Chase Mason stat most important to a Jacks national title is....?

We all know why Chase Mason is one of the most highly anticipated FCS players in the country to watch in 2026.   Physical specimen. Looks like a jacked superhero. Rocket arm. Runs like a deer. Just a stick of dynamite waiting to explode.   And this is it— His last chance to not just be the golden boy, but have a golden year. To win the Walter Payton Award. To bring the FCS National Championship Trophy back to Brookings. To get as high on that NFL Draft board as he possibly can.   There is zero reason to believe he won't be in the running for both achievements. That the Jacks offense won't be more explosive than their 9-5 campaign last year, when they were 8-1 and averaged 37 points with Mason at quarterback and 1-4 while averaging fewer than 20 points without him.    First, look at him and watch his career highlights.   Then, there's the stats. Perhaps you've memorized them, but in case you haven't:   6'4, 240 lb. At a recent practice, he reportedly ran at 22 miles per hour, which equates to roughly a 4.4 in the 40.   The game stats: Last year, in nine games, he threw 15 touchdown passes and ran for six more while averaging 223 passing yards per game and nine yards per attempt. That's two yards more per attempt than the NFL average, meaning he completes passes downfield at a high level.   Mason completed 65 percent of his passes, one percent higher than the NFL average.    These stats weren't racked up against nothing but tomato cans. He was efficient and brilliant and clutch at Montana State, the eventual national champion. He won a shootout with the Walter Payton winner Beau Brungard at Youngstown. There was the nuking of New Hampshire in the playoffs. He had not played in six weeks after a foot injury that left him in a walking boot, and he was nearly perfect— 16 of 20 for 230, 3 TDs, 0 picks, just firing lasers in the snow. He threw for over 370 yards at Montana, the final No. 3 team, in the playoffs.   Yet, to the Happy Hour host, none of those numbers as important as the one stat of Mason's that was glaringly low, yet needs to be lower for him to take home both individual and team national hardware in his last hurrah.