End of season defensive stats

[kired]

Looking over our stats, I was surprised to see our defense ranked 5th in the SEC in total yards given up in conference games only --- 364 ypg. We gave up 399 last year, and 352 in 2021. Our passing yards given up were the lowest since the 2018 / 2017 teams (wait... what?)

It's worth noting that total offensive yards were down among our 7 permanent opponents when compared to last 2 years (practically everyone other than LSU was worse offensively this year --- A&M was about the same all 3 years). LSU put up ridiculous yards, almost 8.5 yard per play vs. SEC opponents. We weren't the only team that got absolutely torched by them. We were actually the only team to hold them under 7 yards per play (6.97)

Our scoring defense was not as good, ranked 10th with 30 ppg, but scoring stats are a little misleading because it includes defensive & special teams scores. If you take those returns out this is what our SEC defensive stats looked like. Pretty much no different than what Arnett always did. Granted, we did swap Georgia for South Carolina. But that 21 schedule had Vandy so...

	Rushing ypg	Passing ypg	Total ypg	Rushing TDs	Passing TDs	Total TDs	FGs made
2023	170	194	364	12	13	25	15
2022	171	228	399	16	11	27	14
2021	120	233	352	11	14	25	10

Anyway, just thought it was interesting how much worse we thought this defense was compared to what the stats show. I didn't really compare the offense because that was a disaster. We were worse than Vandy. We scored 10 offensive TDs in 8 SEC games. That was one of the worst offenses the SEC has seen in the last decade. You have to wonder what our defensive numbers would have looked like if it had been paired with a little better offense.

 

[SouthFarmchicken]

Looking over our stats, I was surprised to see our defense ranked 5th in the SEC in total yards given up in conference games only --- 364 ypg. We gave up 399 last year, and 352 in 2021. Our passing yards given up were the lowest since the 2018 / 2017 teams (wait... what?)

It's worth noting that total offensive yards were down among our 7 permanent opponents when compared to last 2 years (practically everyone other than LSU was worse offensively this year --- A&M was about the same all 3 years). LSU put up ridiculous yards, almost 8.5 yard per play vs. SEC opponents. We weren't the only team that got absolutely torched by them. We were actually the only team to hold them under 7 yards per play (6.97)

Our scoring defense was not as good, ranked 10th with 30 ppg, but scoring stats are a little misleading because it includes defensive & special teams scores. If you take those returns out this is what our SEC defensive stats looked like. Pretty much no different than what Arnett always did. Granted, we did swap Georgia for South Carolina. But that 21 schedule had Vandy so...

	Rushing ypg	Passing ypg	Total ypg	Rushing TDs	Passing TDs	Total TDs	FGs made
2023	170	194	364	12	13	25	15
2022	171	228	399	16	11	27	14
2021	120	233	352	11	14	25	10

Anyway, just thought it was interesting how much worse we thought this defense was compared to what the stats show. I didn't really compare the offense because that was a disaster. We were worse than Vandy. We scored 10 offensive TDs in 8 SEC games. That was one of the worst offenses the SEC has seen in the last decade. You have to wonder what our defensive numbers would have looked like if it had been paired with a little better offense.

We held a top 3 offense (Ole Miss) in the SEC to 300 yards and 17 points. We held Arkansas to 200 yards and 3 points. That offsets TREMENDOUSLY the terribleness in all the other SEC games. Yes, they were terrible except for 2 SEC games in which they were the best defense in the country. Weird as ****.

 

[TXDawg.sixpack]

That's because our offense and special teams gave our opponents short fields all season long.**

Kinda sarcastic; kinda not...

 

[Perd Hapley]

A lot of it is that we were playing from behind by multiple scores so much that teams were just running clock against us quite a bit, which played into the strength of the defense. Looking at the SP+ or FEI rankings would paint a better picture, given that we had our worst offensive season since the Croom years.

I mean….we went up 7-3 over Arkansas after trailing for most of the 1st half. We returned the opening kickoff for a TD against A&M. We went up 10-7 in the early 3rd quarter against OM before quickly falling back behind again. That’s it. Those are the only 3 times all year that we had a lead in SEC play.

ETA: Our final defense F+ ranking was 60 this year. In 2022, it was 17. In 2021 it was 38. In 2020 it was 46.

 

[kired]

We held a top 3 offense (Ole Miss) in the SEC to 300 yards and 17 points. We held Arkansas to 200 yards and 3 points. That offsets TREMENDOUSLY the terribleness in all the other SEC games. Yes, they were terrible except for 2 SEC games in which they were the best defense in the country. Weird as ****.

Defense played decent vs. Kentucky too. Obviously KY was on cruise control because our offense couldn't do anything. But we held them to under 300 yards and 17 points. That was one of their least productive games. Could say the same thing about Auburn in regards to the cruise control statement. Those games were never in doubt so I think that obviously affected the final numbers.

 

[Rupert Jenkins]

Have to agree with Perd here. Most good teams had us whipped before halftime. They were running clock. But also there were a couple games those guys balked out. OM for sure. DB was even breaking up passes which did not happen at all most games. The whole 17n season was crazy. Offense was good against SC and stagnant most games. Weird year with zero rhythm.