Positive Impact Factor Top 10: December 16
The only thing standing in between us handing out all of the awards last week was the Army-Navy game. Navy won of course, but both QBs in that game committed costly turnovers that hurt them in the final Positive Impact Factor Standings. For Navy's Ricky Dobbs, four turnovers (3 fumbles lost, 1 INT) dropped him from 2nd place to 8th place. Trent Steelman only lost one fumble, but that shaved enough off of his PIF number that he stayed behind Dan Persa. Steelman did finish the year in third place due to Dobbs' fall. As we did hand out the Regular Season MVP and Conference MVPs last week, those winners will be recapped after the final Top Ten Standings table.
If you're new to the PIF ratings, here's a quick primer (or, check out a podcast about the PIF): 100 point scale based on passing, rushing and receiving contribution (touches) to one's team. Total TD reflects passing+rushing+receiving (or maybe even fumble recovery) TD. Negative plays are defined as incompletions, fumbles and sacks taken. Extremely negative plays are interceptions and fumbles lost. Extremely positive plays are touchdowns. The PIF rating is calculated using the following formula:
Negative plays (incompletions, fumbles, sacks) divided by total touches (pass attempts, rush attempts, catches)=negative play percentage (Neg Play). Extremely negative plays (INTs/incompletions plus fumbles lost/rush attempts) multiplied times 2=extremely negative play factor (XNeg Play). Total TD divided by total touches=extremely positive play factor (XPos Play). 100-Neg Play+XNeg Play(total negative number)+XPos Play=PIF.
The complete PIF standings can be seen here: 1-36, 37-74, 75-112, 113-125. To see previous weeks, click the date: October 1, October 7, October 14, October 21, October 28, November 4, November 11, November 18, November 25, December 2, December 9. MVP recap and awards are after the table.
| Rank | QB | Team | Touches | Total TD | Neg Play | XNeg Play | XPos Play | PIF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. — | Cam Newton | Auburn | 490 | 49 | 21.6 | 15.6 | 10 | 72.7 |
| 2. ↑1 | Dan Persa | Northwestern | 466 | 24 | 25.3 | 12.4 | 5.2 | 67.4 |
| 3. ↑1 | Trent Steelman | Army | 313 | 18 | 23 | 15.9 | 5.8 | 66.9 |
| 4. ↑1 | Colin Kaepernick | Nevada | 490 | 40 | 26.3 | 16 | 8.2 | 65.8 |
| 5. ↑1 | Chandler Harnish | Northern Illinois | 393 | 25 | 28.2 | 13.8 | 6.4 | 64.3 |
| 6. ↑1 | Ryan Tannehill | Texas A&M | 254 | 13 | 32.3 | 8.7 | 5.1 | 64.1 |
| 7. ↑1 | Austin Davis | Southern Miss | 542 | 28 | 31.4 | 11 | 5.2 | 62.8 |
| 8. ↓6 | Ricky Dobbs | Navy | 377 | 25 | 23.3 | 20.5 | 6.6 | 62.8 |
| 9. — | Jeffrey Godfrey | UCF | 351 | 29 | 25.1 | 19.6 | 6.6 | 61.9 |
| 10.— | Robert Griffin III | Baylor | 547 | 29 | 29.6 | 14.5 | 5.3 | 61.2 |
MVP Recap
Regular Season MVP: Cam Newton (Auburn), 72.7 PIF. Newton won the 2010 Heisman while compiling the second best PIF of a Heisman winning QB from 2000-present.
Conference MVPs
ACC: Tyrod Taylor (Virginia Tech), 60.7 PIF, overall standings rank: 11
Big XII: Ryan Tannehill (Texas A&M), 64.1 PIF, overall standings rank: 6.
Big East: Tino Sunseri (Pitt), 53.1 PIF, overall standings rank: 35.
Big Ten: Dan Persa (Northwestern), 67.4 PIF, overall standings rank: 2.
Conference USA: Austin Davis (Southern Miss), 62.8 PIF, overall standings rank: 7.
MAC: Chandler Harnish (Northern Illinois), 64.3 PIF, overall standings rank: 5.
Mountain West: Tim Jefferson (Air Force), 58.6 PIF, overall standings rank: 16.
Pac 10: Andrew Luck (Stanford), 53.8 PIF, overall standings rank: 33.
SEC: Cam Newton (Auburn), 72.7 PIF, overall standings rank: 1.
Sun Belt: Riley Dodge (North Texas), 59.7 PIF, overall standings rank: 13.
WAC: Colin Kaepernick (Nevada), 65.8 PIF, overall standings rank: 4.
Positive Impact Factor Awards 2010
Freshman of the Year: Jeffrey Godfrey (UCF), 61.9 PIF. As a Freshman, Godfrey finished 9th in the Final PIF Standings and guided his UCF Knights to a Conference USA title and a bowl berth in the Liberty Bowl against Georgia. Godfrey also was the runner-up to Austin Davis as the Conference USA Positive Impact Factor MVP.
Comeback Player of the Year: Robert Griffin III (Baylor), 61.2 PIF. Griffin tore his ACL just three games in during the 2009 season and missed the rest of that year (a 4-8 campaign, 2-1 with Griffin as starter). This year, Griffin finished 10th in the Final PIF Standings and second to Ryan Tannehill for Big XII Positive Impact Factor MVP. Griffin's Bears wrapped up a 7-5 season in which they beat Texas at Texas for the first time since 1991 and secured their first bowl bid since 1994.
Most Improved Player: Cody Hawkins (Colorado), 48.6 PIF. Hawkins had a miserable year in 2009 (20 PIF) in which his dad and former Colorado coach Dan Hawkins benched him for Tyler Hansen. Hansen had a season ending injury in late October which secured Hawkins the starting job again. The Buffaloes fell short of making the postseason but Hawkins helped his team stay competitive even in losing efforts. Hawkins' 28.6 point improvement from 2009 helped him edge out Iowa's Ricky Stanzi and Oklahoma's Landry Jones who both saw 25+ point improvements in their PIF number in 2010.
Touchdown Producer: Cam Newton (Auburn). On 490 touches this season, Newton scored a TD on a full 10% of the time. Newton threw 28 TDs, rushed for 20 TDs and caught this TD in 2010.
Lowest Negative Play Percentage: Cam Newton (Auburn). Only 21.6% of Newton's 490 touches resulted in an incompletion, sack or fumble.
Lowest Extremely Negative Factor: Zach Frazer (UConn). Frazer only committed four turnovers this season (all INTs) on 247 touches. Frazer threw an INT on a mere 3.8% of his incompletions which ranks him 4th in the FBS in that category. What separated Frazer from the pack is that he had 0 lost fumbles so only his INTs went into the formula for the Extremely Negative Factor.
