Now that the season is officially over, we can get the complete comparison of the two young quarterbacks. Each played at least 4 series in 6 games this year and they combined for exactly 100 drives, 45 for Delton and 55 for Thompson.
I put together a chart for each. For the top part of each chart I included the typical passing and rushing stats we normally look at for a college quarterback. Then I went through the play by play stats for each game to glean the advanced stats I like to use; yards per play, points per play, points per drive, points per drive inside the 40, and per play offensive success rate. I also factored what percentage of drives ended in touchdowns, field goals, turnovers, punts, and 3 and outs for each QB. Here are the results:
Thompson has the better throwing numbers, but perhaps not by the margin some might expect. It is no surprise that Delton was the better runner. Thompson was better at both protecting the football (lower TOs/drive) and finishing drives with points inside the 40 yard line. Delton was better in most other areas and notably his success rate, points per drive, and percentage of drives that ended in TDs were all quite a bit better. Probably the most alarming stat is that 40% of Thompson's drives ended with a 3 and out and nearly half of his drives ended with a punt.
There will be a lot of discussion going into this off-season about who should be the guy next year. With the coaching and offensive coordinator situation still very much in the air, those discussions only become more complicated. Either way, pick your guy and go with it. I'd probably lean Delton at the moment, and not just because of the UCLA game against an obviously flawed Bruin defense.
I put together a chart for each. For the top part of each chart I included the typical passing and rushing stats we normally look at for a college quarterback. Then I went through the play by play stats for each game to glean the advanced stats I like to use; yards per play, points per play, points per drive, points per drive inside the 40, and per play offensive success rate. I also factored what percentage of drives ended in touchdowns, field goals, turnovers, punts, and 3 and outs for each QB. Here are the results:
Thompson has the better throwing numbers, but perhaps not by the margin some might expect. It is no surprise that Delton was the better runner. Thompson was better at both protecting the football (lower TOs/drive) and finishing drives with points inside the 40 yard line. Delton was better in most other areas and notably his success rate, points per drive, and percentage of drives that ended in TDs were all quite a bit better. Probably the most alarming stat is that 40% of Thompson's drives ended with a 3 and out and nearly half of his drives ended with a punt.
There will be a lot of discussion going into this off-season about who should be the guy next year. With the coaching and offensive coordinator situation still very much in the air, those discussions only become more complicated. Either way, pick your guy and go with it. I'd probably lean Delton at the moment, and not just because of the UCLA game against an obviously flawed Bruin defense.
