YPPy-ky-yay, SEC first quarter edition

If you’re a fan of the yards per play metric, then this post at Team Speed Kills will be right up your alley.  Particularly this chart ranking the conference teams by the ratio of offensive to defensive ypp:

Rank Team Offensive YPP Defensive YPP Ratio
1 Louisiana State 6.91 3.46 2.00
2 Alabama 6.69 3.56 1.88
3 Georgia 7.80 4.69 1.66
4 South Carolina 6.71 4.53 1.48
5 Florida 6.42 4.55 1.41
6 Texas A&M 6.02 4.43 1.36
7 Mississippi State 6.71 5.32 1.26
8 Vanderbilt 4.71 4.29 1.10
9 Kentucky 5.87 5.35 1.10
10 Mississippi 7.05 6.67 1.06
11 Auburn 5.42 5.50 0.99
12 Tennessee 5.72 6.73 0.85
13 Missouri 4.10 4.86 0.84
14 Arkansas 4.02 5.88 0.68

Some of this will come as no surprise:  there’s a reason the top five teams on the list are recognized as the five best teams in the SEC.  And why Arkansas has been such a disappointment.

On the other hand, Missouri is kind of turning that whole Big 12 mystique on its head, as it looks quite credible on defense and anemic on offense.

And then there’s that Tennessee defensive number.  Vols, we tried to warn you that the transition to a 3-4 scheme won’t be a smooth one.

27 Comments

Filed under SEC Football, Stats Geek!

27 responses to “YPPy-ky-yay, SEC first quarter edition

  1. Hogbody Spradlin

    So we’re comfortably ahead on offense, and if our defense would get its collective head out of its tuchus earlier in the game, we’d look better on that side of the ball. Have I got this right?

    Like

  2. Puffdawg

    I knew their defense wasn’t supposed to be great, but what’s up with Tennessee’s offense coming in at 10th on off ypp? Chalk it up to them playing Florida?

    Like

    • AthensHomerDawg

      Volmania. Preseason hype. Vol Amnesia. I thought with those WR (before Da’Rick got himself Da’Jected) they would see 7-5. I wonder if 6-6 is their ceiling now.

      Like

  3. TennesseeDawg

    So Vandy has the 3rd best defense in the SEC?

    Like

    • Scorpio Jones, III

      Oh me….I have to go get the cauldron bubbling, for sho.

      Like

    • Cojones

      Tenn Dawg, I was going to point out Vandy’s position, but was going to ask everyone not to let Scorp know. Now do you see what you have done? He won’t fall asleep until Fri morn. He’s going for stunt double backup to the worry dog with his bone in the TV ad.

      Now you have to join him in worrying about Vandy. Today is ashes-in-the-hair Thurs, two days before Bobo hair-pulling-out day. It’s going to be a Hairy week.

      Interesting stats that somehow conform to our mindset. Could it be that we are addicted to a score-based assessment of our team as the penultimate factor while W/L rules the day?

      Like

  4. Scorpio Jones, III

    One thing that stands out about four of the top five teams and correlates to the last team on the list.

    None of the four have played Bama.

    The last team in the list has played Bama.

    Like

  5. paul

    Interesting stuff. When you guest posted with the guy from Rock M Nation he pointed out that Missouri needed to be able to run the ball to establish their passing game. They haven’t really been able to do that consistently and it shows.

    Like

    • Joe Schmoe

      Yes. All the injuries on Mizzou’s OL have really diminished there ability to run. As a UGA fan, I can certainly empathize.

      Like

  6. Scorpio Jones, III

    Both Vandy and Georgia have had one game against theoretically comparable oponents…Does this mean SC is that much better than Misery?

    Or does it mean….hell, who knows what it means?…But it sure could mean exactly what I have been raving like a drooling lunatic about all week.

    Don’t ignore Vandy.

    AUTDA

    Like

    • Cojones

      I already have Franklin’s face photo clipped to the wife’s chickens’s tailfeathers. It looks funny for the chickens when they trot and make his head bounce; looks natural for Franklin; surprises the fox when she sneaks up on the chickens. Sod’s face will go there Sun and SOS will follow the week after. That’s when I kick the clip off.

      Like

      • AthensHomerDawg

        You still having trouble with that fox?

        Like

        • Cojones

          No trouble. Out of seven strangers who moved from a chicken coop in the woods across from us, one hen has survived. I don’t have to dodge the chickenshit that used to be all over the place when they were free-range, thanks to Sybil. The rest of the Amnesian’s chickens are in a pen repleat with house and plush nesting boxes. They get a free-range day when the sky is bright such that hawk shadows will be cast for a chicken-clucker alarm to be sounded. Dark days are the hawk’s best camouflage for attack.

          The chickens fail to understand why they are scheduled like that. You can explain it and even put pictures on their ass and the mother-cluckers still don’t get it. Much like our friends in Columbia who can’t find their ass with a picture, both hands and a search warrant.

          Like

          • Scorpio Jones, III

            Dude, you got some serious Chicken Mojo going there…I have a couple of pretty funny observations I will save for two weeks.

            Like

  7. Mike

    I am gratified to note that the only team on the list to have faced not one but two SEC teams, both on the road, look so credible on both offense and defense.

    Like

  8. Mayor of Dawgtown

    These numbers are great for UGA, particularly on O, but we’ve only played 3 games and 2 were against walkover teams. Let’s see what the numbers look like at the end of the season.

    Like