2011: Defense overall

Having concluded our review of the offense, we now turn to the defense, starting with the overall metrics.

We presented the entire offensive review with the context that scoring and offensive production was up overall in the MAC, and you had to do better just to stay even to your competition.  Since we are only using conference games, that means the defense has to have the reverse effect:  defensive production was down, and if you moved ahead, you were doing better than average.

In 2010, BG was 10th in scoring defense at 30.9 points per game.  Despite the fact that the defense FELT better, BG was actually only 1.5 points better at 29.4.  That was good, however, for 7th in the MAC.  This actually fits with everything we found about our team, which is that while 2011 was better than 2010, the team only progressed to an average or below average position.

BG allowed 5.9 yards per play in 2010, which was 11th in the MAC.  That actually improved only to 5.8 yards per play in 2011, good for 9th in the MAC.

So, overall, the defense did not improve as much as we might have thought from 2010 to 2011.  Other teams fell, and relative to the competition, there was more improvement.  In spots, they were much better, I think--Miami, and Temple, for example--but in other spots, they were no better--or no more productive--than before.