There has been a lot of back and fourth on how good E did this year. Figured I’d look at the NCAA stats and draw some conclusions... Q4 (97-129): Sacks (102nd) and TFL allowed (102nd) in the fourth quartile are two ugly stats for a unit everyone groaned about this year: the OL. Eaux lost a ton of OL early in his time here, for whatever reason. My guess is a lot of guys didn’t like the philosophy change. OL coach doesn’t get a pass, though he didn’t have a ton to work with considering injuries and depth. I put most of this on E and Eaux. Failure to fix the passing woes didn’t help the OL (and vice versa). Can’t blame Miles anymore if they don’t get right in 2019. Battle tested and depth returning gives some reason for optimism. Passing and running game should be better. Q1 (1-32): What did we do well? Interceptions (7th), TO margin (7th), time of possession (31st), RZ scoring (31st), and yards/pass (31st). So this indicates conservative offense and long developing plays; that’s the negatiger spin. I think we should be a little more aggressive on offense and not make the OL hold blocks for a long time; too much like Miles (Eaux said he’d fix this). We also found ourselves in the red zone a good bit; considering our yardage isn’t elite, some of this is probably attributed to defensive take-aways and field position victories. The stat for RZ TDs wasn’t ranked, but I believe I’ve heard elsewhere we’re bad on that front. Eye test certainly backs that up. Q2 (33-64): Two stats are on the higher end of Q2: Number of first downs (33rd) and scoring offense (37th). I should probably be a bigger dork and take out FGs and the 7OT stats, I think that’d take the shine off scoring. But being high on number of first downs surprises me. Guess that couples in with controlling TOP; while this stat screams Miles, not sure even I can poopoo this. That’s two nice stats, there. The other two Q2 stats are on the lower end: 3rd down % (57th) and rushing offense (59th). These seem contradictory to TOP and first downs, weird. The rushing stat particularly hurts when Etienne is making a name for himself with Clemson. We’ve got some bad asses coming in and I’m hopeful the RB room returning will take a big step forward. Waiting for CEH to emerge, Fournette seems like a solid role player, and there are some other bally-hooed guys waiting in the wings. That third down percentage is oogly, and goes with the remaining Q3 stats that paint E as mediocre. Q3 (65-96): Total offense (68th), passing offense (66th), passing efficiency (65th), and completion % (85th). WRs were a huge disappointment this year. Passing game as a whole very disappointing. This is why Miles was fired and... no change. Eaux needs to kick this shit into gear. If he thinks E is the guy to do that, he better be right.
We had 10 wins including a win in a New Year's Day bowl. We finished the year ranked in the top 10 in both polls. I'm more interested in the big picture than micro analyzing stats.
The big picture is the legacy of passing efficiency being mediocre; you can be happy with the first top ten finish in years AND be concerned that our offense still needs work. If Eaux doesn’t fix it, he’ll get stuck in the same rut Miles did.
Why do you apparently give the D a free pass? Do I need to remind you how many points they gave up to A&M? Losing to Bama is nothing new. We have plenty of company. Losing to the Gators in the Swamp is nothing new. See Steve Spurrier.
I don’t think I’m giving the D a free pass; I’m pretty sure we aren’t at ten wins without the defense, and I imagine the defensive stats are much better than offensive stats. I also recall the market value of our DC is near the top of all of college football. We’d probably have to pay several teams to take our OC. Doesn’t make sense when our offense has been so average for so long.
Hard to tell on the stats comparison. The link doesn't provide much as far as team defensive stats. How many teams have won two national championships in the 2000s with average offenses? http://www.lsusports.net/fls/5200/assets/docs/fb/18stats/teamcume.htm#TEAM.TEM
