If there was any doubt about the importance of defense in college football

[chicolby]

Take a look at the top teams in yards per play (defensive). Wyoming, Troy and Northern Illinois were the only outliers, and their records were 8-5, 11-2 and 8-5 respectively.

Offense is great and obviously important, but defense is where the top teams separate. I hope our recruiting class has some difference makers coming in on defense because that's the quickest place where a team can make a big movement in its record.

 

[davecisar]

For those wondering
CFU finished 69th- 4th/12 in their conference
NU finished 109th- 14th- Last in their conference

Honas and Williams may very well be the players in this class with the biggest immediate impact

 

[Tuco Salamanca]

Did the Big Ten lose 2 teams?

 

[davecisar]

Last is last- no matter how you slice it
And it gets worse- as often times it does when looking closely at the Riley coached teams

The BIG- had just 2 teams in the top 30 in Offensive Yards per play
Which means NU finished 109th playing defense in a conference that has very little offensive punch

 

[Solana Beach Husker]

Ironically defense is much more talent based than Offense. Teams that recruit really well can field great defenses because great defense based on size and speed combination and not scheme. We saw how quickly Pelini's scheme failed when his first round draft picks went to NFL, guys that were mostly recruited by Callahan. Good offenses can be schemed and is found all over the country. Good defense starts with good line play which is generally relegated to top 10 recruiting classes.

 

[davecisar]

Ironically defense is much more talent based than Offense. Teams that recruit really well can field great defenses because great defense based on size and speed combination and not scheme. We saw how quickly Pelini's scheme failed when his first round draft picks went to NFL, guys that were mostly recruited by Callahan. Good offenses can be schemed and is found all over the country. Good defense starts with good line play which is generally relegated to top 10 recruiting classes.

REALLY tough to hide your lack of athleticism and physicality when you are on defense. Offensively: smoke and mirrors, patience, above average Line play, efficient play calling and ball security can help make even an averagely skilled team- competitive on offense. Defense is harder to fix than O- JMO

 

[jay-cheese]

"Did the B1G lose two teams?"

You serious Clark??

I wonder what the YPP averages were 10 years ago, 20 years ago?? My gut says they were lower. The spread and the RPO plays have really increased offensive averages (including in the NFL). Still need a good D but having a high powered offense is the real must imo...

GBR

 

[davecisar]

"Did the B1G lose two teams?"

You serious Clark??

I wonder what the YPP averages were 10 years ago, 20 years ago?? My gut says they were lower. The spread and the RPO plays have really increased offensive averages (including in the NFL). Still need a good D but having a high powered offense is the real must imo...

GBR

I changed my stat on NU finishing last 12/12 to last 14/14- my mistake

The stats are relative- yes the YPP was lower then- but stopping the run, Defensive YPP are key. You can lose with great offensive numbers- the Alabamas of the world excel on Defense.

Turnover margin is huge also. Some outliers, but you cant be off the reservation on turnover margin and expect to consistently be a top team.
Bama #8 + 1,0
CFU #2 + 1.31

Nebraska #108 -.58

https://www.ncaa.com/stats/football/fbs/current/team/29/p1
1 Wyoming 13 18 20 38 6 8 14 24 1.85
2 UCF 13 12 20 32 6 9 15 17 1.31
3 Memphis 13 15 16 31 6 10 16 15 1.15
4 Stanford 14 10 18 28 4 8 12 16 1.14
5 Miami (FL) 13 14 17 31 4 14 18 13 1.00
- Washington 13 9 15 24 6 5 11 13 1.00
- Louisiana Tech 13 9 19 28 10 5 15 13 1.00
- Alabama 14 5 19 24 7 3 10 14 1.00
9 Boise St. 14 11 15 26 6 7 13 13 .93
- Fla. Atlantic 14 6 20 26 6 7 13 13 .93
11 Appalachian St. 13 8 18 26 8 6 14 12 .92
- Penn St. 13 15 10 25 3 10 13 12 .92
13 South Carolina 13 14 14 28 5 12 17 11 .85
- Texas Tech 13 15 14 29 6 12 18 11 .85
15 South Fla. 12 4 20 24 8 6 14 10 .83
16 Kansas St. 13 11 12 23 5 8 13 10 .77
- Iowa St. 13 8 12 20 1 9 10 10 .77
- LSU 13 6 12 18 4 4 8 10 .77
19 Akron 14 8 19 27 6 11 17 10 .71
20 Western Mich. 12 16 10 26 10 8 18 8 .67
- Tulane 12 6 13 19 5 6 11 8 .67
22 Texas 13 10 16 26 7 11 18 8 .62
- NC State 13 7 14 21 7 6 13 8 .62
- Wake Forest 13 7 14 21 6 7 13 8 .62
25 Fresno St. 14 12 9 21 6 7 13 8 .57
26 Northwestern 13 8 17 25 6 12 18 7 .54
- Troy 13 9 17 26 12 7 19 7 .54
- San Diego St. 13 6 14 20 9 4 13 7 .54
- Iowa 13 5 21 26 13 6 19 7 .54
30 Army West Point 13 9 6 15 4 6 10 5 .38
- Utah St. 13 16 13 29 11 13 24 5 .38
- Virginia Tech 13 6 13 19 5 9 14 5 .38
- Boston College 13 7 18 25 8 12 20 5 .38
34 UTSA 11 9 13 22 11 7 18 4 .36
35 Ohio St. 14 11 13 24 9 10 19 5 .36
- Oklahoma 14 10 8 18 7 6 13 5 .36
- Wisconsin 14 9 20 29 9 15 24 5 .36
38 California 12 10 14 24 8 12 20 4 .33
- UNLV 12 12 7 19 6 9 15 4 .33
40 SMU 13 11 12 23 6 13 19 4 .31
- Purdue 13 11 10 21 6 11 17 4 .31
- UAB 13 5 14 19 10 5 15 4 .31
43 Clemson 14 6 14 20 7 9 16 4 .29
44 Georgia 15 8 12 20 7 9 16 4 .27
45 Massachusetts 12 7 13 20 11 6 17 3 .25
46 Arizona 13 6 19 25 9 13 22 3 .23
- Kentucky 13 7 11 18 8 7 15 3 .23
- Texas A&M 13 12 10 22 7 12 19 3 .23
- Oklahoma St. 13 7 17 24 11 10 21 3 .23
- Michigan St. 13 9 14 23 12 8

 

[TwinsRRUs]

The BIG- had just 2 teams in the top 30 in Offensive Yards per play
Which means NU finished 109th playing defense in a conference that has very little offensive punch

Either that or it means the conference as a whole has good defense...

Probably best to compare the offense and defense in the out of conference schedules. I would be interested to see what the rankings were at the end of September, before everyone in the country was playing conference schedules.

At least that is what the SEC has always said and done. They have always appeared to have great defenses. Maybe it was just a bunch of crappy offenses making their defenses look good. One way to know for sure is OOC schedule comparing.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

"Did the B1G lose two teams?"

You serious Clark??

I wonder what the YPP averages were 10 years ago, 20 years ago?? My gut says they were lower. The spread and the RPO plays have really increased offensive averages (including in the NFL). Still need a good D but having a high powered offense is the real must imo...

GBR

Based on the post he followed having been edited a few minutes after his comment about the B1G losing a couple teams, I am guessing there was an error stating that the Huskers were last and 12th in the B1G and that was corrected.

 

[TwinsRRUs]

For those wondering
CFU finished 69th- 4th/12 in their conference
NU finished 109th- 14th- Last in their conference

Honas and Williams may very well be the players in this class with the biggest immediate impact

Central Florida goes by UCF.

UCFast.
UCFierce.

 

[jay-cheese]

Got it. Thanks

GBR

 

[davecisar]

Either that or it means the conference as a whole has good defense...

Probably best to compare the offense and defense in the out of conference schedules. I would be interested to see what the rankings were at the end of September, before everyone in the country was playing conference schedules.

yeah- that makes sense
However that makes it even WORSE for NU
1447 yards given up in 198 plays on OOC
7.3 YPP

That would be good for 128th place- next to last- beating out just East Carolina by about 9 inches per play
When you peel the onion back, it just gets worse- unfortunately there just isnt a lot of positive concrete stuff you can sink your teeth into in those Riley coached teams. Better days are ahead.

When you are in the 1 percentile for YPP given up OOC and in the 16th percentile for turnover margin- no place to go but up.

 

[H8FULLGR8]

I always preferred the husker teams that had an elite defense and average or above average offense over the few years where the offense was above average and the Defense was average or below.

 

[TruHusker]

And we play Troy. They are no fluke team but I know everyone just pencils them in as an automatic win.

 

[Suh is King]

I hate to look at stat rankings in a vacuum. An interesting thing I noticed is that UCF allowed 50 fewer YPG in 2016 thank they did in 2017. Pretty easy to determine which of those teams was better. But simply looking at YPG one may draw a superficial conclusion.

Here is something I posted a couple of months ago in a different thread. I think it is relevant so...

People will need to reset their expectations on what good defense is. An offense like Frost's puts a ton of pressure on a defense. They are on the field a TON. you need to look beyond the face value stats. That defense was good enough to go undefeated. My guess is (Like me) most Husker fans watched the last 2 UCF games and are drawing a superficial conclusion that the defense is terrible. I would say (like I had to) take a step back and look at the big picture. With this offense I don't care who you roll out there, yards/points will be allowed by the defense. The thing that helped paint the picture for me was looking at margin of victory.

UCF ranks 3rd with +22.8 in the country, behind only PSU and Bama. (that is not a mark of a terrible defense) To me this becomes very impressive when you consider how the MOV looks without the final 2 games. The UCF defense played very well for a group that had to defend 76 plays/gm

It gets even more impressive when you look at the staggering improvement made in a very short time. 2015 MOV -25.8, 2016 MOV +0.4, 2017 MOV +22.8. (that seems to me to be a sign of incredible coaching, and playing complementary football)

UCF also boasts the #2 Turnover Margin per game at +1.2 - on the back of the #4 overall takeaway/gm at 2.5 (Again... not the mark of a terrible defense)

At the end of the day people will look at it how they chose. I get it. I am a defense guy myself. I LOVE seeing smothering dominant defense. So I will have to keep the big picture in mind as well. What I cannot argue with however is the above stats that to me shows that Chinander's defense is much better than a superficial glance would suggest.

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

And we play Troy. They are no fluke team but I know everyone just pencils them in as an automatic win.

Jocking up a team Nebraska should have no problem with. Nice.

 

[davecisar]

Jocking up a team Nebraska should have no problem with. Nice.

At this juncture- coming off a 4 win season- where every team knows they can compete against the red- Losses of late to Northern Illinois, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota etc No team can be taken for granted

Especially Troy- an 11-2 team who beat then #18 LSU at LSU
Lost to then #22 Boise State by 11 in Idaho
Beat Arkansas State by same score as Nebraska

Troy has a very good coaching staff
They are coming to Lincoln for the win- not to play close and they know they will have a legit chance- the aura is long gone.
And in years past when they came here- they always seemed to have athletes who could play, just not quite enough of them.
JMO

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

At this juncture- coming off a 4 win season- where every team knows they can compete against the red- Losses of late to Northern Illinois, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota etc No team can be taken for granted

Especially Troy- an 11-2 team who beat then #18 LSU at LSU
Lost to then #22 Boise State by 11 in Idaho
Beat Arkansas State by same score as Nebraska

Troy has a very good coaching staff
They are coming to Lincoln for the win- not to play close and they know they will have a legit chance- the aura is long gone.
And in years past when they came here- they always seemed to have athletes who could play, just not quite enough of them.
JMO

Jock em up

 

[davecisar]

Troy lost to Clemson the year before 30-24, National Champion Clemson- game played at Clemson

Yeah- no need to take Troy seriously
11-2 last year- beating then #18th ranked LSU at LSU
10-3 the year before- losing to the eventual National Champs Clemson at Clemson 24-30

 

[anon_umk0ifu6vj6zi]

Troy lost to Clemson the year before 30-24, National Champion Clemson- game played at Clemson

Yeah- no need to take Troy seriously
11-2 last year- beating then #18th ranked LSU at LSU
10-3 the year before- losing to the eventual National Champs Clemson at Clemson 24-30

Still jocking them up. We have a great staff, higher ranked players, and home field. Jock em up

 

[TwinsRRUs]

yeah- that makes sense
However that makes it even WORSE for NU
1447 yards given up in 198 plays on OOC
7.3 YPP

That would be good for 128th place- next to last- beating out just East Carolina by about 9 inches per play
When you peel the onion back, it just gets worse- unfortunately there just isnt a lot of positive concrete stuff you can sink your teeth into in those Riley coached teams. Better days are ahead.

When you are in the 1 percentile for YPP given up OOC and in the 16th percentile for turnover margin- no place to go but up.

Now that is more like it!

Nowhere to go but UP!!! GBR!

 

[Wasnt-drunk-didnt-troll]

Ironically defense is much more talent based than Offense. Teams that recruit really well can field great defenses because great defense based on size and speed combination and not scheme. We saw how quickly Pelini's scheme failed when his first round draft picks went to NFL, guys that were mostly recruited by Callahan. Good offenses can be schemed and is found all over the country. Good defense starts with good line play which is generally relegated to top 10 recruiting classes.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on Iowa. We are no where near elite in recruitting but you cannot deny the defense is strong.

 

[PeliniTheCrutch]

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on Iowa. We are no where near elite in recruitting but you cannot deny the defense is strong.

Gladly...














Iowa sucks.

 

[FeelingFrosty]

Ironically defense is much more talent based than Offense. Teams that recruit really well can field great defenses because great defense based on size and speed combination and not scheme. We saw how quickly Pelini's scheme failed when his first round draft picks went to NFL, guys that were mostly recruited by Callahan. Good offenses can be schemed and is found all over the country. Good defense starts with good line play which is generally relegated to top 10 recruiting classes.

His coaching and schemes on the defensive side of the ball took a nose dive when Marvin Sanders and Carl Pelini left. We still had good talent with guys like Lavonte David and Randy Gregory but the coaching on the defensive side of the ball was pretty bad Pelini's last few years here.

 

[Yolobomb]

For those wondering
CFU finished 69th- 4th/12 in their conference
NU finished 109th- 14th- Last in conf

Who is cfu?