Good News/Bad News*

[TheCusian]

*Nerd Addition

So Bill C. has been updating his CFB Statistical Profiles here. It's got lots of stuff in there.

He uses the Five Factors to come up with those rankings. He explains:

But over time, I've come to realize that the sport comes down to five basic things, four of which you can mostly control. You make more big plays than your opponent, you stay on schedule, you tilt the field, you finish drives, and you fall on the ball. Explosiveness, efficiency, field position, finishing drives, and turnovers are the five factors to winning football games.

The Good News
If you look at defensive efficiency (knocking teams off schedule) we're #1 in defensive success rate. Meaning we are the best team through 4 games at making teams be behind schedule on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd downs.

The Bad News
If you then look at our defensive explosiveness (giving up big plays) - we are ranked #129. Meaning we are second to last through 4 games at giving up explosive plays.

This is an insane, very black and white view of our defense. I expect both to be less extreme over the next 8 games. And I think all of those big plays vs WMU in the 3rd Q are weighing very heavy. If we can limit giving up big plays, our D might be very very good.

 

[721Comstock]

Yeah, except...

UConn got a few huge plays against us too.
And even Wagner had a few.

IF we could cut way down on that, our D would actually be consistently good, and occasionally great.

 

[javadoc]

Yeah, except...

UConn got a few huge plays against us too.
And even Wagner had a few.

IF we could cut way down on that, our D would actually be consistently good, and occasionally great.

Florida State didn't, though. Are they that bad? Maybe our guys only bring their "A" game against a perceived legit opponent?

 

[CbusCuse]

We are going to make some stops for losses in the run game but I expect there to be big plays made running against us all year in the ACC. I still don't think we have the LB's to stop them yet.

But if we can continue to make big plays on Defense like sacks, interceptions, strips,and TFL's that will be good enough to get us some wins if the offense can keep performing efficiently.

 

[upperdeck]

LB size is an issue, some of the plays we have given up is just being too small. of course the give and take is that the additional speed/quickness is also making a few plays.

 

[UelSU]

Florida State didn't, though. Are they that bad? Maybe our guys only bring their "A" game against a perceived legit opponent?

That's because we were all over their QB. The key for me is our D-line. We get pressure from them, then our defense looks good. No pressure, Clemson will shred our zone defense...which I hate by the way.

 

[mvorange]

*Nerd Addition

So Bill C. has been updating his CFB Statistical Profiles here. It's got lots of stuff in there.

He uses the Five Factors to come up with those rankings. He explains:



The Good News
If you look at defensive efficiency (knocking teams off schedule) we're #1 in defensive success rate. Meaning we are the best team through 4 games at making teams be behind schedule on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd downs.

The Bad News
If you then look at our defensive explosiveness (giving up big plays) - we are ranked #129. Meaning we are second to last through 4 games at giving up explosive plays.

This is an insane, very black and white view of our defense. I expect both to be less extreme over the next 8 games. And I think all of those big plays vs WMU in the 3rd Q are weighing very heavy. If we can limit giving up big plays, our D might be very very good.

I wonder where we would rank in explosiveness if the 3rd quarter at WMU didn't happen. I know we can't make it go away.

 

[TheCusian]

That's because we were all over their QB. The key for me is our D-line. We get pressure from them, then our defense looks good. No pressure, Clemson will shred our zone defense...which I hate by the way.

It's our 3rd down zone defense that has come up huge for us, last year and this year. It's prob due for a little better perception, IMO.

 

[TheCusian]

I wonder where we would rank in explosiveness if the 3rd quarter at WMU didn't happen. I know we can't make it go away.

No - it would be helpful. Especially if you think Cisco and Cordy have figured out what happened and have fixed it. Which I do.

 

[GoSU96]

That's because we were all over their QB. The key for me is our D-line. We get pressure from them, then our defense looks good. No pressure, Clemson will shred our zone defense...which I hate by the way.

That's true for any team at any level.