RE: Enlighten me!
Game stats are something to build from but they are not end all be all.
There is some things to glean from USM being the top rated D in CUSA this year, especially when you look deeper into it.
* Teams have less attempted passes against us because they've found some success running the ball. Also, we have yet to face a prolific passing attack just yet. But we have matched up well when teams have been forced to pass the ball. This is why we are the current top-rated pass defense in CUSA.
* We are close to the conference average for rushing attempt against, with rushing yards against placing us at or near the top quarter of the conference for rushing defense.
* We are holding teams to a paltry 21% third down conversion rate. Yet, we are yielding 27ppg and are not really forcing many turnovers. These are most important defensive stats to me and tell a tale of a Jekyll and Hyde defense.
When you take all of these stats together, in congruency, USM fans will find that we have one of the better defenses in the conference, but not particularly the best. Teams, thus far, have not ran the ball a lot against us, in comparison to the conference average; and teams, have not pass the ball well against us, thus far, with much success.What it tells, from a ypg standpoint is, we give up more than a fair share of big plays for scores. And we are vulnerable, based on the teams we've played thus far, when we can't get teams to third downs - particularly, long passing third downs. When we have, we've being pretty doggone good.
And it's the match-up game as well. We've matched up pretty good with the teams we've played so far. I also think we match up very well with LaTech, MTSU, and WKU if we can force them into passing downs and eliminate them from having the option to run (but what team doesn't). However, those teams are also efficient running the ball as well, which goes back to the match-up game and our defensive stats has proved that we are vulnerable here.
Oh, another thing our defensive stat doesn't show is the short field we give opposing teams due to turnovers, in-efficient offense, or poor punt/kick coverage that limits the amount of yards those teams have accumulated. But these factors do highlight how impressive holding offenses, thus far, to a pedestrian 21% third down conversion rate.
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