Stats

[wickedwritah]

Even though I don't need to, I still do a running play log when I cover college and pro games, otherwise I wander off into la-la land and I can't get myself to focus so much on the game.

 

[Cosmo]

I'm guessing all of it.

That's not a criticism - I've never had to keep my own football stats (as a newsie I've written features but not gamers.) So count me interested, as well. I've kept baseball stats since I was like 6 years old but I just now realized I've never done football.

Is there a scoring sheet like baseball?

If there is, it's an improvised one. I've got my own system, and I'm sure everyone's got theirs.

Mine involves one legal pad and one notepad. Each team gets one sheet of legal paper, and I go back and forth depending on who's got the ball.

I draw three horizontal lines on the top three-fourths of the legal pad, dividing it into three sections: passing, receiving and rushing. In the margins, I write the top offensive players' names and numbers. Each player gets their own line, because my handwriting's sloppy. (Without a pregame roster, I'll leave room in each section and write in a new rusher/receiver the first time they get the ball.)

During a drive, I'll write in the yardage amounts after each play. For passing, I'll write in a yardage amount for a completion and an X for an incompletion. Asterisk next to the number is for a touchdown, star next to an X is a pick. (If I'm ambitious, I'll do the same for receivers, with intended passes.) At halftime, I total them and write the first-half yardage in the margin next to the guy's name. For instance:

PASSING
4-Favre 7 x 10* x x 13 x 25 10 = (that means he's 5-for-9, 65 yards, 1 TD)

RECEIVING
81-Rison x 10 10 = (2 catches, 20 yards)
86-Freeman 7 x x 13 = (2 catches, 20 yards)
87-Brooks x 25* = (1 catch, 25 yds, 1 TD)

RUSHING
34-Bennett 4 6 4 10 -2 10 8 = (7 rushes, 40 yards)
25-Levens 4 1 42* = (3 rushes, 47 yards, 1 TD)
4-Favre -7 8 -4 = (3 rushes, minus-3 yards)

When the other team has the ball, I'll flip to the next sheet and keep their offensive stats the same way.

On the bottom half of the legal sheet, I draw small vertical boxes for defensive/team stats that we keep: First downs, punts-yardage, fumbles-lost, Penalties-yards. Again, just make a small notation for each one.

FIRST DOWNS
P R P Pen R R R P Pen = (9 first downs; 3 by passing, 4 by rushing, 2 by penalty)

PUNTS
36 38 37 = (3 punts, 37.0 avg)

FUMBLES
x O x = (3 fumbles, 1 lost)

PENALTIES
hold-5, false-5, false-5, PI-15 = (4 penalties, 30 yards)

Make extra boxes for any other stats you want to keep track of. Tackles, sacks, third-down percentage, kickoff/punt returns, etc. (I usually don't keep track of everyone's tackles, but if there's a stud linebacker on that team I'll try to at least keep up with his.)

By the end of the game, the rushing totals (especially in most high school games) can get pretty long. One guy might have 35 carries, or eight guys might get the ball at the end of a blowouts. Or heck, both in the same game. Do what you have to do to keep track of it, but if you're organized you can make it work. And if you total up the first-half stats during halftime, it makes it a lot easier if you're trying to compile the final numbers on deadline.

PASSING
4-Favre 7 x 10* x x 13 x 25 10 ... x x* 5 -2 12 13 x 4 x 7 x 42* x
first = (5-for-9, 65 yards, 1 TD)
total = (12-for-22, 146 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT)

RECEIVING
81-Rison x 10 10 ... x 12 4 x 7 42*
first = (2 catches, 20 yards)
total = (6 catches, 85 yards, 1 TD)

RUSHING
34-Bennett 4 6 4 10 -2 10 8 ... 2 4 6 8 10* 31*
first = (7 rushes, 40 yards)
total = (13 rushes, 101 yards, 2 TDs)

***

On my notepad, I keep the scoring summary on its own page. At the end of the game, I make sure I have them all. totaled up and write the score very big and circle it to confirm.

I also use the notepad to keep a detailed description of the PxP. When a drive begins, I'll note the time and what yard-line the ball is on. Then, after each play, I quickly mark the yardage on the legal sheet -- after the first drive, you get a feel for where the top players are listed on the legal pad and can do it in a split second -- and then I write in a hasty description of the play in the notepad. Before each snap, I'll mark down/distance and the yard-line for the next play. After the play, I'll mark the yardage on the legal pad then write it in on the notepad. Rinse, repeat.

When they score or turn it over, I make a heavy horizontal line in the notepad and write the time of the new drive and yard-line where it begins, and start over.

Once you get the hang of your system, it's a lot easier than it sounds. You can't be afraid to shout out to anyone within shouting distance for confirmation ("Who carried that ball?" "What's that guy's number?" "How many yards was that?"), especially if a team is quick out of the huddle or it's late in the half.

Buck, I do something similar, but I actually add up the numbers as I go along. So it'll be:

Rushing
Jones 9 12 13 47 54 60 57 59, etc. (8 carries, 59 yards).

That way I can kind of visualize at halftime which kid is having a big game.

 

[captzulu]

When I covered preps, I always got to the game early enough so I can track down and copy the rosters since it was never a given that they'd have extra copies available. I had a self-made stat sheet and a notepad to do play-by-play on. My stat sheet was something like thisk:

Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 ...
QB name/number X 8/15 X INT 83/10 X

RB1 name/number 2 2 -4 17 20TD ....
RB2 name/number 2 6 8 17 20TD ....
and so forth

My play-by-play looks something like this (H and V are abbreviations for the team names):

HOME TEAM 10:21 2ND (start time of drive)
1-10-47H: #8 10 pass right to #6
1-10-43V: #7 -2 run left; swarmed
2-12-45V: #8 25 pass left to #3; caught at 49, broke tack and down left sideline.
....

On my play by play, I try to jot down notes about particular plays whenever possible (e.g.: #88 8-yd run right, dragged 3 tacklers in EZ). It helps me reconstruct a drive. Of course there are times when the action is going so quickly that I don't have time to fill out the stat sheet and the play by play after a particular play. In those cases, I write down the play-by-play and then go back and fill out the stat sheet at the next break. When I first started, I liked to stand with the chain gang since it made it easy to keep track of yards on each play, and being on the sideline allowed me to pick up on things the coaches/players might be saying that can provide more angles to work with. But it can be tough to see plays that are on the other side of the field, and a bit hard to write down stats while you're flipping between the stat sheet and the notepad and walking with the chain gang and trying to keep an eye on the action all at the same time.

 

[Hank_Scorpio]

Buck, I do something similar, but I actually add up the numbers as I go along. So it'll be:

Rushing
Jones 9 12 13 47 54 60 57 59, etc. (8 carries, 59 yards).

That way I can kind of visualize at halftime which kid is having a big game.

Mine is similar. I have a pre-printed worksheet that I got from someone (hi slappy). You put the total for each carry and then a running total. And circle the scoring plays.

Rushing
Jones 5/5 4/9 25/34 3/37 -2/35

Don't stand on the sidelines, first of all.

I always found it just as easy to keep stats on the sideline. You can get a little more accurate with stats in terms of where the ball is lying. Plus, I'm tall so I can see over the players when the ball is at the 40s or 50.

One clipboard with legal pad on it for play by play. Double-sided stat sheet underneath the clipboard. Record the play on the legal pad, turn over and record the stat.

 

[Angola!]

Don't stand on the sidelines, first of all.

I always found it just as easy to keep stats on the sideline. You can get a little more accurate with stats in terms of where the ball is lying. Plus, I'm tall so I can see over the players when the ball is at the 40s or 50.

One clipboard with legal pad on it for play by play. Double-sided stat sheet underneath the clipboard. Record the play on the legal pad, turn over and record the stat.

This is very similar to what I do, Hank. The only problem I have is remembering how much each person had in the first half, so at halftime I try to remember - I didn't last night - to put some sort of line in to show on the totals what is first half and what is second half.

As far as on the sidelines, I am torn. In Idaho I always walked the sidelines, but part of that was because there were either sketchy press boxes or no press boxes. In Texas, every stadium, even at the 1A level has press boxes, so I tend to sit upstairs.

 

[pressboxer]

Shortly after I got into this nearly 20 years ago, I made up my own stat sheets on Quark and have used them ever since. I put a header at the top with each team, their records and where/when the game was played and print off a custom set for each game.

All sheets are legal size (8 1/2-by-14) and I use a different color of ink for each team, usually red and black but I also have blue and green pens to use for notes so they will stand out.

I keep all stats by jersey number, but make sure before the game that the rosters are updated.

For play-by-play, I have columns for down and distance, spot of the ball, the rusher/passer/punter/kicker, rushing yards gained or lost, the receiver and yards gained or lost, incomplete pass, intercepting player/return yards, punt distance, return man/yards, kickoff distance, return man/yards, fumble not lost, fumble lost and penalty/yards penalized.

Each play-by-play sheet has lines for 50 plays and I use a separate sheet for each quarter (I always have a fifth, just in case of overtime). The game I had last night had 41 plays and five kickoffs in the first quarter, using up pretty much the entire sheet.

I also have separate sheets for each team for individual stats. There are 15 columns for ballcarriers, a passing section and 10 columns for receivers. The rushing and receiving sections are simply a column for each player with a diagonal line in each box with yards on the play/total yards recorded. The passing section has a column for the passer, number of attempts, number of completions, yardage (just like rushers and receivers), interceptions and TDs.

When teams have more than one player attempt a pass, I use a different color ink to mark off each player's attempt(s).

Each column has 50 lines just like the play-by-play sheet. It's a little cramped, but I've had games where a team has used 12 or more ballcarriers or where one guy has 48 carries. I've also had teams with 10 or more players catching passes (I put the 11th receiver in the last rushing column, made a note and prayed they didn't start handing off to everybody on the team). Two weeks ago I saw a quarterback throw 54 passes (I was squeezing consecutive incompletions into one line in the fourth quarter to make it fit).

The individual sheet also has a line along the bottom for the punter. It's just a horizontal version of the rushing/receiving columns.

Finally, I have a box score sheet with score-by-quarters (and space for six overtimes) at the top, a scoring summary section with space for 30 scoring plays (I've covered six-man; those suckers can rack up the points) and a team stat section just like it appears in a box. The scoring summary has columns for scoring team, quarter, time, scoring play and game score to that point. I also note the drive stats (plays, yards, elapsed time) when applicable.

There is also space to keep up with running totals for first downs, penalties/yards and fumbles-lost.

This may seem like overkill, but I tried to set these up to cover all possibilities. When I first did this, I could get an entire college quarter on one play-by-play sheet. Now I have a hard time getting 12-minute high school quarters to fit.

Needless to say, I work from the pressbox so I can have space to write on three separate sheets (play-by-play, individual and box score) at the same time.

 

[buckweaver]

That's a lot of work covering a high school football game.

Well, yeah. But a) ain't nobody else keeping the stats; and b) that's the challenge in it. If you can cover high school football well, you can cover anything.

You guys need to move to Texas. Every paper I've ever covered high school football for had pre-printed stat sheets ready for use. You get yourself one of those babies, and keeping stats is just a matter of quick addition.

If all high school football were like Texas high school football ... the world would be a vastly different place.

They sell football stat sheets. Most high schools use them. They're easy to use and easy to interpret after the game. I suggest going out and picking up a few unless you're really keen on improvising your own using a legal pad and then spending half an hour after the game trying to figure out what the fork you've done.

To each his own, part I. Like I said, once you have your own system down pat, it quickly becomes second nature. I wouldn't want to use a pre-printed stat sheet -- and there's no "trying to figure out what the fork you've done" if you know what you're doing.

I always found it just as easy to keep stats on the sideline. You can get a little more accurate with stats in terms of where the ball is lying.

To each his own, part II. We have this debate every August, no?

I have a little mini-binocular that I use when the spot is hard to tell or I can't discern a player's number at the bottom of the pile. It's just as accurate as being on the sidelines (which I did find to be just as easy to keep stats from, too. I just prefer the press box; and I think "gleaning game-day wisdom by eavesdropping on players/coaches" is vastly overrated.)

 

[mike311gd]

I just found my stat sheet, which served me very well when I covered high school football.

I did pretty much what Buck does. Except I made the sheet in a word document, so I can change the names, numbers and teams every week.

I've got two spots designated for quarterbacks for each team with columns set for completions, attempts, yards, touchdowns and interceptions.

For receivers, I've got several spaces, again, for each team's players with columns for receptions, yards and touchdowns.

For running backs, several spaces with columns for rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns.

Punters (yeah, it's that complete), one space with columns for punts, yards, then average (to be completed after the game, of course).

I have a section for interceptions with columns for the defender -- and it's big enough for a brief description.

A fumbles section with columns for fumbles and fumbles lost -- with room for descriptions.

A penalties box with columns for flags, yards, then the total (flags-penalties).

A section for first downs, just a running tally board.

Then the score by quarters for your box.

And at the end, I list the teams (records): coaches -- New York (0-2): Eric Mangini.

It sounds really big, but it's not. It's two pages long, but if you've got enough room in the press box to set up a laptop, you've got enough room to use these sheets. The best part is, at the end of the night, writing up the box takes about five minutes.

I'd be glad to share this sheet with anyone via the PM if you want. It really made reporting high school football games a breeze for me last year.

Oh, and I always bring a notebook to write descriptions for anything eventful, like scoring and things like that -- but that's a no-brainer.

 

[fishwrapper]

If there is, it's an improvised one. I've got my own system, and I'm sure everyone's got theirs.

You guys need to move to Texas.

Then, we would live in Texas, right?

 

[mattyb]

thanks for everyone's advice. I tried keeping up with the stats in the sideline, it was a bad move. Press box is easier for me. I can see the whole field. But it sounds like everyone has their way. I'm using the different color pens and grids. it works ok for right now. just hard keeping up with totals as i go along.

Anyone got any advice on how to cover 13 schools when you are the only sports writer and manage the sports department for a 7-day/week paper in south mississippi? This sucks. I'm not even the editor.

 

[wickedwritah]

Thirteen schools and one writer? Are you serious?

 

[buckweaver]

Anyone got any advice on how to cover 13 schools when you are the only sports writer and manage the sports department for a 7-day/week paper in south mississippi? This sucks. I'm not even the editor.

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