TXHSFB 303: On six-man statistics vs. 11-man statistics

[caption id="attachment_28359" align="aligncenter" width="700"]Photo by Dency McClure Photo by Dency McClure[/caption] Over the course of January, TexasFootball.com presents The TXHSFB 303, a deep dive into the hidden storylines in the 2016 Texas high school football season. Have an idea for an angle? E-mail DCTF managing editor Greg Tepper.Today: On comparing six-man statistics with 11-man statistics If I may be frank: covering six-man football is a tight rope to walk. On one hand, six-man football fans relish in their individuality, in playing a different, wildly entertaining game that is uniquely their own. On the other hand, six-man football fans rightfully demand to be treated like their 11-man brethren. As someone who aims to cover all of Texas high school football fairly, there is always a balancing act to be done. So, let’s talk about statistics. On Monday, I published a piece on TexasFootball.com about Texas high school football’s most prolific passers in 2016. It’s a who’s-who of quarterbacks across the Lone Star State led by Levelland’s Nick Gerber, who smashed all sorts of records. You should read the piece! I think it’s quite good! Not soon after it was published, I found myself in a conversation with a number of six-man football aficionados — specifically Leman Saunders and SixManFootball.com’s Granger Huntress, who are must-follows on Twitter — about why six-man players weren’t included on the list of statistical leaders. They pointed out the tremendous season that Crowell’s Tristen Hayes put together: 3,946 yards and 70 touchdowns passing. His passing total would rank eighth among all quarterbacks in Texas, just ahead of Lake Travis’ Charlie Brewer. The argument from the six-man contingency is an easy one to understand, and a compelling one: they play football in Texas, so they should be included in the statistical leaders. I’d like to explain why comparing 6-man statistics to 11-man statistics makes me uncomfortable. The first reason is, I think, self-evident: six-man football is decidedly, noticeably different than 11-man football. From the number of players on the field to the length of the game (10-minute quarters, compared to 12-minute quarters in 11-man) to the size of the field (80 yards-by-40 yards, compared to 100 yards-by-50 yards in 11-man) to the exchange rule to receiver eligibility (namely, that every player is an eligible receiver), there are too many differences to square, in my mind. Just for fun, during our conversation on Twitter, I tried a thought exercise of converting Hayes’ numbers to 11-man numbers. Here’s what I came up with: Start with 3,946 yards (Hayes’ total) Multiply by 1.25 (adjusts for field difference) Multiply by 1.2 (adjusts for time difference) Divide by 1.8 (adjusts for number of players) If you were to do that, Hayes’ total would shrink to 3,288 yards. But I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking away some of the yards that Hayes accumulated for the sake of adjusting to the 11-man game because — again — Hayes plays a different sport. But beyond the clear differences in the function and circuitry of the six-man game, I think there is a more ambiguous difference of incentives and in the way the game is played. To illustrate this, imagine that Team A leads Team B by the score of 42-3 with nine minutes to go in the third quarter, and Team A just took over on its own 10-yard line. If Team A were Lake Travis (or any other 11-man team), there is a fair chance that starting quarterback Charlie Brewer would be out of the game so as not to risk injury. Or, even if Brewer remained in the game, the team would almost certainly adopt a conservative run-heavy offense to keep the clock moving. In short: Lake Travis has no reasonable incentive to throw. If Team B were Crowell (or any other six-man team), there is a good chance that starting quarterback Tristen Hayes would remain in the game, since six-man teams seldom put in mass substitutions. Furthermore, Crowell would almost certainly continue to run its pass-heavy offense in order to score one more touchdown and end the game via 45-point mercy rule. In short: Crowell has every incentive to throw. That, to me, is the best illustration of the problem with comparing six-man statistics to 11-man statistics. We can try all we want to square the numbers, compare them, convert them, finagle them — but in the end, these are two decidedly distinct sports operating under decidedly distinct rules, and comparing them strikes me as intellectually dubious. But here is an important distinction: it is decidedly not easier to gain yards or score points in six-man football than it is in 11-man football. It’s simply different, and I don't think there's any crime in admitting that. If you were to give the world’s best French chef and the world’s best sushi chef the same fish, you’d get two drastically different dishes even though they came from the same basic ingredient. But it would be nearly impossible to compare the two dishes because they are so dissimilar. Instead, you’d be more inclined to appreciate both as separate incredible achievements instead of ham-handedly insisting on comparing them. That’s how I feel about this topic. Reasonable people can certainly disagree, but from my perspective, keeping six-man statistics separate from 11-man statistics is the most intellectually honest method of analysis.