Losing Your Lunch: Happy Birthday Edition

Hello Followers. Long time no see!

Before I get to the meat of today’s post, I thought it appropriate to wish a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our blog’s primary founder and blogfather, Mr. Sean Hawkins. As many of you know, Sean turns fifty today. So, even though the photograph above was taken a few years back, I think that we can all agree that Sean looks great. In fact, I don’t think he’s ever looked better!

But even more important than Sean’s boyish good looks is the actual DATE in which this photo was taken. You see, this photo of Mr. Hawkins was taken way back in 2006—a year which happens to mark the last time that our Cougies sniffed a .500 record.

And it is with that spirit of mediocrity that I offer today’s “Losing Your Lunch” post. (Click on the jump, won’t you???)

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Followers, those of you who have hung around this blog for the past few months know that there hasn’t been a lot coming out of my neck of the woods. And the reason: I’ve been totally swamped with work.

And, while I’ve hoped that somehow the workload would subside over the summer, well, so far it has not. So, until such time that it does, you can expect posts from me that will be as quick as they are irrelevant.

Anyhow, for today, I thought I’d quickly look at one big key to our chances to sniff bowl eligibility. And for me, that one big key concerns our offensive production. So, let’s take a look at how the conference shaped up last year with respect to total yards, shall we?

TOTAL OFFENSE		G	Rush	Pass	Plays	Yards	Avg/P	TD	Avg/G
1.	Oregon	13	4098	2888	1058	6986	6.6	83	537.4
2.	Arizona	13	2961	3879	1082	6840	6.3	63	526.2
3.	UCLA	14	2671	3860	1095	6531	6.0	58	466.5
4.	Arizona State	13	2670	3369	1011	6039	6.0	60	464.5
5.	USC	13	1958	3670	853	5628	6.6	51	432.9
6.	Oregon State	13	1618	3992	946	5610	5.9	53	431.5
7.	California	12	2196	2499	817	4695	5.7	31	391.2
8.	Stanford	14	2440	2802	948	5242	5.5	42	374.4
9.	Washington State	12	349	3965	876	4314	4.9	29	359.5
10.	Washington	13	1851	2767	904	4618	5.1	38	355.2
11.	Utah	12	1605	2288	797	3893	4.9	33	324.4
12.	Colorado	12	1323	2310	829	3633	4.4	27	302.8

It probably surprises no one that last year's Top 6 in total offense represented 6 of the 8 teams that went bowling. So, it stands to reason that in order for our boys to get back to 6 wins, we probably need to crack AT LEAST the top 5 in 2013,right?

The next table of statistics, as provided by my best friends in the Pac-12 office, show the season totals for total rushing offense. As you can see below, the Quack just tore it up with over 4,000 yards for the season. I mean, how fricking awesome is that??

RUSHING OFFENSE		G	Att	Yards	Avg.	TD	Yards/G
1.	Oregon	13	685	4098	6.0	48	315.2
2.	Arizona	13	544	2961	5.4	33	227.8
3.	Arizona State	13	598	2670	4.5	27	205.4
4.	UCLA	14	599	2671	4.5	29	190.8
5.	California	12	451	2196	4.9	18	183.0
6.	Stanford	14	549	2440	4.4	23	174.3
7.	USC	13	392	1958	5.0	12	150.6
8.	Washington	13	466	1851	4.0	19	142.4
9.	Utah	12	446	1605	3.6	17	133.8
10.	Oregon State	13	442	1618	3.7	26	124.5
11.	Colorado	12	425	1323	3.1	16	110.2
12.	Washington State	12	252	349	1.4	6	29.1

But even more important than the Quack’s dominance is the fact that out of the top 8 teams in the conference, SEVEN were bowl eligible last year. What’s more, even though the puppies finished 8^th in total rushing last year, the Bishop actually finished as the conference’s fourth leading rusher (1439 yards). So, you can see how it is that they made it to 7 victories last year—even without a win the Apple Cup…

In total, it sure seems like running the football is a tad important for future success, doesn’t it?

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Moving on to the passing side of the ledger, the final Table below shows that we actually led the conference in pass offense last year, although I suspect we would have been closer to 8^th if sacks were counted against the pass instead of the rushing totals….

PASS OFFENSE		G	Comp	Att	Int	Pct.	Yards	Avg.	TD	Avg/G
1.	Washington State	12	363	624	21	58.2	3965	6.4	23	330.4
2.	Oregon State	13	315	504	16	62.5	3992	7.9	27	307.1
3.	Arizona	13	326	538	15	60.6	3879	7.2	30	298.4
4.	USC	13	284	461	20	61.6	3670	8.0	39	282.3
5.	UCLA	14	324	496	11	65.3	3860	7.8	29	275.7
6.	Arizona State	13	275	413	12	66.6	3369	8.2	33	259.2
7.	Oregon	13	250	373	9	67.0	2888	7.7	35	222.2
8.	Washington	13	266	438	14	60.7	2767	6.3	19	212.8
9.	California	12	212	366	13	57.9	2499	6.8	13	208.2
10.	Stanford	14	240	399	10	60.2	2802	7.0	19	200.1
11.	Colorado	12	222	404	19	55.0	2310	5.7	11	192.5
12.	Utah	12	220	351	9	62.7	2288	6.5	16	190.7

Anyhow, as indicated in the Table, we were the ONLY team out of the top 8 who did not earn bowl eligibility last year. Let me repeat that. We were THE.ONLY.FRIGGING.TEAM that did not go to a bowl last year in the top 8!!!!!

Moreover, had we just been able to sniff Colorado’s rushing total of last year (110 yards per game), we actually would have finished last year in the top half of the conference in Total Offense.

Which leads me to today’s question…

How many yards do the 2013 Cougars need to average each game in order win six games? From that total, how many yards passing are needed? How many yards rushing?

Personally, I’m hedging toward the 5400 yard mark—which is squarely at 450 yards per game. I’m thinking 4700 yards passing and 700 yards running for the season—which would flat out double last year’s abysmal rushing totals.

So, chip in with your thoughts if you get the chance. Because as of right now, the clock has just struck 25 minutes, and once again, I just lost my lunch.

Happy Birthday, Sean Hawkins. And as always, Go Cougs!!!!!!!!

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Losing Your Lunch: Happy Birthday Edition

Alan Draper

Alan Draper

Alan Draper