NU defensive stats are awesome! Until you examine them.

[SoonerShay]

Lets just take out those absolutely pathetic non-conference teams they played this year, though I'm sure W.Ky, Idaho, SDSU and Washington are formidable opponents. We are going to only look at conference games played, even though we did not play exactly the same teams this year. I will be transparent with the numbers.

NU fans keep making a big deal about rushing defense and how suspect we are in it.

We are ranked second in the conference in rushing defense behind A&M - http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/25354/team/defense/split07/category01/sort01.html
NU is ranked 6th. We have allowed more yards per carry at 4.38 to 3.95, and 1 more rushing TD 8 to 7.

NU has the #1 passing defense in the league, we are ranked 3rd. They best us by 50 yards per game. NU has a 103 efficiency rating and OUrs is 105. We have allowed 1 less TD, have 2 more interceptions, allow less yards per attempt 5.4 to 5.6, and face over 10 more attempts per game 38 to 27.
http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/25354/team/defense/split07/category02/sort02.html
We are the best passing offense in the BIG12, we have faced numbers 2 through 8 in the conference and ISU at 10th. NU will be the worst pass offense we face, KU is dead last in the conference and we didn't get to face them this year. NU faced 12 through 5 (minus 11th which is NU) then skipped to 2nd which is okie state.

Last year they were getting over 7TFL per game, this year they are at 4TFL per game. We are down from 7TFL to 6TFL per game. http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/25354/team/offense/split07/category21/sort01.html

Sacks and Sacks allowed - NU had allowed 11 sacks this year, 2nd in conference to osu. We have allowed 12 sacks this year 4th in conference. Except NU has attempted 163 passes and we have 371 attempts. Every 14 attempts they give up a sack and every 30 attempts we give 1 up. http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/25354/team/defense/split07/category20/sort01.html
They have 20 sacks to OUr 16, this number doesn't tell a whole lot really. Both teams are all over the board. Like NU got to Gabbert 6 times and us 0, but they got to Gilbert 0 times and we got him 3. Biggest difference I see, is we didn't get to face KU who gives up the most sacks in the conference.

Scoring defense - NU is 2nd at 18.8 per and we are 3rd at 21.4 per. We all know we have given up 3 kickoff return TD's and a pick 6 this year. Without those scores we actually would be #2 in the conference instead of NU. I can't say for certain though because NU could of also gave up a pick 6 or fumble recovery for 6. They haven't given up any special teams touchdowns though. http://www.cfbstats.com/2010/leader/25354/team/defense/split07/category09/sort01.html


In summary, NU will be the best rush offense we have faced this year ahead of Baylor. We will be the best pass offense they have faced ahead of osu.

NU will be the worst passing offense we see this year, they have faced 4 worse rushing teams than us already.

OUr secondary isn't really that far from theirs, yet perception tells us they have a shut down secondary but we don't.

OUr scoring defense might actually be better, but perception makes it seem as though we give a ton of points and they hold teams to field goals.

We have the #1 scoring offense in the conference, tied with osu. NU is 5th.
NU will point out we faced TT, Baylor and osu the last few games. I will point out they faced Colorado and Kansas, the 2 worst scoring defenses in the league. They only managed 20 against KU somehow too. I didn't see the NU/A&M game but we all know A&M needed 3 goal line stands and a James Hanna dropped TD to hold us to 19. NU had 6.

[RedstickSooner]

Be silent! What is this "examination" you speak of?!? Stats are everything! Stats are infallible! Next thing I know, you'll tell me stats like time of possession don't matter! Or that including numbers from games against the Sickly Sisters of the Poor artificially pads the Holy Numbers which make up the One True Understanding of The Game.

It's heresy, I tell you, heresy!

[Widescreen]

Giving up 14 sacks in that amount of pass attempts is really good. And the fact is that Landry caused some of those sacks by leaving the pocket and running right into the way of a defender. Our OL may not be much on run blocking but they've been very disciplined with their lack of penalties and with their pass blocking.

[Rocko]

Very well done analysis. It brings a nice peace of mind to the fans who read it no doubt as well. This is going to be a good game though for sure.

[oudavid1]

Very nice!

[Whet]

Thanks!

[VA Sooner]

Impressive review of stats. Should hold true on Saturday.

[Leroy Lizard]

NU is awesome on defense. Easily the best defensive unit in the Big XII, and probably top-10 in the country. (We're going to play them and find out regardless.)

[ultimatesooner1]

a couple of our sacks may have been from the 12ft high snaps as well

[SoonerShay]

NU is awesome on defense. Easily the best defensive unit in the Big XII, and probably top-10 in the country. (We're going to play them and find out regardless.)

Easily? OUr defense is very comparable to theirs actually. The big disparity comes from getting to face 5 north teams, instead of 3. texas is the only south team that doesn't average over 400 yards per game. NU is the only north team that does average over 400 per game, and they don't face themselves. Kansas being just absolutely abysmal at under 300 per game.

Looking directly at opponent faced for each team in conference, NU's opponents averaged 380 yards per game, their defense averaged giving up 305 per game. A difference of 75 yards.

OUr opponents averaged 416 yards per game, OUr defense averaged giving up 344 per game. A difference of 72 yards.

So a whole 3 yards separate us in yards per game allowed.

Their conference opponents scored on average 25 ppg. They gave up 18 ppg, a difference of 7 points.

OUr conference opponents scored on average 27 ppg. We gave up 21 ppg, a difference of 6 points.

So a whole 1 ppg difference between the 2 of us.


Stop looking at position rankings and then automatically judging how good a defense is based off that. 3 yards and 1 point separate both defense as of right now.

[Leroy Lizard]

Easily? OUr defense is very comparable to theirs actually.

You miss my point: We're going to play them in a couple of days anyway. Winning an Internet argument over which team has the best defense is pointless when the two teams meet.

[SoonerShay]

You miss my point: We're going to play them in a couple of days anyway. Winning an Internet argument over which team has the best defense is pointless when the two teams meet.

I'm not trying to win an argument, I'm proving a point. When you throw around words like "awesome" and "easily the best" either be ready to prove it or don't say it.

If averages held and we faced the same opponents as NU, we would be ranked the 7th best defense in the country.

If NU faced the same opponents as us, they would ranked 60th.

What a difference opponents faced makes.

By the way I am not trying to say that NU doesnt have a good defense. They have a good defense.
Just proving if you think they have a good defense, you have to also think we have a good defense.

But if you think we have a mediocre defense, then I don't see how you can't say that NU has one too.

[Leroy Lizard]

I'm not trying to win an argument, I'm proving a point. When you throw around words like "awesome" and "easily the best" either be ready to prove it or don't say it.

I never meant it seriously.

OSU fans spent a full week telling everyone that OSU's triplets were better and that OSU played a tougher schedule and blah, blah, blah.

And their arguments were very convincing. Man, they laid it all out. Lots of statistics. They PROVED that OSU was simply better than OU on offense.

In the end, of what use was it?

[dvdcrr]

I been watching the huskers close all year this is legit good defense. It is not a NFL lock down defense like last year. But it is a good defense. They will not have alot of problems with OU's offense. Dennard, Amakamura, Gomes, and LD are as good as it gets in NCAA.

[tommieharris91]

Winning an Internet argument... is pointless...

I never thought I'd see this out of you.

[usaosooner]

golf clap!!

[Leroy Lizard]

I never thought I'd see this out of you.

Well, I win the arguments but I never get any trophies. :(

[stoopified]

a couple of our sacks may have been from the 12ft high snaps as well

True dat

[VA Sooner]

We're going into this game fairly well-matched. It will be a good game.

Both teams will bring their emotions and their intensity in the game. We're playing smashmouth football this weekend... glad we got our defense kicking in high gear again... peaking at the right time.

Should be a good one, folks.

[texaspokieokie]

SS, good work !!

[SoonerShay]

I think the stats I examined bared out in the game.

We were the best passing team they were going to see this year, we passed for the most yards against them.

They weren't getting as many TFL this year and only had 2 (Both Crick's sacks) the whole game. We had 14 TFL against them!

They were giving up a sack every 14 attempts, we got 7 on 28 attempts. They only got 2 on OUr 41 attempts.

Scoring defense held up for both teams.

OUr run defense was ranked 2nd in the conference coming in, they showed up.