October 25th, 2013 at 4:42 PM ^
It represents schematic advantage between the offensive and defensive coordinators.
October 26th, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^
There's a hidden variable to it, which is Brian's point of view. And, the TV broadcast doesn't have a dedicated camera to show the receivers' routes against the defenses coverage. Small niggles, but worth remembering.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^
RPS stands for Rock Paper Scissors.
Much like football, every play in RPS has a weakness.
Being able to exploit said weakness is plus RPS for you. It's like pulling rock when your opponent lays down paper or throwing a screen pass against a blitz.
Having your own weakness exploited is negative RPS. Think of pulling scissors when your opponent lays down rock or sending the house against four verts.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:45 PM ^
You're so negative.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:45 PM ^
Playing paper when your opponent plays rock.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:47 PM ^
Aaaaaaaaaand i was about to correct it until you clowns posted...
October 25th, 2013 at 6:38 PM ^
Rock beats everything
October 25th, 2013 at 8:04 PM ^
Rock.
Rock, paper, scissors, match.
Rock.
October 25th, 2013 at 9:44 PM ^
So I take it that you mean we should throw screen passes at >50% of the time against MSU?
Oh wait a minute, Al Borges hates that.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:43 PM ^
Throwing a screen to exploit a blitzing defense would be RPS +1 for example. Maybe 2 or 3.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:44 PM ^
An RPS +1 Means a play was just the right call by the O or D coordinator to take advantage of the opposing team's O or D. A +2 or +3 means they did that really well.
An RPS -1 -2 or -3 means M's coaches made a terrible play call that was just what the opposing coordinator wanted them to do.
October 25th, 2013 at 6:28 PM ^
Not exactly right. RPS does not evaluate whether or not the playcall was "good" or "terrible," just that on that particular play the combination of playcalls resulted in a significant advantage for one team. That's why it's "rock, paper, scissors"--because there is often an element of randomness.
In a normal game coaches are going to win some calls and lose some calls. The only time one should worry is if a coach is seriously negative in RPS after a game, because that means they have been consistently beaten in calls.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:46 PM ^
Think early tecmo bowl - remember how there was 1 play on the offense that could get stopped by 1 play on the defense? Pretty much "how well does our coordinator's playcall take advantage of the other coordinator's playcall?
Sometimes this is our coordinator doing something good (or bad) and sometimes it's the other guy doing something good (or bad).
October 26th, 2013 at 8:12 AM ^
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#noplayclock
October 25th, 2013 at 4:49 PM ^
I feel better prepared to absorb the UFRs now.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:52 PM ^
Unexpected
October 25th, 2013 at 5:56 PM ^
Of the bong sort; see college antics.
October 25th, 2013 at 4:55 PM ^
rock paper scissors is largely luck. is Brian trying to explain what plays in the game were bad/good luck? or is a positive RPS play trying to say that, when we were on defense, we could tell what they were going to do, and did a good job of calling the correct play to defend it?
October 25th, 2013 at 4:59 PM ^
One could argue that Rock Paper Scissors is not luck, but it can be a highly psychological game. Do you tend to start rock? Would you ever do rock twice in a row? 3 times? Do you have a tendency to play what would have beaten you in the previous round? Do tendencies change when you win/lose a round?
October 25th, 2013 at 5:09 PM ^
RPS is a way of controlling player point values.
If a D has been blitzing all day, you don't wanna give a reciever +3 every time a screen goes for 30 yards.An RPS call in this case demonstrates that the O Coordinator recognized that a blitz was likely and called the appropriate play to make them pay for their blitzing.
Occasoinally, especially early, an RPS can be luck if a team is doing something they haven't shown a lot of in the past. If a team enters a game playing a very soft D that they've not run before, kind of like our ND defense was, the O coordinator might get a "luck" RPS for an early short field throw. However, as the D keeps doing that, more and more of those plays can be attributed to the coordinator putting the offense in the right position to take advantage.
October 25th, 2013 at 5:14 PM ^
I believe when Brian originated RPS, it was a way to explain why a play got destroyed (or did really well) when a player who looked responsible didn't actually do anything wrong (or right.) RPS is added up only so that if they're really big numbers, we can point to the brilliance or incompetence of a coordinator; small numbers are chalked up to the roll of the dice.
October 25th, 2013 at 5:40 PM ^
It started as a metaphor for why we always sucked against spread teams under Carr. Specifcally, the complaint was that Carr called rock every time and the spread teams kept calling paper.
October 25th, 2013 at 8:44 PM ^
I mean the reasoning as to why it got included in the UFRs. That started in the RR era.
October 25th, 2013 at 9:17 PM ^
Luck? Pssh. Not the way I play.
October 25th, 2013 at 5:16 PM ^
The NY Times released a bot that you can play RPS against. It is very good at it. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/rock-paper-scissors.html?_r=0
EDIT: supposed to be a reply to akim
October 25th, 2013 at 10:27 PM ^
won 11, tied 10, lost 9.
And so I succeeded in not being predictable, as you could not reject the null hypothesis that I win 1/3 of the time, tie 1/3 of the time, and lose 1/3 of the time.
October 25th, 2013 at 11:16 PM ^
10-5-5 it's better when you don't think ha!
October 25th, 2013 at 5:35 PM ^
Clearly that's what he means
October 25th, 2013 at 6:37 PM ^
It means Real Person Shooters. The graphics are unreal. They put battlefield to shame.
October 25th, 2013 at 9:15 PM ^
I thought the metric should have been "Weiss'd" (as in 'decided schematic advantage'), but I guess RPS it is.
October 6th, 2022 at 5:30 PM ^
I just wanted to say that not only do I appreciate this thread--I too had no idea that RPS stood for Rock Paper Scissors--but also that RPS is subject to game theory, about which my smart-aleck Michigan engineering son never tires of reminding me:
https://blogs.cornell.edu/info2040/2019/09/24/everyday-game-theory-analyzing-rock-paper-scissors/
Oh, well, that, and as a matter of simple human psychology, it's easiest to choose "Rock" because that's where your hand begins at the beginning of the game. So, to win RPS, choose Paper until your opponent shows a glimmer of recognition of what's happening, and then shift to Rock.