Football: Groulx, Nixon, Snyder top the list (by some measure, at least...)

Back by popular moderate demand, it's the 2008 quarterback rankings.

Again I emphasize that this only considers passing plays and does not give QBs credit if their receivers or O-line are less than ideal. It also doesn't treat kindly those teams who throw on every down, so certain men, possibly playing at Molson Stadium, are penalized.

A quick reminder: we're looking at adjusted net yards per pass attempt, vs. an average quarterback in each conference. Above or below 100 is how much that quarterback added or took away per 100 yards. For example, Steve Snyder's 133 means for every 100 yards the average AUS QB would gain in the air, Snyder gained 133.

Some of the more interesting results before I get to the list:

  • Benoît Groulx ended up with a 150 in the regular season, which compares well with his previous numbers: 167 and 155 in his healthy seasons. Either he's been consistently good, save for injury, or Laval's system is constantly beneficial to its quarterbacks.
  • Second and third are the Huskies' Laurence Nixon and X-Man Steve Snyder.
  • Matt Connell is dead last among 24 qualifying quarterbacks (mostly because he has by far the most attempts). Take from that what you will.
  • Waterloo's Evan Martin nearly achieved the OUA average at 94, which is certainly better than Warrior performance in the past (76, 86, 72). Others have noted improvements in this year's Waterloo team and they certainly didn't look completely overmatched against Laurier as they have in the past, so I have to agree.
  • Josh Sacobie is down in the middle of the pack, which is another indication of Ottawa's disappointing season.
  • Sam Malian, noted earlier as the Week 6 leader, ended up 15th among qualifiers.
  • Nobody from 2008 made the four-year top ten ('05-'08). That may indicate that there weren't any outstanding QBs this year; the great ones were closer to average.

Enough talk. Here are the top 10 quarterbacks from 2008 by this measure (at least 14 attempts per game required):

Leaders in adjusted net yards per attempt (conference average per 100), 2008
150, Benoît Groulx - Laval
148, Laurence Nixon - Saskatchewan
133, Steve Snyder - StFX
129, Michael Faulds - Western
127, Justin Dunk - Guelph
124, Dan Brannagan - Queen's
122, Teale Orban - Regina
115, Joshua Sacobie - Ottawa
114, Deke Junior - Calgary
111, Kelly Hughes - Mount Allison

Top 10 passing seasons from 2005 to 2008
176, Joshua Sacobie (2007)
175, Adam Archibald (2007)
167, Benoît Groulx (2005)
167, John Makie (2006)
162, Michael Faulds (2005)
157, Erik Glavic (2007)
155, Benoît Groulx (2006)
154, Dan Brannagan (2007)
153, Dan Lumley (2006)
152, Ryan Pyear (2005)

A complete 2008 list is in the comments.
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2 comments:

  1. All quarterbacks from 2008 with enough pass attempts to qualify (14 per game or 112 total):

    150, Benoît Groulx - Laval
    148, Laurence Nixon - Saskatchewan
    133, Steve Snyder - StFX
    129, Michael Faulds - Western
    127, Justin Dunk - Guelph
    124, Dan Brannagan - Queen's
    122, Teale Orban - Regina
    115, Joshua Sacobie - Ottawa
    114, Deke Junior - Calgary
    111, Kelly Hughes - Mount Allison
    109, Keith Lockwood - Acadia
    107, Marc-Olivier Brouillette - Montreal
    106, David Hamilton - Toronto
    103, Luke Thompson - Laurier
    103, Sam Malian - Windsor
    99, Ryan Fantham - McMaster
    96, Jean-Philippe Shoiry - Sherbrooke
    95, Bernd Dittrich - Simon Fraser
    94, Evan Martin - Waterloo
    88, John Makie - Manitoba
    86, Liam Mahoney - Concordia
    85, Jesse Andrews - Bishop's
    84, Quade Armstrong - Alberta
    81, Matt Connell - McGill

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  2. Good rankings as always, Rob: it's great to see how the numbers add up. Interesting that Dunk comes in so highly given the criticism he's got recently. I also found it interesting that there's less of a spread in the OUA quarterbacks than in the CIS as a whole or even other conferences: the difference between Faulds and Fantham seems much smaller than between Groulx and Connell, or Nixon and Armstrong. Also, the AUS seems to have a pretty decent quarterback slate, even if no one from SMU qualifies.

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