this back on course. There are many statistics that are useful in measuring the performance of a team or units within that team or players within those units. Some statistics are more useful than others, but to focus singularly on one statistic and discard all others would be would be most unwise. I haven’t ever advocated for that so I have no idea what you’re talking about.

I have argued that in measuring defensive and offensive success, points per drive is more useful than points per game and that is a hill on which I will fight to the death. There are even more useful metrics than PPD if you can believe it, but PPD is more readily accessible and explainable and it levels up our thinking so I’m happy moving us there.

I’m hitting that same PPD note because I’m tired of seeing poor analysis that doesn’t account for quantity of possessions in a game. It’s imperative that one accounts for this at the very least if one wants to have a serious discussion of offensive/defensive success.

Statistics are useful because they simplify complex real world phenomena in a way that’s interpretable for us humans. The more streams of data that are incorporated into a statistic, the less interpretable it becomes so I do appreciate the need for simplicity but it seems like we could probably do better than W/L column and score differential. Reducing it down to those two statistics results in a lot of information loss about the team’s performance.

I’m really pleased with the general direction of the program over the last 3 years. I also think there is plenty of room for improvement. I thought the Baylor game represented a giant leap forward for Tuiaki and defense. I was actually convinced that Tuiaki had turned a corner and solved some of the defensive issues (mainly stopping the run). The last three weeks have convinced me otherwise. Allowing 246 yds in the first half to that USU team is alarming, the win notwithstanding. Tuiaki will never change. The offense has its issues as well but the stats don’t lie. The offense is much more efficient at scoring than the defense is at preventing scores.