I agree with you. However, one theory tossed around is that long drives take our

Sep 12, 2019
1:45:56pm

Odysseus All-American

offense out of rhythm which translates to fewer points per drive offensively for us.

No idea if it’s true and too lazy to put the research in to see if the data supports the theory.

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Odysseus

Previous username: THUNDERDOME69
Bio page: Odysseus
Joined: Oct 28, 2014
Last login: May 4, 2024
Total posts: 32,835 (11,458 FO)

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Messages

Author

Time

Yes, but... We’re 35th in scoring defense.

mvtoro Scrub

9/12/19 11:22am

Utah taking a knee probably balances the short field gift TD.

displacedute

9/12/19 11:24am

Not quite. That's 1 TD vs. 2 pick-sixes.

All-American

9/12/19 11:30am

I don't think he's counting the pick 6s.

displacedute

9/12/19 11:33am

Not really. The knee happened after the offense had already destroyed the defense’s hope of affecting the outcome.

mvtoro

9/12/19 11:34am

Thank goodness you guess dropped those 6 picks too.

coug almighty

9/12/19 12:09pm

We are definitely a bend don't break defense... but we are bending a bit too much with out of position linebackers

crm48

9/12/19 11:25am

Scoring defense is a horrible way to judge a college defense. Quit acting like

cougaman

9/12/19 11:25am

Well, you shouldn't be ignoring it altogether either

Indy Coug

9/12/19 11:28am

Right, but saying they are 35th is meaningless with how many teams run up tempo

cougaman

9/12/19 11:31am

More meaningful than rushing yards. If our defense can allow 16.5 points per game, we should be able to beat teams with

mvtoro

9/12/19 11:36am

Yup, its like saying Princeton is a top scoring defense in CBB

CaliWG

9/12/19 11:40am

You like points per possession as a metric for basketball then, right? The same is a better metric for football too and

mvtoro

9/12/19 12:33pm

It is the most relevant metric to measure a defense

dc2650

9/12/19 11:37am

Sadly, it is not tic.

SoCalCoug

9/12/19 11:50am

It's reality. Comparing 2 teams who have drastically different strength of

cougaman

9/12/19 12:03pm

Look at points per drive then. It makes pace irrelevant because football gives each team basically the same # of chances

mvtoro

9/12/19 12:08pm

Points per driver is better, but I wasnt turnovers, I want pressure to the

cougaman

9/12/19 12:13pm

Points are the only stat that really matters. All others are only indicators for that stat. Points per drive are a way

mvtoro

9/12/19 12:24pm

It also includes our gift TD to Tennessee

HONOMO

9/12/19 11:29am

True. But at least it was the defense that gave the gift, so that’s more fair to their rating.

mvtoro

9/12/19 11:35am

But you also have to realize that Time of Possession is important.

HONOMO

9/12/19 11:30am

Time of possession is important in its ability to drain the opposing defense, and indirectly affect score. Score is

mvtoro

9/12/19 11:39am

Good points. I agree.

HONOMO

9/12/19 11:51am

Utah was happy to eat clock the whole second half. They were happy to put up

bluesloth

9/12/19 11:32am

I call b.s. on this

Blueto

9/12/19 11:37am

Sure, that’s easy to do when your opponent gives you 20 points. If the offense played 75% as well as the defense did in

mvtoro

9/12/19 11:44am

That stat is artificially skewed by the long drives we allow. It is a bad metric

BYUtka

9/12/19 11:43am

I disagree. Score matters most. But why don’t you look at points per drive then?

mvtoro

9/12/19 12:04pm

Points per game matter, but points per game compared to other teams is

cougaman

9/12/19 12:08pm

I said points per DRIVE. No. Pace does not skew this metric.

mvtoro

9/12/19 12:25pm

I missed that initially. Better than points per game. Still not a perfect

cougaman

9/12/19 12:38pm

Much more meaningful than the criticism of yards allowed that my response is linked to. That was my point. And we’re in

mvtoro

9/12/19 1:03pm

Yards per carry would be meaningful though. I discount any stat in CFB that is

cougaman

9/12/19 1:12pm

Still only meaningful if it translates to points.

mvtoro

9/12/19 1:29pm

No, long drives mean or offense had fewer opportunities to score and usually

cougaman

9/12/19 1:48pm

Same number of opportunities to score as the opponent has. And if our defense is holding keeping them to 1.6 points per

mvtoro

9/12/19 3:01pm

Not all opportunities are equal.

cougaman

9/12/19 3:09pm

I agree with you. However, one theory tossed around is that long drives take our

Odysseus

9/12/19 1:45pm

Our offense's problems aren't due to our defense. They need to improve.

mvtoro

9/12/19 2:51pm

Our offense needs shorter fields to score against P5 defenses.

CougarCanuck76

9/12/19 1:52pm

Our offense needs to improve. They can't expect more help from the defense than they're already getting also against

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