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Some BYU fans are happy with the re-hiring of Robert Anae as BYU offensive coordinator. Brandon Doman's offense sputtered, even to the point of nearly wasting the best BYU defense in school history.
Others aren't so thrilled. They remember the frustration of losing big games to good defensive coordinators, and feel this is a step backwards. BYU's offense wasn't that great under Anae, it was just carried by two smart QBs and the program's all-time best running back, receiver, and tight end.
What do the numbers say about the BYU offense under Anae: Here's a statistical look at his tenure from 2005-10, as well as the numbers under Doman for whatever comparison purposes you might find useful.
I have included the straight statistical numbers and rankings, as well as the S&P rating from Football Outsiders. S&P factors in the strength of the opponent's defense, how BYU should have fared against said defenses, and throws out garbage-time stats when games are out of hand.
(Apologies for not having the straight stat rankings for 2005-06. 2006 was a good offensive year, too.)
|
YEAR |
STATS |
S&P RANK |
|||||||||
|
RUSH |
PASS |
TOTAL |
POINTS |
RUSH |
PASS |
TOTAL |
|||||
|
YPG |
Rank |
YPG |
Rank |
YPG |
Rank |
PPG |
Rank |
||||
|
2005 |
152.3 |
|
310.1 |
|
462.4 |
|
33.0 |
|
13 |
29 |
18 |
|
2006 |
141.9 |
|
323.6 |
|
465.5 |
|
36.8 |
|
8 |
2 |
4 |
|
2007 |
144.4 |
67 |
298.4 |
14 |
442.8 |
25 |
30.1 |
47 |
21 |
10 |
14 |
|
2008 |
134.4 |
70 |
310.4 |
6 |
444.8 |
16 |
34.2 |
20 |
22 |
10 |
8 |
|
2009 |
145.7 |
63 |
281.5 |
17 |
427.2 |
21 |
35.5 |
11 |
32 |
3 |
6 |
|
2010 |
168.1 |
42 |
198.4 |
76 |
366.5 |
73 |
26.2 |
70 |
70 |
86 |
80 |
|
DOMAN |
|||||||||||
|
2011 |
160.3 |
57 |
245.4 |
47 |
405.7 |
41 |
30.1 |
42 |
53 |
53 |
55 |
|
2012 |
153.2 |
66 |
247.2 |
51 |
400.4 |
61 |
28.7 |
65 |
53 |
37 |
44 |
In 3 of Anae's 6 seasons, BYU had a top-10 offense according to the advanced stats of Football Outsiders, and in 5 of 6 it was top-20.
Some discussion on Twitter centered around Anae's ability to keep QBs healthy compared to the last two seasons. So for information, I thought it would be good to compare sacks allowed. While sacks aren't the sole factor in QB injury, it's still interesting to view the comparison.
[Year: sacks allowed per game, (national rank)]
ANAE
2007: 1.54 (34)
2008: 1.54 (36)
2009: 1.77 (54)
2010: 1.62 (42)
DOMAN
2011: 1.31 (27)
2012: 2.31 (85)
So 2012 was a historically bad year for giving up sacks, while a Riley Nelson sans broken back helped avoid a lot of sacks in 2011, I'd say. Anae's offenses, while not spotless, were fairly consistent in keeping the QB clean.