All the folks putting a lot consternation into “3rd Down %”:

[stormingnorm]

PSU has scored 17 offensive touchdowns this year.

On ALL 17 of those drives, COMBINED, PSU had FOUR third down conversions.
FOUR.
(You can look it up )

If you wanna’ score...... you have to avoid Third Downs, first and foremost



Obviously , of those 3rd Downs you do have, you’d sure like to convert a lot of them....... but, it couldn’t be more clear: you gotta’ AVOID third downs (and manage the game congruently) if you’re gonna’ have a successful offense.

 

[LionJim]

Let me think about this.

You say that in our 17 offense TD drives we had a total of four 3rd down conversions, and because of this we can conclude that 3rd-down conversion percentage is an overrated statistic.

But of all the times we’ve had to kick, how many more touchdowns would we have ended up with if we had made that last third down attempt, and just that one? Going by the numbers you’ve provided, a whole lot, I’d wager.

We’re 113th in 3DP. A high 3DP isn’t the be-all and end-all, but we need to sustain drives better than we’ve been. We can’t out-athlete the defense every single play so the more plays we have the greater the chance of someone busting one. I’d love to see us in the 70s in the 3DP rankings. That would be lovely.

 

[blion72]

Let me think about this.

You say that in our 17 offense TD drives we had a total of four 3rd down conversions, and because of this we can conclude that 3rd-down conversion percentage is an overrated statistic.

But of all the times we’ve had to kick, how many more touchdowns would we have ended up with if we had made that last third down attempt, and just that one? Going by the numbers you’ve provided, a whole lot, I’d wager.

We’re 113th in 3DP. A high 3DP isn’t the be-all and end-all, but we need to sustain drives better than we’ve been. We can’t out-athlete the defense every single play so the more plays we have the greater the chance of someone busting one. I’d love to see us in the 70s in the 3DP rankings. That would be lovely.

113th makes it hard to sustain an offense. the stats from the Idaho game sort of distort the situation.

where does the defense stand re giving up 3D conversions? our total plays per game and TOP are likely also low.

FWIW - I think this has been the case since 2014 season. this is not a new issue.