Measuring our D

[kevink9]

I read something that we lead the league in points per game and are last on the league in points given up per game this year. Makes it seem pretty obvious we need to improve on defense and I am not disputing that.

I havent done any statistical analysis but our offense by design is fast tempo. This should result in more snaps, quicker scores and more possessions for us and our opoonents over the course of the game and season.

I do wonder if standard measures of defensive performance are fair measuring sticks for us because of how we usually play offense. Are points or yards allowed per game a fair measure for us as a team to compare against other programs? Are yards and points per game fair measures for our offense for the same reason? It seems thst the way we play offense would cause us to trend toward the top of the league for offensive categories and the bottom of the league on defense due to more possessions per game. Again I haven't run numbers to see if the stats back this up but in theory it seems like it would.

Would points or yards per possession be a more fair measure to determine performance? It seems that this measure would level the playing field and take some of the variability out that is based on style of play.

I think the way we play with a higher number of snaps has some definite advantages such as greater chance for our guys to be league stat category leaders like Fant as pass breakup leader, Sud passing numbers, Howard, Coleman rushing leaders, etc. Seems like that would be a good recruiting tool for guys on both sides of the ball. It makes us more unpredictable. Teams that are eating up clock run the ball and throw low risk low reward passes. Our up tempo keeps teams on their toes and tires out defenses. It allows us to minimize defensive subs if our opponent has personell in that gives us an advantage.

Our defense has plenty of room for improvement and I understand that part of it is just passing the eye test and having solid fundamentals, and you don't need to perform statistical analysis to determine if we are doing some of those things well. I just wonder if our defense is being measured for the season is fair.

Thoughts?

 

[Tegray1]

I think that is a factor in measuring it that we play so many snaps when measuring our offense and defense. Plus we play in the East against the tougher schedule. PU's talent on defense looks worse than ours but they play at a slower pace.

 

[IUHartselCol]

I read something that we lead the league in points per game and are last on the league in points given up per game this year. Makes it seem pretty obvious we need to improve on defense and I am not disputing that.

I havent done any statistical analysis but our offense by design is fast tempo. This should result in more snaps, quicker scores and more possessions for us and our opoonents over the course of the game and season.

I do wonder if standard measures of defensive performance are fair measuring sticks for us because of how we usually play offense. Are points or yards allowed per game a fair measure for us as a team to compare against other programs? Are yards and points per game fair measures for our offense for the same reason? It seems thst the way we play offense would cause us to trend toward the top of the league for offensive categories and the bottom of the league on defense due to more possessions per game. Again I haven't run numbers to see if the stats back this up but in theory it seems like it would.

Would points or yards per possession be a more fair measure to determine performance? It seems that this measure would level the playing field and take some of the variability out that is based on style of play.

I think the way we play with a higher number of snaps has some definite advantages such as greater chance for our guys to be league stat category leaders like Fant as pass breakup leader, Sud passing numbers, Howard, Coleman rushing leaders, etc. Seems like that would be a good recruiting tool for guys on both sides of the ball. It makes us more unpredictable. Teams that are eating up clock run the ball and throw low risk low reward passes. Our up tempo keeps teams on their toes and tires out defenses. It allows us to minimize defensive subs if our opponent has personell in that gives us an advantage.

Our defense has plenty of room for improvement and I understand that part of it is just passing the eye test and having solid fundamentals, and you don't need to perform statistical analysis to determine if we are doing some of those things well. I just wonder if our defense is being measured for the season is fair.

Thoughts?

I guess the only tangible evidence of how well a defense is playing directly is wins and losses. More accurately points per game given up. But even this is only a generic evaluation. Why a defense surrender points breaks down to situations the defense creates for itself, what position the offense puts them, and what the other team is doing to you.

For us, the critical issue seems more about us than anyone else. We've been dealing with a near fatal weakness in our secondary with no real way to fix it in service. No matter how well the Dline or LBs played, a simple pass over them into our inexperienced and depleted backfield and it was all for naught. I think all other apects of our D w played well enough for us to have won at least 2 more games this year. But a decent QB always punished us for our one glaring hole in an otherwise sufficient armor.

If we can plug this hole offseason, hold everything else at this years level, they will be at least a top 60-70 defense. With our offensive style, that should be good enough to move us up another notch.

But thats still a big if...

 

[Tegray1]

We need a consistent pass rush to help our DB's and then our DB's need experience and to improve their smarts. Our game plan against PU was to let their QB throw because he isn't usually that accurate as he was yesterday that is why he lost his job. We didn't blitz that much. Obviously we need to keep incorporating more speed on defense. I love Jameel Cook as a safety he just got hurt. Crawford hopefully will learn. He played well early then was real bad against Michigan playing the ball.