Highest Rated Defense in 2022 is. Suprise! U of M (so far)
See article from the Athletic (yes, paywall)
https://theathletic.com/3709182/2022/10/19/college-football-stop-rate-d…
October 19th, 2022 at 4:45 PM ^
What’s your login?
October 19th, 2022 at 5:35 PM ^
Awesome
And I don't mean that that's his password. Although it is.
October 19th, 2022 at 3:55 PM ^
FWIW I really like measuring the stop rate: punt, turnover or turnover on downs vs any other metric when evaluating defenses. At the end of the day who really cares about anything else other than that and even points scored can be misleading as special teams and turnovers can create points that a defense has no way of stopping.
Some of this is obviously due to the strength (and yes I use that word quite loosely) of our opposition to date but it's sure nice to be #1 in this category.
October 19th, 2022 at 3:57 PM ^
Although PSU and Maryland are good offenses so that helps with strength of schedule for evaluating the D. The big one is obviously in a few weeks. Probably will have to score 42 again which is entirely possible.
October 19th, 2022 at 7:00 PM ^
Perhaps we hold them to…27?
October 19th, 2022 at 4:12 PM ^
According to Coach Jimmy, all stats are overrated except points. Get with the cult please.
October 19th, 2022 at 6:22 PM ^
Michigan is top 10 in both scoring offense and defense. After Week 7, the Wolverines rank No. 7 in scoring offense, 42.7 points per game, and No. 5 in scoring defense 12.1.
Michigan is ranked 22 in total offense and No. 4 in total defense while No. 4 in sacks with 24. Pass defense is ranked No. 9 and No. 6 in rushing.
October 19th, 2022 at 4:54 PM ^
The only thing that I think that stop rate misses is short field field goals. If the offense gives up a turnover in or near field goal range, the defense should get credit for holding the other team to a field goal. If the other team would be punting except for the fact that the offense handed over gift-wrapped field position, the defense should get credit.
October 19th, 2022 at 8:18 PM ^
I have thought same thing about scoring defense stats. I believe the stat is calculated as opponents’ total points divided by games played. But any safety or TD by opponent’s D (eg pick six) or opponent’s special teams punt or KO return for TD are NOT the fault of a defense. By definition. they were watching on the sidelines when those scored happen
Similarly, if the opponent gets the ball within 10 yards of FG range, does not get a first down, and kicks the FG, then that feels like the D should not be charged with giving up 3 points. It basically gave up no incremental points — the opponent, effectively, already had the 3 in the bag.
I suspect “advanced analytics” do all this including xP/play etc. But for a “simple” stat like points given up by a D, we should not count, you know, points the D did not actually give up.
October 20th, 2022 at 3:04 AM ^
There really needs to be a new way of tracking stats. Like you mentioned we all know points are scored in games that the defense had literally nothing to do with. Not even on the field when it happened. Same for the offense too. A punt return touchdown or a pick six for instance aren’t offensive points scored and shouldn’t be included. Kind of like the idea of how a QB’s stats should be limited by what the WR contributed or how many yards an Oline provides for the RB.
October 19th, 2022 at 3:57 PM ^
My only wish for the D coming into the season was improvement on what seemed like the 85% rate by which opponents would somehow convert on 3rd or 4th and 12+.... So far so good.
October 19th, 2022 at 3:58 PM ^
"Highest Rated" in the subject is a little misleading. Or at-least I generally think of something like Defensive Rating, when I hear a phrase like that. It's actually "Stop Rate" Defense. So this specific indicator is one that specifically measures stops.
What is stop rate? It’s a basic measurement of success: the percentage of a defense’s drives that end in punts, turnovers or a turnover on downs. This simple metric can offer a more accurate reflection of a defense’s effectiveness in today’s faster-tempo game than yards per game or points per game. We’ve been tracking this for each of the past five seasons (here are the final standings for 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017) along with every defense’s points per drive average.
But, beyond that... what is some actual useful information here, especially for those people who may not have a sub?
Michigan now has the No. 1 stop rate defense in college football. The Wolverines are getting stops on nearly 83 percent of all drives this season and couldn’t have been more impressive in a 41-17 win against Penn State in a top-10 showdown, winning on eight of 12 thirds downs and getting a trio of fourth-down stops.
It's an interesting metric, I'm not sure that it actually tells a complete story... you get things like...
Minnesota held the No. 1 spot last week but was dethroned by a 26-14 loss at Illinois. The Gophers ran into the nation’s leading rusher, Chase Brown, and couldn’t slow him down as he rolled to 233 total yards on an absurd 44 touches. The Illini moved up to No. 3 in stop rate this week after limiting Minnesota’s offense to 180 yards, grabbing three takeaways and closing the game with five consecutive stops.
Top 15.
Decent read. Interesting stat. Not sure I'd go so far as to say it's the "Highest Rated Defense" but highest rated as far as stop rate goes sure. Nice that we're on top. Stops are vital, that's for certain.
October 19th, 2022 at 4:25 PM ^
Thank you for actually putting some actual information in the thread for those of us that don't subscribe. The links are nice, but summary information is the winner. Not all the details, just enough to get the gist of the article.
+1 to you, sir. -1 to OP for nothing but a non-link.
October 19th, 2022 at 4:57 PM ^
I like this metric. Not loving that IL and OSU are 3 & 5. Its good to see Sparty is 78th.
October 19th, 2022 at 6:01 PM ^
Thanks for that. Yeah, I’m gonna go out on a limb and assume San Jose State’s D is not better than Georgia’s.
October 19th, 2022 at 6:52 PM ^
Honestly, I just think it's an honor to be in the same conversation as vaunted defenses like SJSU, Minnesota and Illinois.
October 19th, 2022 at 4:17 PM ^
Tired: Mocking people for failing to correctly add a link
Wired: Mocking people for incorrectly creating a new tag
In all seriousness, thanks for adding the actual content somewhere in the post, even if it means that that nonsense Category will live on forever.
October 19th, 2022 at 4:30 PM ^
Gotta be honest, I didn't expect to see Illinois at #3 in the list. That game will be a good test for us and thankfully we have them at home this season.
October 19th, 2022 at 4:46 PM ^
Also gotta wonder what shape Chase Brown will be in by then, if they keep giving it to him 40 times a game. He's already got 46 more carries than Blake Corum, and we're shifting some of Corum's load back to Donovan Edwards as he gets back to full health.
October 19th, 2022 at 6:03 PM ^
Chase Blackandblue
October 19th, 2022 at 4:43 PM ^
The fact 4 of the top 5 are B1G teams is telling you a lot... about B1G offenses.
October 19th, 2022 at 6:02 PM ^
The Iowa Factor (TM)
October 19th, 2022 at 7:10 PM ^
Losing to Illinois 9-6 is impressive.
October 20th, 2022 at 4:33 AM ^
The big ten has some brutal offenses. Purdue may be the 3rd or 4th best offense and they take weeks off as well.
October 19th, 2022 at 7:07 PM ^
I;m not surprised. Hold an offense like Penn Sts to one 1st down in the 1st half, and you are very good. It would be hard to do that to a bad team.