No surprises: offense and defense number crunching
Observations and statistics on ASU’s offense and defense this season:
The offense hasn’t been as good, but the defense has been a bit better.
You probably didn’t need me to tell you that. But the numbers do back it up.
The most striking drops on offense are in the running game and red-zone touchdown production.
The 169.7 yards a game rushing are the fewest since the 2004 team had just 102.9. Of course, the 2004 team, the first to operate from the Spread offense, holds the school record for passing yards.
This season’s team has scored 31 touchdowns from red-zone opportunities. That’s the lowest regular-season total since 2003. The red-zone scoring rate (79.6 percent) is about the same as last year.
Overall on offense, the Mountaineers are averaging 400.7 yards and 30.2 points a game. The yardage total has extended the string of 400-plus-yard offenses to eight seasons in a row, but is the lowest since the 2003 team averaged just 296 a game. The point average is also the lowest since 2003’s average of 22.9, but about the same as the 2005 team that won the first national title.
The Spread production hit its peak from 2007 through 2009, when the Mountaineers averaged 464 to 488 yards a game.
Some possible reasons why the offensive production is down this season: offensive line performance, inexperience and attrition; adjustment to a different quarterback; improved SoCon opponents; and teams have a better handle on defending elements of the Spread offense than a few years ago. And two irreplacable components of those national-title years: Armanti Edwards was so dynamic, and Kevin Richardson such a reliable running back.
Defensively, ASU’s numbers of 343.1 yards allowed and 22.9 points allowed per game are a shade better than last season’s total. But the 66 points and 518 yards allowed against Virginia Tech skew those numbers a bit. This season’s defensive totals are much better than in 2007, but that 2007 team was so prolific on offense it almost didn’t need defense.
Speaking of which, it’s interesting to consider the 2006 and 2007 national-title teams.
The 2006 team posted remarkable defensive numbers. That team allowed just 277 yards and 14.9 points a game.
The 2007 team was all about offense. It averaged 488 yards and 42.7 points a game – both school records. Perhaps the most incredible statistic from that team was red-zone efficiency. It scored 69 out of 75 times inside the 20-yard line, 92 percent of the time.
Read more on the Mountaineers’ offense and defense as well as playoff prospects in Friday’s Winston-Salem Journal.