Tale of the tape

If Goldilocks were a college football fan, she’d love the Georgia Bulldogs, statistically speaking, at least.

Check out the ranking summary from the NCAA stats site:

TEAM RANKINGS
119 teams ranked in Division Football Bowl Subdivision
12 teams ranked in Southeastern Conference
Category	National Rank	Actual	National Leader	Actual	Conf Rank	Southeastern Conference Leader	Actual
Rushing Offense	38	174.30	Navy	357.20	4	Arkansas	297.00
Passing Offense	73	209.10	Texas Tech	480.64	8	Kentucky	268.70
Total Offense	68	383.40	Texas Tech	542.82	7	LSU	455.30
Scoring Offense	32	32.80	Hawaii	50.22	6	Florida	41.30
Rushing Defense	33	126.90	Oregon St.	62.10	5	LSU	66.00
Pass Efficiency Defense	55	122.80	LSU	92.62	9	LSU	92.62
Total Defense	25	328.40	LSU	236.80	4	LSU	236.80
Scoring Defense	32	22.20	Ohio St.	11.36	4	LSU	16.70
Net Punting	18	37.91	Auburn	39.70	2	Auburn	39.70
Punt Returns	16	13.82	Kansas St.	22.06	3	Alabama	17.45
Kickoff Returns	52	22.00	Kansas	30.19	7	Tennessee	25.07
Turnover Margin	34	.50	Kansas	2.00	4	LSU	1.30
Pass Defense	27	201.50	Rutgers	153.20	8	South Carolina	163.27
Passing Efficiency	39	132.42	Oklahoma	179.95	5	Florida	175.57
Sacks	41	2.40	Georgia Tech	4.30	3	LSU	3.10
Tackles For Loss	43	6.60	Georgia Tech	9.50	4	LSU	7.10
Sacks Allowed	15	1.20	Tennessee	.30	4	Tennessee	.30

Get it?  Not too hot, not too cold…

Georgia doesn’t lead the SEC in a single statistical category, but is only in the bottom fourth of the conference in one category (pass efficiency defense).  Nationally, it’s the same story:  the punting game is in the top 15% of the country, and the worst statistical showing is 73rd (passing offense).

You’d hope that Goldie would take note of that national ranking in sacks allowed, though.  It’s probably churlish of me to point this out, but LSU currently ranks 79th in that category.  I’m certainly appreciative of Les Miles wanting to go in another direction at offensive line coach after last season.  I imagine Mark Richt is even more so.