In football, numbers lie all the time. Here are a bunch of lies.
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Marshall Lobbestael of the Washington St. Cougars is averaging 10.3 passing yards per attempt (first in the Pac-12, a yard ahead of anyone else), and a 180+ passer rating (first), and 319.7 passing yards per game (second). Jeff Tuel is not missed by anyone, except when I mean not missed by anyone, I mean he's missed by everyone.
- Of the 12 current Pac-12 starters, Utah Utes QB Jordan Wynn is averaging 5.8 passing yards per attempt (last among major Pac-12 starters, nearly two yards below anyone else), a 118.24 passer rating (last) and 192.7 passing yards per game (ahead of only Richard Brehaut, who has 20 less attempts on the season).
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Tyler Hansen of the Colorado Buffaloes has some of the worst first quarter stats, completing last than half of his passes and averaging a meager five or so yards per pass. He's a little better at hooking up with his receivers in the second half. But then in the third quarter? 62% completion rate, over 10 yards per attempt, five touchdowns, no picks, tops in the Pac-12.
And then he's back to Earth in the fourth quarter. What. - Sean Mannion of the Oregon St. Beavers is real good at putting up second half stats. Now, Wisconsin was up by several touchdowns and UCLA was too busy writing on their Facebook Wall "Beavers are so hard to to break fml!", so we'll see how far this goes.
- Zach Maynard of the California Golden Bears has the highest 3rd down passer rating in the conference despite being ninth in completion percentage. Maynard is averaging 10.8 yards per pass attempt and an incredible 20 yards per completion. That 90 yard touchdown to Keenan Allen on 3rd and 20 last week was a real boon there.
- Maynard on first down though? An atrocious 42.9 completion percentage, which puts them only ahead of passing powerhouses UConn, Boston College, Navy and Army. Prepare the Isi Sofele first down toss play, over and over and over again.
- Keith Price is close to automatic once he gets to the red zone, with only two incompletions on twenty attempts. 10 of his 18 completions have gone for touchdowns, and his lone interception went the other way for a pick-six.
- Know who's right up there with Andrew Luck as the Pac-12's ultimate road QB? Richard Brehaut. 11.1 yards per attempt. 65% completion rate. However, it comes at less than 20 attempts per game. Why aren't the Bruins trusting Brehaut on the road?
- Just as perplexing as his road stats? His home stats. 47.6% completion rate and 7.0 yards per attempt. Sure, Texas might be good, but last I checked, San Jose State is no golden land of opportunity.
- Note to self, Oregon. Get good field position. Darron Thomas has completed 35.7% of his passes from within his own 20, plus his only interception of the season to boot.
Thomas was also throwing most of those passes against perhaps the best defense in the country. In the other three games this season when Oregon was pinned deep, they ran a LaMichael James zone stretch for 40 yard gains. On average.
I hope you enjoyed all those lies! And you didn't even have to go to the bar to find them all.