BYU vs Opponent Averages thru Game 4

Each week, I'll be showing how BYU is doing compared to our opponent's average offense and defense. What I do, is look at the season stats for our opponents, remove the stats from the BYU game and see how BYU compared to the rest of the opponent's schedule.



Lines in blue are ones where BYU is better than average. Lines in red are ones where BYU is below average. Remember, on offense you want to be above average, and defense you want to be holding opponents below average.



Virginia

BYU scored 3.7 points below UVA's average Scoring Defense.

BYU gained 150 more yards than UVA's average Total Defense.

BYU ran for 56.7 more yards than UVA's average Rushing Defense.

BYU was 12.8 PER points below UVA's average PER Defense.

BYU allowed 0.7 fewer points than UVA's average Scoring Offense.

BYU allowed 69.7 fewer yards than UVA's average Total Offense.

BYU allowed 51.3 fewer yards than UVA's average Rushing Defense.

BYU held UVA 14.9 PER points below their average PER Offense.



Texas

BYU scored 16 points above Texas' average Scoring Defense.

BYU gained 284 more yards than Texas' average Total Defense.

BYU ran for 386.3 more yards than Texas' average Rushing Defense.

BYU was 64.2 PER points below Texas' average PER Defense.

BYU allowed 15.7 fewer points than Texas' average Scoring Offense.

BYU allowed 50.7 fewer yards than Texas' average Total Offense.

BYU allowed 104.7 fewer yards than Texas' average Rushing Defense.

BYU held Texas 16.8 PER points below their average PER Offense.



Utah

BYU scored 15.0 points below Utah's average Scoring Defense.

BYU gained 48.7 more yards than Utah's average Total Defense.

BYU ran for 86.3 more yards than Utah's average Rushing Defense.

BYU was 74.9 PER points below Utah's average PER Defense.

BYU allowed 29.3 fewer points than Utah's average Scoring Offense.

BYU allowed 137 fewer yards than Utah's average Total Offense.

BYU allowed 119.7 fewer yards than Utah's average Rushing Defense.

BYU held Utah 15.6 PER points below their average PER Offense.



Middle Tennessee

BYU scored 8.5 points above MTSU's average Scoring Defense.

BYU gained 51 more yards than MTSU's average Total Defense.

BYU ran for 156.5 more yards than MTSU's average Rushing Defense.

BYU was 9.0 PER points above MTSU's average PER Defense.

BYU allowed 21 fewer points than MTSU's average Scoring Offense.

BYU allowed 198.3 fewer yards than MTSU's average Total Offense.

BYU allowed 96.5 fewer yards than MTSU's average Rushing Defense.

BYU held MTSU 41 PER points below their average PER Offense.



So through three opponents played, BYU's Offense has:

Scored more Points than they allow versus two of four opponents.

Gained more Total Yards than they allow versus four of four opponents.

Gained more Rushing Yards than they allow versus four of four opponents.

Had a PER above average versus one of four opponents.



BYU's Defense has:

Allowed fewer Points than they score versus four of four opponents.

Allowed fewer Total Yards than they gain versus four of four opponents.

Allowed fewer Rushing Yards than they gain versus four of four opponents.

Allowed a PER below average versus four of four opponents.



- Middle Tennessee is the first game of the season where BYU was above the opponents averages in all categories. The only game last year with such dominance was Georgia Tech. BYU did it twice in 2011 (Idaho St & Hawaii), once in 2010 (UTEP), and twice in 2009 (Tulane & UNLV), so it's a pretty rare feat (7 times in last 56 games).



- Only one of the last 22 opponents has reached their scoring average (OS in 2012).



- On average, through four games, BYU is averaging 2.6 more points than our average opposing defense. And we're allowing 17.7 fewer points than the average opposing scoring offense.



- On average, BYU is gaining 158.7 more total yards and allowing 121.9 fewer total yards.



- On average, BYU is gaining 177 more rushing yards and allowing 96.0 fewer rushing yards.



- On average, BYU is 45.5 PER points below opposing PER defenses and holding teams 27.2 PER points below their averages.

I don't understand all of this but it beats by 500 yards all the sour grapes littering the field in other threads.

nuk13 wrote:
I don't understand all of this but it beats by 500 yards all the sour grapes littering the field in other threads.

Simply put:



BYU's defense is dominant. BYU's rushing attack is powerful. This year's BYU passing attack is letting us down.



OK ... probably over-simplified. Spiff: that is an intriguing analysis. Good job!

I think tomorrow I may do this for Utah State. I think this is a good way to see how a team is doing compared to its level of competition. If you're a good team and playing a bad team you should be well above average. If you're playing a good team being above their average is to be commended.



The way I look at it, I always want BYU to meet the PER standard. But if a team averages a 150 defensive PER, getting to 135 isn't much to crow about. But if they average a 100 PER and you get to 120 you prob did better than the first team.