Interesting stat via SOTU

[OrangeBowlMagic]

SOTU just tweeted that Miami defended the 11th most plays in America in 2017. 989 plays defended.

And predictably, most of the replies are about the defense, its inability to get off the field on 3rd down, and how much the turnovers helped. All valid points. But I look at it a different way......

Yes, the defense finished the year 75th in the country on opponent's 3rd down percentage. They allowed the opposition to convert 39.55% of the time, which is obviously terrible and needs to improve.

But I look at it even more as a byproduct of the offense's ineptitude (but I'm an offensive guy, I pretty much spin everything back to how the offense performs). Looking at it a little closer, yes, the defense defended the 11th most plays in the country. But on that avalanche of plays, they only gave up 4.77 yards per play. That is MUCH better than every single team who faced more plays. As a matter of fact, that number ranked 12th in the country. So take away the turnovers, take away the 3rd down defense, and STILL, every single time the opposition snapped the ball, Miami only gave up 4.77 YPP. Only 11 teams were better.

But the offense didn't help a lick. We know all this, but the numbers are staggering. Miami finished 126th in 3rd down offense. 126th!!! Kent State, Maryland, UTEP, and Charlotte were the only teams worse. So when I see a stat like the one SOTU posted, most people think "Wow the defense needs to be better". And it does, to a point. But to me, the OFFENSE is the root of the problem. When you rank 59th in points per game, 126th on 3rd down, 124th in time of possession....guess what? Your defense is going to face a ton of plays. Not that this is news in any way, but **** the offense needs to be better this year. They really put the defense in so many awful spots last season. And with the diminished depth on the DL, we can't face almost 1000 plays again this season. I wonder if Richt does go with 12 again, if he plays a little bit slower just to limit those breakneck 3 and outs we had last year where we take 16 seconds off the clock and right back onto the field for the defense.

 

[MikeCane18]

Need to see average opponent starting position before you can give the defense a pass. Both units were inconsistent on 3rd down and if you want to play with the big boys you can't have both units tripping over each other to see who can be worse on 3rd downs. Both need to improve.

 

[Fawk_U Haters]

SOTU just tweeted that Miami defended the 11th most plays in America in 2017. 989 plays defended.

And predictably, most of the replies are about the defense, its inability to get off the field on 3rd down, and how much the turnovers helped. All valid points. But I look at it a different way......

Yes, the defense finished the year 75th in the country on opponent's 3rd down percentage. They allowed the opposition to convert 39.55% of the time, which is obviously terrible and needs to improve.

But I look at it even more as a byproduct of the offense's ineptitude (but I'm an offensive guy, I pretty much spin everything back to how the offense performs). Looking at it a little closer, yes, the defense defended the 11th most plays in the country. But on that avalanche of plays, they only gave up 4.77 yards per play. That is MUCH better than every single team who faced more plays. As a matter of fact, that number ranked 12th in the country. So take away the turnovers, take away the 3rd down defense, and STILL, every single time the opposition snapped the ball, Miami only gave up 4.77 YPP. Only 11 teams were better.

But the offense didn't help a lick. We know all this, but the numbers are staggering. Miami finished 126th in 3rd down offense. 126th!!! Kent State, Maryland, UTEP, and Charlotte were the only teams worse. So when I see a stat like the one SOTU posted, most people think "Wow the defense needs to be better". And it does, to a point. But to me, the OFFENSE is the root of the problem. When you rank 59th in points per game, 126th on 3rd down, 124th in time of possession....guess what? Your defense is going to face a ton of plays. Not that this is news in any way, but **** the offense needs to be better this year. They really put the defense in so many awful spots last season. And with the diminished depth on the DL, we can't face almost 1000 plays again this season. I wonder if Richt does go with 12 again, if he plays a little bit slower just to limit those breakneck 3 and outs we had last year where we take 16 seconds off the clock and right back onto the field for the defense.

If we tackled half as well last year as we did in 2016 we wouldn't have been in that position. Check the tape, there were probably 30 times on a 3rd down where we had the play defended and all we had to do was make the tackle. We didn't and they got a first down. In 2016 we were BEASTLY at tackling and getting a guy to the ground with the first defender. Hence the reason why our stats looks so much better.

 

[hoops156]

If we tackled half as well last year as we did in 2016 we wouldn't have been in that position. Check the tape, there were probably 30 times on a 3rd down where we had the play defended and all we had to do was make the tackle. We didn't and they got a first down. In 2016 we were BEASTLY at tackling and getting a guy to the ground with the first defender. Hence the reason why our stats looks so much better.

beginning of FSU game is one that comes to mind where the guy (not akers but the name is escaping me now) runs through one of our tacklers for a 30 yard run

 

[dookie blaylock]

beginning of FSU game is one that comes to mind where the guy (not akers but the name is escaping me now) runs through one of our tacklers for a 30 yard run

patrick

 

[ThomasM]

The O converted 3.6 3rd downs a game, for 129th best in the country. That is the absolute biggest reason our D was on the field so much. Yeah, our D gave up more 3rd downs than we'd all have liked, but truth is no D has every given up a 1st down on 3rd down when they weren't on the field. Our O completely sucked on 3rd down, whereas the D could have been a little better.

 

[DTP]

The defense wasn't perfect last season but at least there were some things they were very good at. They were near the top of the nation in sacks, tfls, yards per play and turnovers forced.

The offense by contrast, didn't do anything particularly great. They ranked in the middle of the pack or worse in most offensive categories.

 

[warpigs58]

As the season went on and the offense continued to struggle you could see it taking a toll on the defense. By the end of the year they were just worn down.

 

[Kn[]_[]ckles3o5]

It's a lot easier for an offense to complete a third down play when they are allowed to hold freely without threat of a penalty. The defense gets a pass in my eyes solely because they would have had 10-15 more sacks as a unit if holding calls were actually made in any of the 7 games we went without a call.

O linemen are aware of when they are getting away with **** and they will take everything the refs will give them until they are called for it.

 

[brock]

Product of both... and not just one exclusively. How many times did we give up 3rd and longs or how many times did it seem we couldnt get off the field... you guessed it, too many.

It’s a 2 way street because you can say yeah the offense didn’t do well on 3rd downs(they didn’t) you can also the defense allowed the other team to continue drives, burning clock, running more and more plays because the defense couldn’t get off the field on critical downs

 

[Pentagon Cane]

So the thing I gather the most from this spring is the defense tackled very consistently. Want to get off the field most consistently? We should be an excellent tackling team this fall. We have upperclassmen everywhere.

 

[westcoastcanes]

Yeah, our D gave up more 3rd downs than we'd all have liked, but truth is no D has every given up a 1st down on 3rd down when they weren't on the field. Our O completely sucked on 3rd down, whereas the D could have been a little better.

Our 3rd down defense ranking (75th) is a success/failure percentage, not a volume statistic. Not sure if that phrase sounded like a smart saying in your head, but their time of possession is not reflected in this metric.

Nobody is going to deny that the offense couldn't have helped them more by extending more drives and lowering the number of possessions, but that doesn't take away that Manny's defense was factually bad on third down independent of the offense.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

Good responses and I wasn't meaning it was only 1 side of the ball....just pointing out when someone sees a stat like the one posted, the immediate reaction is to vilify the defense. And they deserve some blame, obviously. But JMO, it's more on the offense. As someone pointed out, the defense did do a lot of things well. They did some things poorly, notably tackling and 3rd down defense, but there were some real positives at times. The offense really didn't do anything well.

There's a great, famous clip from NFL Films of the Packers in the '60s. The defense gets a stop, and NFL Hall of Fame MLB Ray Nitschke is coming off the field as Bart Starr is running onto it to start a drive. Nitschke turns and yells to Starr, "HEY! TRY TO HOLD EM, WILL YA?" I thought of that clip all too often last year when watching Miami.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

Our 3rd down defense ranking (75th) is a percentage, not a volume statistic. Not sure if that phrase sounded like a smart saying in your head, but their time of possession is not reflected in this metric.

Nobody is going to deny that the offense couldn't have helped them more by extending more drives and lowering the number of possessions, but that doesn't take away that Manny's defense was factually bad on third down independent of the offense.

We faced the 4th most 3rd downs in the entire country. Yes, the opposition converted more of them (high percentage) than what's acceptable, but when you're facing more, you're going to give up more. And we faced the 11th most plays overall. Bottom line, the defense has to get off the field more. But the offense has to help. When you are 12th in the country in YPP given up, but you face the 11th most plays....a large chunk of that is your offense is going 3 and out really quickly far too often.

 

[Hurracanes]

When you have a ****** OL and QB what do you expect? It will be deja vu this season too. That being said, our Defense has to do a better job on 3rd downs. We have struggled severely in that department since the Golden days.

 

[Milkcane]

Our 3rd down defense ranking (75th) is a success/failure percentage, not a volume statistic. Not sure if that phrase sounded like a smart saying in your head, but their time of possession is not reflected in this metric.

Nobody is going to deny that the offense couldn't have helped them more by extending more drives and lowering the number of possessions, but that doesn't take away that Manny's defense was factually bad on third down independent of the offense.

This
Not much of an excuse for being THAT **** bad on 3rd down. Most of that was due to Manny staying in base defense vs multiple wr sets, instead of putting more cover guys on the field. That's why so many freshman qb's looked like Marino against us.
The new defensive changes should help improve those numbers.

 

[westcoastcanes]

We faced the 4th most 3rd downs in the entire country. Yes, the opposition converted more of them (high percentage) than what's acceptable, but when you're facing more, you're going to give up more. And we faced the 11th most plays overall. Bottom line, the defense has to get off the field more. But the offense has to help. When you are 12th in the country in YPP given up, but you face the 11th most plays....a large chunk of that is your offense is going 3 and out really quickly far too often.

Perhaps you just completely glossed over where I mentioned the offense needing to help. Like I said, the offensive performance was undeniably a contributor. Something else that helps that stat though is getting yourself off the field. 75th in 3rd down percentage. 84th in 1st downs given up overall. A better offense only gets them closer to the middle of the pack unless it is a clock killing triple option that nearly relieves the defense of responsibility completely

Anyway, make all the excuses for Diaz that you want, his crowd loving turnover chain defense is trash at three important stats: total defense, third down% and red zone defense. See I can cherry pick stats too.

 

[ThomasM]

Our 3rd down defense ranking (75th) is a success/failure percentage, not a volume statistic. Not sure if that phrase sounded like a smart saying in your head, but their time of possession is not reflected in this metric.

Nobody is going to deny that the offense couldn't have helped them more by extending more drives and lowering the number of possessions, but that doesn't take away that Manny's defense was factually bad on third down independent of the offense.

Our D could have done a better job on 3rd downs. My problem is the O kept putting them back on the field so often by not converting 3rd downs. It does wear on a D being thrown back out there time after time. How often did the D get a turnover, only to have the O do nothing with it?

 

[brock]

Our D could have done a better job on 3rd downs. My problem is the O kept putting them back on the field so often by not converting 3rd downs. It does wear on a D being thrown back out there time after time. How often did the D get a turnover, only to have the O do nothing with it?

Do your part and get off the field, defense wasn’t perfect. When the offense did score what happened to the lapses in the Virginia game( down by 14) offenses ties that score. Then the defense proceeds to go down again by 14(it was 28-14) at the point and then the offense takes over the game(in addition to Jaquan’s int td). Or what about the Wisconsin game(offense had a 14-3 lead) defense then proceeds to let the Wisconsin offense have whatever it wants.... or how about FSU game(we had a lead late in the game) defense then let’s FSU score easily to tie it up and eventually go ahead. The offense then scores again to rectify their mistake from the defense allowing two late tds in the 4th. Contrary to the belief of many on here the offense saved the defense *** in multiple games

 

[Cane Dynasty]

We were what we thought we'd be.