FSU football defense: Improve these 3 areas and be elite in 2023
By Kelvin Hunt
First Down Success Rate/Run Defense
You may have noticed I placed some context in parenthesis surrounding the uptick in rushing yards allowed in 2022. The loss of defensive tackle Fabien Lovett was massive in that department, and FSU struggled to stop the run against good offenses in his absence.
The defense often found themselves allowing positive yardage in early downs, creating manageable distances on third down, and allowing opposing offenses a choice between the run and the pass. It’s why you saw FSU rank No. 30th in Busted Drive Rate(DBD) in FEI advanced metrics.
The translation is FSU defense only had 11.6 percent of offensive drives that gained zero or negative yards. For comparison sake, the best defense in the nation, Georgia, was at 18.1 percent in this category.
We rarely saw the defense force three and outs, and that’s something we need to see more of because that does two things. It decreases the third downs faced and red zone opportunities an offense will have in a game.
If teams can’t reach the red zone, there chances of scoring touchdowns dramatically decreases.