2 229 11.80%
Stanford Coby Fleener 12 10 214 83.30% 17.8 96 12.50%
UCLA Taylor Embree 11 9 113 81.80% 10.3 112 9.80%
Oregon State Jordan Jenkins 16 13 104 81.20% 6.5 162 9.90%
Arizona Keola Antolin 16 13 88 81.20% 5.5 229 7.00%
Washington James Johnson 21 17 226 81.00% 10.8 134 15.70%

 

Utah tight end Dallin Rogers appears to be unstoppable whenever the Utes get him the ball. Unfortunately, Jordan Wynn can't spread the ball around enough to the other Pac-12 receivers, and the offense goes dead.

Owen Marecic might no longer be present to lead block for the Stanford run game, but Hewitt provides a different potency with his pass-catching ability. Hewitt is Luck's safety valve, and he's just hauling it in. Luck's starting tight end Coby Fleener is the main intermediate weapon, and he's carving up defenses up the middle.

Chris Polk, Marc Tyler and Keola Antolin prove they can fit right into the pass-heavy NFL with their ability to come out of the backfield. Polk certainly has one of the most impressive RB routes on the young season in the Huskies victory over Cal.

Deep threat receivers

Offense Player Targets Catches Yards CatchRate YdsPerTarget Team Targets Target Rate
Oregon Daryle Hawkins 2 1 51 50.00% 25.5 117 1.70%
UCLA Josh Smith 3 2 76 66.70% 25.3 112 2.70%
Stanford Levine Toilolo 5 4 102 80.00% 20.4 96 5.20%
UCLA Jordon James 3 2 61 66.70% 20.3 112 2.70%
Stanford Coby Fleener 12 10 214 83.30% 17.8 96 12.50%
Washington State Marquess Wilson 34 21 550 61.80% 16.2 152 22.40%
Oregon Rahsaan Vaughn 9 6 115 66.70% 12.8 117 7.70%
Utah Jake Murphy 4 3 51 75.00% 12.8 102 3.90%
Washington Devin Aguilar 24 15 293 62.50% 12.2 134 17.90%
Washington State Kristoff Williams 9 6 109 66.70% 12.1 152 5.90%
USC Marqise Lee 27 21 323 77.80% 12 178 15.20%

 

Here's where the Pac-12 sizzle happens.

Andrew Luck's deep option is his 6'8" tight end Levine Toilolo. Toilolo hasn't gotten much burn, and most of his big plays came against Arizona, but he's averaged 20 yards per catch when that ball has found the hands.

Wilson might have gotten a bump after his heroics in Boulder, but there's no denying his vertical stretch ability gives WSU's offense a whole 'nother dimension for defenses to think about when digging in.

The scariest thing about the USC offense is that even with Woods's proficiency, they still have an emerging deep threat in Marqise Lee. Lee is also hauling in balls at a rate that's possibly even better than Woods's freshman numbers.

The funniest thing about this info is the presence of TWO UCLA receivers on this list. It makes you wonder why Richard Brehaut hasn't been going downfield even more. The UCLA offense sure could use some explosiveness to avoid plodding their way through the Pistol.

Receivers who aren't receiving anything

Offense Player Targets Catches Yards CatchRate YdsPerTarget Team Targets Target Rate
UCLA Randall Carroll 6 1 13 16.70% 2.2 112 5.40%
UCLA Cory Harkey 5 1 10 20.00% 2 112 4.50%
California Spencer Hagan 4 1 16 25.00% 4 133 3.00%
Oregon Will Murphy 8 2 29 25.00% 3.6 117 6.80%
UCLA Anthony Barr 4 1 11 25.00% 2.8 112 3.60%
California Coleman Edmond 4 1 7 25.00% 1.8 133 3.00%
Oregon Justin Hoffman 10 3 27 30.00% 2.7 117 8.50%
Washington State Gino Simone 3 1 20 33.30% 6.7 152 2.00%
Colorado Tyler McCulloch 12 5 50 41.70% 4.2 168 7.10%
Oregon State Obum Gwacham 7 3 56 42.90% 8 162 4.30%
Washington State Henry Eaddy 7 3 32 42.90% 4.6 152 4.60%
Oregon State Colby Prince 14 6 34 42.90% 2.4 162 8.60%
USC Randall Telfer 13 6 101 46.20% 7.8 178 7.30%

 

Anthony Barr and Randall Carroll were two of the best athletes in the country when they were recruited by the Bruins. They have yet to accomplish anything of note in Westwood, and they are among the conference's least productive when it comes to catching the ball.