FSU Football: How Good Was 2015 Defense?
By Kelvin Hunt
- DAY: Available Yards Percentage, the total number of yards earned on opponent drives as a percentage of the total number of yards available based on starting field position.
The FSU defense allowed opponents to earn almost 37 percent of the yards available to them (.368). That was good for No. 17 nationally.
Not bad.
In layman’s terms. Let’s say an offense started at its own 25 yard line after a touchback, that means there’s 75 yards available to them before would score a touchdown. If they get two first downs(20 yards) they would have gotten 26.6 percent of the yards available to them.
FSU did a good job of pinning teams deep in their own territory in 2015 which helps this number. Cason Beatty caught a lot of flack his first three years, but he was absolutely the X-factor in a few games last year. He averaged over 45 yards per punt, and the FSU kickoff team only gave up an average of 16.8 yards a return.
It’s difficult for any team to drive 75-80 yards consistently, and teams often get conservative deep in their own territory which allows defenses to force second/third and long situations which puts them in an advantageous position.
Next: Explosive Drive Rate