How to use PFF and what were IU’s biggest issues according to their grades in the ’24 season?
I realized in my first two posts about where I think the depth charts are right now (here for offense and here for defense), I give PFF grades often to evaluate players, many times without context and haven’t done a thorough explainer to my new audience here at Hoosier Huddle.
I had been pretty dubious of PFF since I started seeing it grading players years ago. But since I started subscribing couple years back I’ve decided that it’s an invaluable tool to see how an “independent” eye sees what each team or player is doing.
I love some of their advanced metrics like Contested Catch %, aDOT (average depth of target), YCO/A (yards per carry after contact per attempt), Turnover Worthy Play % (for QB’s; exactly how it sounds) for offense or Stops (tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense), MIS% (missed tackle percentage) and how they categorize QB pressures and hits from sacks.
For me, I use their grades now as a tool but try not to have it paint the whole picture. I always want the grade given to match up with the traditional numbers and what I’m watching with my own eyes. That said, I’ve warmed to it at most positions.
I still think it can be hard to grade positions like CB and OL specifically. This sounds silly, but the grader doesn’t know that the CB’s assignment was because he wasn’t in practice or the huddle, especially with a team that runs as much zone as IU, and they might have been doing their job and be assigned a catch against that wasn’t really their fault. It’s similar for OL; it’s hard to know what protection was called. If they’re not in the huddle or practice, how does the evaluator know what the blocking scheme is supposed to look like?
So, in the future when you see me using PFF grades, you can always take them with your own grain of salt. I try to use PFF grades when I believe they’re correct. But I suggest saying to yourself, “does what Jamie is writing match what I watched with my own eyes?” Because that is the true test. I’m just a guy who watches a ton of college football. I’m not a coach or scout or whatever.
There were games last year where I thought an OL wasn’t particularly good…*cough* Trey Wedig vs UCLA *cough*…where he had a terrible penalty and, I thought, wasn’t able to get outside enough on their quicker EDGE guys most of the game. Yet, PFF gave him a very good 82.4 pass blocking grade, the highest for the team. Was I keying on him all game? No, and that’s why I find it a valuable tool because a lot of times a players mistakes are the only thing that shows up. When I re-watched it, I realized that, yes, in fact, he was pretty good but an 82.4 is damn near elite and I’m not sure I agree with that.
Now, what does an 82.4 mean?
Players get graded on a 0-100 scale. A player starts each game with a 60 grade and then goes up or down from there.
A grade of 85+ is an elite grade and, generally, if a player holds that for the whole season, he’s likely a top three round pick type player, while a grade between 84-77 is considered “excellent.”
Anything from 76-67 is still thought of as “above average.”
Below average grades range from 50-60, and anything below 50 is considered “poor.”
Now, these all get color coded (shades of red to yellow to green to blue; basically bad, average, good, elite) and what is “average” can change year to year. When aggregating all players at a position, the median might be 65 in a given year. I generally take that as that position was slightly above average across the sport.
Do you know who finished with the highest overall team grade by PFF in 2024, including the post season?
Well, that would be your Indiana Hoosiers who graded out a full point higher than OSU at 93.8 (Kent State was the worst team in FBS, grading out at a 58.7). Now, was IU the best team? No, but they were elite in a ton of areas. IU graded out at an 87.5 or higher in every category PFF grades except Pass Blocking (73.9), Run Blocking (75.5) and Tackling (65).
This is where, again, I get a bit dubious. The pass blocking, sure. It was great against bad to mediocre teams and rough against the best. That’s to be expected. That said, I thought the run blocking and tackling were generally good all season.
What are you thoughts on those “problem areas” from last year? Has IU addressed what PFF thought were their biggest issues last season?