Spring Blog • February 18, 2015

 

Why a teams defensive yards per game can be misleading!

 

As you know I always look at both sides of the equation and on Tuesday’s blog I showed how deceiving the offensive yards per game category can be. Now let me walk you through the same process for the defensive yards per game.

 

As I did with the blog when looking at the offense let’s again look at Navy’s TEAM PAGE on PhilSteele.com.

 

Vs Ohio St the Navy D allowed 420 yds                         Vs South Alabama the Navy D allowed 415 yds

                                                                                    NCAA ranks the USA game as 5 yards better

The 420 yds is 98 yds better than OSU’s avg            The 415 yds is 42 yds worse than the Jags avg

 

The OSU game comparing averages was 140 yards better [98 – (-42)]

 

 

KANSAS ST +24 SPOTS

On the chart below Kansas St is ranked #18 as their defense allowed 72 ypg less than their opponents averaged. The Big 12 had 4 teams rank in the top 12 on offense (Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech & WV) so despite the Wildcats being ranked #42 in the NCAA they were impressive. When I analyze the Wildcats defensive performance it is even more impressive as besides the 4 top ranked conference foes they faced they also took on my #2 ranked offense of the Auburn Tigers (see Tuesday’s blog) and my #13 unit in UCLA!

 

COLORADO +29 SPOTS

The formula works for good defenses and for those that seem to be among the poorest. Colorado’s defense finished the season ranked #114 allowing 461 ypg yet in the chart below they are #82 allowing only 13 ypg more than their opponent average. The Buffaloes faced SIX teams that were in my top 21 offenses at game time and they played Colorado St in the opener, which at the time was #44 but finished #18 in the NCAA.

 

One last comparison shows that Colorado was #82 when ranked by the average while Northern Illinois was actually one worse at #83. But because of the strength of the opponents each faced the Buffaloes were #111 or 54 spots below the Huskies that finished #57 in the NCAA.

 

Rank Team Average
1 STANFORD 157.1
2 CLEMSON 135.6
3 PENN ST 124.4
4 ARKANSAS 121.7
5 LSU 120.3
6 MISSISSIPPI 103.1
7 MICHIGAN 102.2
8 TEXAS 100.9
9 WISCONSIN 97.6
10 MICHIGAN ST 95.3
11 ALABAMA 94.1
12 MIAMI FLA 89.0
13 Appalachian St 86.5
14 VIRGINIA 83.8
15 SAN DIEGO ST 82.6
16 LOUISVILLE 77.4
17 VIRGINIA TECH 72.9
18 KANSAS ST 71.7
19 OHIO ST 71.3
20 UCF 67.8
21 FLORIDA 67.8
22 MISSOURI 65.8
23 TCU 65.7
24 BOSTON COLL 58.8
25 LOUISIANA TECH 58.2
26 GEORGIA 54.6
27 UTAH 54.5
28 IOWA 53.8
29 UTAH ST 53.8
30 MINNESOTA 52.5
31 OKLAHOMA 49.4
32 SYRACUSE 46.4
33 UTEP 44.9
34 ULM 43.0
35 SAN JOSE ST 41.0
36 WASHINGTON 38.9
37 Georgia Southern 36.2
38 MARSHALL 35.2
39 SOUTH ALABAMA 34.9
40 Central Michigan 34.7
41 BOISE ST 34.2
42 TENNESSEE 34.2
43 UCLA 33.4
44 USC 31.9
45 AUBURN 29.3
46 OHIO U 27.5
47 BAYLOR 25.5
48 UTSA 24.2
49 HOUSTON 22.4
50 OREGON ST 20.9
51 NORTHWESTERN 20.3
52 TEMPLE 20.2
53 W MICHIGAN 19.5
54 NEBRASKA 19.1
55 FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL 17.9
56 MEMPHIS 15.9
57 OREGON 12.8
58 WEST VIRGINIA 11.8
59 TULANE 11.5
60 AKRON 10.1
61 PITTSBURGH 9.7
62 NAVY 8.8
63 CONNECTICUT 8.0
64 NC State 7.5
65 GEORGIA TECH 6.9
66 VANDERBILT 5.8
67 RICE 4.1
68 AIR FORCE 3.6
69 UAB Ala Birm 3.5
70 ARIZONA ST 3.4
71 ARIZONA 1.4
72 UL LAFAYETTE 0.4
73 SOUTH FLORIDA -0.3
74 FLORIDA ST -5.2
75 OKLAHOMA ST -7.0
76 PURDUE -7.5
77 WAKE FOREST -7.6
78 TOLEDO -11.0
79 NOTRE DAME -11.2
80 KENTUCKY -11.5
81 KANSAS -12.5
82 COLORADO -13.3
83 N ILLINOIS -14.4
84 WYOMING -14.7
85 MISS ST -17.3
86 NEVADA -18.2
87 WASH ST -19.1
88 BYU -19.7
89 KENT ST -20.4
90 BUFFALO -22.4
91 EAST CAROLINA -23.0
92 RUTGERS -24.1
93 HAWAII -24.8
94 ARKANSAS ST -26.1
95 COLORADO ST -26.4
96 NORTH TEXAS -27.4
97 DUKE -28.0
98 ARMY -32.8
99 S CAROLINA -34.5
100 TROY ST -35.6
101 S MISS -36.4
102 MIAMI (OH) -37.9
103 FLORIDA ATLANTIC -43.7
104 MARYLAND -45.3
105 IDAHO -48.2
106 ILLINOIS -49.0
107 FRESNO ST -49.8
108 TEXAS A&M -52.6
109 CINCINNATI -54.4
110 MIDDLE TENN ST -55.6
111 BALL STATE -56.1
112 Texas St -56.3
113 Old Dominion -59.5
114 INDIANA -73.9
115 Mass -75.9
116 Georgia St -78.5
117 SMU -81.9
118 Eastern Michigan -81.9
119 BOWLING GREEN -87.6
120 IOWA ST -89.4
121 CALIFORNIA -90.5
122 TULSA -92.0
123 N CAROLINA -96.3
124 NEW MEXICO ST -104.7
125 TEXAS TECH -107.0
126 W KENTUCKY -108.6
127 NEW MEXICO -123.7
128 UNLV -126.7