Introducing Sting Stats

I'm a new contributor here on the GT Sports Blog, so here's a little background: I'm a native south Georgian, a GT alum and diehard fan, and a Navy veteran. My brother is a Georgia Southern graduate, a triple-option HS football coach, and also a die-hard GT fan. So I've followed Paul Johnson's career with considerable interest for years.

Over the summer I've been researching Johnson's career and statistics, and posting some of my findings over on the Hive. With Scott's kind request I'll be revisiting and expanding on them some here on the GT Sports Blog.

In an appropriate segue, Scott pointed out after the Saturday scrimmage that Paul Johnson rarely punts. Brandon then asked in the comments: is the offense that good, is CPJ a risk taker, or both?

Well, it is definitely true that Paul Johnson has punted less than anyone in else in college football:

NCAA D1A punts per game (2003-2007):

1. Navy..........2.92
2. Texas Tech....3.05
3. Hawaii........3.26
4. Louisville....3.45
5. Southern Cal..3.69

A big part of this has to be attributed to offense's extremely high success rate on third down:

3rd down conversions (2005-2007):

1. Hawaii.........49.66%
2. BYU............48.42%
3. Navy...........48.02%
4. Ohio State ....47.99%
5. Southern Cal...47.97%

(The NCAA's website didn't begin publishing these numbers until 2005, unfortunately).

Finally, there is a convincing argument that Paul Johnson has no peers when it comes to fourth down conversion success. The last three seasons, Navy is the only program in the top five of these three fourth down categories: total attempts, total conversions, and conversion percentage.

4th down conversions percentage (2005-2007):

1. LSU.............77.27%
2. Auburn..........71.74%
3. Air Force.......67.14%
4. Navy............64.10%
5. Southern Cal....64.00%

Successful 4th down conversions (2005-2007):

1. NMSU............61
2. Navy............50
3. Southern Cal....48
4. Notre Dame......47
5. Air Force.......47

Total 4th down conversion attempts (2005-2007):

1. NMSU............116
2. Toledo...........89
3. Notre Dame.......86
4. Houston..........80
5. Navy.............78

So while Johnson is something of a risk-taker on fourth down compared to most football coaches, he is certainly no Hal Mumme (of Kentucky fame and now at New Mexico State).

Plus, if you make it most of the time, it's not much of a risk!