There was a time when going for it on fourth down made a football coach a character worthy of being depicted in a Kenny Rogers song. A gambler if you made it more times than not, or perhaps a 20th-century fool if you didn’t.
There was no in-between.
However, with the use of analytics becoming ubiquitous across college athletics, fourth-down attempts and conversions are skyrocketing.
According to CBS Sports, Week 0/1 this season set a new Football Bowl Subdivision record with 377 fourth-down tries, with teams converting 54.3% into first downs.
Aztecs head coach Sean Lewis went for it four times against Stony Brook that week in a 42-0 victory, with SDSU converting three of those attempts and scoring two touchdowns.
“We use analytics quite a bit,” Lewis said. “Through the support of the