this is neat and all but raw stat totals is not the best barometer here. You’ve gotta account for pace otherwise the info is misleading
Utah is giving up 12 yards less than Penn St on the ground per game but Penn St has defended 70 more run plays than we have (30ish%) and is giving up almost a half yard less per rush than we are, which is a pretty huge gap. We are still good enough in yards per play to be 2nd, however…
Pass defense is the opposite for us. We are 23rd in total pass yards allowed, but per attempt we are T7
Slower pace will also help our raw overall defense standing, 3rd in total yards per game, 8th in yards per play allowed
Of course, you then need to take that and everybody elses info and run it throug someting that accounts for quality of run/pass offenses played and even then you gotta figure out some way to adjust for conferene strength and relate them which is probably impossible to do adequately due to them essentially being different leagues that dont all play each other and the games they do have against other conferences are insufficient sample sizes. You cant adequately say “this conference is stronger in rushing offfenses therefore they are a better rushing conference than conferences xyz” because they are mostly playing themselves. Theres some stuff to work with to get a “general idea’ but the level of certainty is lacking when you are comparing 3.2 yards per play allowed on the ground in the pac 12 in comparison to anybody else
you can make more definitive statements about where we stand in tthe pac 12 (no. 1) but where we actually falll nationally is a “somewhere in the 1-20 range” conclusion
end definitely neccessary and worthwhile rant
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