SEC Stat Analysis: Quick Sand Defense (Final)

December 6th, 2011 12:54 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt
Tags: LSU, Quick Strike Offense, SEC, Touchdowns Allowed

Earlier this morning we posted the first in a series of year-end stat analysis pieces. Our look at Quick Strike Offenses can be found here.

Now we go in the opposite direction. Below are our rankings for a stat we call Quick Sand Defense. This category measures how well SEC teams slowed down their opponents. The breakdown is simple — touchdowns allowed compared to the total number of defensive snaps run.

As was the case with our Quick Strike Offense numbers, this category is about more than just defense as poor special teams and offensive play can put a defense in bad situations. Keep that in mind when looking at table below.

We have tallied the numbers from SEC games only, including the SEC Championship Game:

School	Touchdowns Allowed	Plays	Plays/TD Allowed
LSU (9-0)	7	534	76.2
Alabama (7-1)	7	428	61.1
S. Carolina (6-2)	14	516	36.8
Miss. State (2-6)	20	566	28.3
Vanderbilt (2-6)	23	538	23.3
Florida (3-5)	24	548	22.8
Georgia (7-2)	24	529	22.0
Arkansas (6-2)	26	555	21.3
Tennessee (1-7)	27	519	19.2
Kentucky (2-6)	30	563	18.7
Auburn (4-4)	31	538	17.3
Ole Miss (0-8)	37	528	14.2

Notes:

* Alabama allowed its SEC foes just seven touchdowns on the season, just one every 61 snaps. And yet they were second in the conference by a good bit. That’s how good LSU’s defense was at preventing touchdowns. The Tigers gave up just seven TDs, too, but they allowed a touchdown just once out of every 76 plays. Remarkable.

* The top three schools in this category were a combined 22-3. The bottom four schools were just 7-25.

* Ole Miss’ opponents ran — on average — just 14 plays between touchdowns. Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee had some bad numbers, too, but nothing close to the 0-8 Rebels.

« SEC Stat Analysis: Quick Strike Offense (Final)

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12 comments

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Cpl USMC Retired

Doesn't this show that Alabama forced more 3 and outs? I doubt just the title game LSU had an extra 90 plays run on them, so LSU 's defense is ranked better in this because they couldn't get off the field in 3 plays? Alabama allowed fewer yards per game which also points to more 3 and outs, of course LSU also played Oregon and West Virginia, but it would be interesting to see who allowed more first downs and more 3 and outs which should also play into the rankings you have. The way it is, it is better for a defense to let a team drive down the field as long as they don't score...

johnmrsec

Cpl USMC Retired...

It might also reflect the fact that LSU scored more easily than Alabama, thus keeping its defense on the field longer.

Thanks for reading,
John

Tallulah Cusati

LSU and GA played in one more game than the other teams. The SEC championship game statistics should not be included. You should do this over.

johnmrsec

Tallulah Cusati...

Always happy when someone drops by the ol' free site and gives us an assignment.

We're talking ratios, not total numbers. No need to do a thing over.

John

Cpl USMC Retired

For the defense to stay on the field they can't be forcing 3 and outs. No matter how good and quickly your offense scores, if the defense is forcing 3 and outs then they wont be spending a lot of time on the field. The team maintaing the time of possesion battle is the one whose defense spends the less time on the field. A team can only burn 140 seconds during a 3 and out... im not saying LSU wouldn't have forced more 3 and outs, but I believe this stat needs to be included in your chart. A lot of different factors can give you more plays against your defense without scoring, so turnovers should be included too, which would Favor LSU. Its great information, and I come to Mr. SEC.com everyday, so im not biased against y'all. I just believe more things go into a quick sand defense. Is the quicksand slow and takes you down slowly after they almost get out (or score), or is the quicksand quick and swollows you before you are able to convince yourself you even have a hope of getting out?

Tiger Stripe

Actually, UGa ran 85 offensive plays in the championship game (51 passes and 34 rushes).

MikeBoring

I think GA was 7-2 am I right? If so, are their numbers correct?

johnmrsec

MikeBoring...

Their numbers are correct. That was a typo on my part regarding their record. 7-2, indeed.

John

tre'

When looking at confrence numbers, I don't think by playing an extra game, you should be penalized. I think Ga stats would look more realistic when you subtract the 6 touchdowns in the title game. It moves them from 7 to 4 - more representive of the season. I think were at least the 4th best.

johnmrsec

tre'...

Since it's a ratio, the number of games played doesn't really matter. And while adding in the SEC title game might hurt UGA's numbers, it helped LSU's numbers... because LSU played well in the game while UGA played very well for a half.

It's just a stat.

Thanks for reading,
John

Willie!T

What would be interesting to see is how the OkSt Cowboys compare in these two statistical categories. My guess is they would have excellent offensive numbers but their defensive numbers would look more like Ole Miss or Auburn.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2011 at 12:54 am and is filed under Alabama, Blue Chip Stories, Homepage . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.