Statistical Review: Minnesota #74

Phillip Nelson attempted 154 passes in 2012 for Minnesota. He completed 48.7% of them. Only Dayne Crist attempted more passes for a lower completion percentage. But if you count passes he completed to the opposition, that completion percentage jumps to just under 54%, very similar to Max Shortell's 56% completions.

Minnesota didn't have much success throwing the ball, so they ran 61% of the time. But 3.8 yards per carry isn't good enough, either. It is little surprise, then, that they averaged 22 points per game and 1.7 points per possession.

The Minnesota pass defense was well above average. Opponents managed only 10.5 yards per completion, good enough to put Minnesota in the top 10 in that category, while also holding opponents to 57% completions. Porous run defense, though, offset any advantage the pass defense offered. All together, Minnesota fielded a very average defense that was aided, for appearance sake, by a slow-tempo offense that helped keep stats down.

The Statistical Review breaks down teams along a number of performance categories, everything from red zone scoring to field goal percentage, and compares that performance against the rest of the FBS. All 124 teams will be reviewed from 124 to 1 by the hybrid rankings. You can find short descriptions of the stats used in the table below.