… alleged shark-humping just means more.
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Negative-87 yard plays don’t grow on trees.
Can’t say that I buy the overall premise of this post, but this is a good point to absorb as you ponder Mississippi State’s impressive defensive statistics:
So far this year, Mississippi State has allowed just 618 total yards, 206 yards per game and 3.34 yards per play. That’s good enough to rank the Bulldogs from Starkville as the nation’s fourth-best defense (as measured by yards per play).
Included in that tally, however, is one huge outlier. Against Louisiana Tech, Miss State’s opponent fumbled, kicked, and otherwise back-pedaled for a loss of 87 yards on a single play. That happened. A truly opportunistic Mississippi State would have recovered the fumble and scored a touchdown off of it. But instead, LA Tech found itself in a hilarious third-and-goal with 93 yards to go.
If you back that play out and say that LA Tech ran for a gain of 0, the Bulldogs look quite different defensively.
For instance, suddenly Louisiana Tech’s 315-yard output crosses the 400 mark. That’s right, Louisiana Tech racked up 315 yards against the vaunted Mississippi State defense, and that includes an 87-yard blooper of a loss. That ain’t a great stat for Miss State, folks. Further, removing that outlier pushes Mississippi State to 705 yards, 235 yards per game and 3.81 yards per play. That’s actually a meaningful distinction drops the Bulldogs to 10th in total defense. Against Charleston Southern (only 17 points scored all year), Louisiana Tech and a typically poor and still-adjusting LSU offense, that’s not terrifying in and of itself.
It’s still a pretty good job, just not as atmospheric. Further, one place where MSU’s defense clearly excels over Georgia’s is in garbage time. In three games, Mississippi State has given up a total of 128 yards (120 passing; only eight rushing) and one touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Filed under SEC Football, Stats Geek!
Auburn, they couldn’t have done it without you.
A big thank you is deserved.
6 Straight seasons with a victory over an SEC West team for Georgia, which hosts Mississippi State on the first Saturday of 2017 with interdivision games. The next-longest active streak for an SEC East team is two seasons with victories over SEC West opponents. In regular-season games over the past six seasons, Georgia has a 10-3 record against the SEC West while the rest of the Eastern Division has a 20-55 record versus Western Division opponents. The SEC West finished with a 9-5 advantage over the SEC East in regular-season games last season after the East won the final four games. Alabama defeated Florida in the 2016 SEC championship game for the West’s eighth consecutive victory in the title contest.
Feel free to keep up the good work.
Filed under Georgia Football
Your eyes weren’t deceiving you.
Groo asks the musical question, “Was 3rd-and-Grantham really a thing?”
Apparently, yes.
But you knew that.
The question now is whether it still is.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Et tu, Aaron?
Aaron Murray, maybe to establish a little pundit cred, has picked Mississippi State, albeit reluctantly, to win tomorrow. He’s going to be on the field for the game, which ought to be somewhat awkward, but the hilarious part is that some of his former teammates are giving him crap about it.
Filed under Georgia Football
If MSU brings a Simmons to the fight…
Georgia brings a Carter and Bellamy.
Filed under Georgia Football, Stats Geek!
Today, in stat of the day
Care to guess which SEC team has allowed the fewest quarterback pressures?
Yeah, me, too.
Also, consider that Arkansas and Florida have only played two games this season. Yikes.
Filed under SEC Football, Stats Geek!
