What metrics does Steve Sarkisian look at when evaluating the Texas defense?

The Texas Longhorns rank No. 74 in the country and fifth in the Big 12 in total defense, allowing 381.7 yards per contest. In the scoring defense metric, the Longhorns rank No. 38 in the country and third in the conference, surrendering 21.8 points per game.

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Pete Kwiatkowski’s defense has had its highlights, like a shutout against a depleted Oklahoma Sooners team. Lowlights have occurred too, most of them taking place on the road for the Longhorns.

But a tad over three touchdowns a game, that’s good defense, right? Or 382 yards a contest? Does that mean opponents are going through the Horns like a hot knife through butter?

Scoring defense and total defense do not tell the full tale of how a defense is faring. There are several conventional statistics that are more granular and, when used in concert, do more to explain what’s happening when the Longhorn defense is on the field than just the overall view of points and yards.

Various coaches have areas they emphasize more than others, and Steve Sarkisian is no different. On Monday, he explained the handful of stats he values most when it comes to stopping opponents.

Yards per play

“I think average yards per play is probably a little bit more important than total yards because you can’t dictate how many plays somebody is going to play,” Sarkisian said. “People can go as fast as they want to go and run 100 plays, but if they only average 4.5 yards per play, how effective were you really in trying to move the football? We look at average yards per play.”

Texas is No. 27 in the nation in opponent yards per play, allowing 4.9 yards per play.

That’s second in the Big 12 behind Iowa State, who is No. 11 at 4.6 yards per play.

It’s worth thinking about what goes into yards per play. Three plays of 4.9 yards is obviously enough for a first down, but teams aren’t gaining exactly 4.9 yards every time they snap the ball. It’s an average. A team could gain four yards, then five yards, then no yards, then 10 yards over the course of four plays. Or no yards, no yards, no yards, then 20 yards.

As Sarkisian mentioned, 4.9 yards per play is a solid number, but the problem is Texas has allowed a couple of teams to run upwards of 100 plays. Other factors, specifically related to Sarkisian’s own offense, play into those results, but when Texas keeps opponents under 75 plays it is 4-1. When opponents run 76 or more? Texas is 2-2.

Explosive plays

“We look at explosive plays,” Sarkisian said. “We try to really minimize explosive plays and make people earn it.

Athletic departments around the country use a program called StatBroadcast to keep official statistics for almost every sport they sponsor. In the football interface, StatBroadcast describes explosive plays as passes of 15 or more yards and runs of 10-plus yards. Asterisks denote scoring plays.

ULM – 64 total plays: 4 explosive passes, long 46. 2 explosive runs, long 23*

Bama – 63 total plays: 4 explosive passes, long 23. 3 explosive runs, long 81*

UTSA – 84 total plays: 4 explosive passes, long 35*. 5 explosive runs, long 13.

TTU – 100 total plays: 7 explosive passes, long 19* (2 explosive TDs). 4 explosive runs, long 19

WVU – 78 total plays: 5 explosive passes, long 32. 1 explosive run, long 14

OU – 59 total plays: 1 explosive pass, 16 yards. 7 explosive runs, long 24

ISU – 64 total plays: 10 explosive passes, long 54*. 2 explosive runs, long 11*

OSU – 98 total plays: 7 explosive passes, long 41*. 3 explosive runs, long 51.

KSU – 71 total plays: 8 explosive passes, long 62 (2 explosive TDs). 5 explosive runs, long 14

Texas Tech, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, and Kansas State all had a double digit number of explosive plays. The Longhorns are 2-2 in those games.

Explosive plays don’t always mean downfield bombs like the type Sarkisian enjoys drawing up for Xavier Worthy. The longest explosive pass for OSU was the late 41-yard touchdown pass on a slant that was more the result of missed tackles than a coverage bust. But when that is a team’s 90th or so play, it accentuates the issue Sarkisian previously mentioned with regards to yards per play.

Overall, Texas has fared well with limiting explosive runs. Ten yards is a moderately low threshold, but even so teams aren’t gashing the Longhorn front. A similar story exists with explosive passes. The best example of a true coverage bust didn’t even gain any yardage considering ISU’s Xavier Hutchinson dropped the long bomb intended for him late in Texas’ win over the Cyclones.

Money downs

“We look at third down,” Sarkisian said. “Our ability to get off the field, somewhere we’re continually trying to improve upon.”

This is the weakest aspect of the Texas defense. The Longhorns are No. 93 in the country in 3rd down defense, allowing opponents to convert 61-of-147 opportunities. Though not mentioned by Sarkisian, the story on 4th down is similar. Texas has allowed opponents to convert 14-of-27 opportunities, ranking No. 71 in the nation in that metric.

Texas can point to too many opponent 3rd down conversions as reasons behind defeats this season.

Red zone

“We look at red zone efficiency,” Sarkisian said. “We look at it on both sides. I never understand the stat that TV and everybody likes to put out. ‘These guys are great in the red zone. They’ve been in the red zone 20 times and they’ve scored 19 of their 20.’ Nobody ever looks at of those 19 scores, 10 of them were field goals. To me, that’s a loss for the offense and that’s a win for the defense. We track touchdowns in the red zone, not field goals. That’s not scoring to me. The defense won. We’re always trying to minimize touchdowns when we get our opportunities.”

Inside Texas looked at the 24 scores opponents have against the Longhorns in the red zone. Opposing teams have ventured inside the Longhorn 20-yard-line 31 times, scoring 16 touchdowns and eight field goals. For Texas opponents to score touchdowns on around half of their red zone visits is evidence of Texas defending the final 20 yards in decent fashion. The 77.4 percent overall mark is good for No. 27 in the nation.

The nation-leading UCF Golden Knights have allowed 22 scores in 36 opponent opportunities, 12 of them touchdowns.

Quarterback pressure

“Everyone likes to look at sacks,” Sarkisian said. “I know sacks are important and we’re getting better. I think we’re up to 20 sacks on the year now. But we look at QB hurries as well because that’s what forces the errant throws. I think we’re affecting quarterbacks more this year than we definitely did a year ago.”

They’re actually one short of 20 with 19, which is No. 72 in the nation, but 19 sacks is the total number recorded by the Texas defense all of last season. In 2021, DeMarvion Overshown, Ovie Oghoufo, Alfred Collins, and Byron Murphy were tied atop the Texas sack leaderboard with 2.0 apiece.

This season? Five different players already have at least 2.0 sacks, with Barryn Sorrell leading the team with 4.0.

As Sarkisian mentioned, he values quarterback hurries since it indicates pressure on the quarterback. According to Pro Football Focus, Texas has hurried the quarter back 165 times in nine games. That averages out to just over 18 hurries per contest.

Some of those hurries have been of running quarterbacks who find yardage after the pressure. That’s something all teams in college football struggle with. However, the hurries and sacks show the Texas D-line has disrupted offenses at a higher clip this year as opposed to last year.

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The effectiveness of the Texas defense in 2022 was not something that could be reliably gleaned from absolute stats like scoring defense or total defense. A deeper dive into the metrics Sarkisian believes to be most important does serve as a stronger indicator of the mixed-bag results turned in by Texas on that side of the ball.

In most of those metrics, Texas has improved year-over-year. But they also back up the perceived weakest points of a defense that has been inconsistent throughout the season.

What Sarkisian said on Monday, however, does provide a better idea of what to look for considering it’s where his focus goes.