As we get closer to the bowl season and the first ranking from the selection committee, it seems the rhetoric and arguments are heating up particularly among conferences since there is and will be competition for the playoff spots and the best bowls. Comments have been made about the Big 12 playing arena football, having bad defenses and OU being the only team that pretends to play defense. And the SEC is held up as the gold standard to which all other teams and conferences are compared. So .... what do the facts say?
First of all, an observation: Isn't the primary objective in a college football game to score more points than your opponent? If a result of 'arena football' is scoring more points, then why would it be put forward as a negative, disparaging comment?
Thus far the Big 12 has averaged 78.5 play per game with West Virginia the high at 87 and Texas the low at 65.9. The SEC has averaged 76.4 plays per game with Mississippi the high at 79 and Georgia the low at 64.7. So not a very big difference. But when you look at points per play, the Big 12 has 5 teams (Baylor, TCU, OSU, OU and Texas Tech) in the top 10. The SEC has only one - LSU. So ... what are the points: 1) 'arena football' produces points and 2) if your defense plays most of its games against more efficient Big 12 offenses then the per game stats aren't going to look as good.
In addition there are some corroborating facts from the two Big 12 / SEC games thus far. In the Texas Tech vs Arkansas game, TT averaged 8.4 yards per play. Arkansas has allowed 5.6 yards per play for all opponents this year. On that day TT had a more effective offense than the other teams Arkansas has played. Also, TT has averaged 7.1 yards per play against all opponents this year. So this one game would indicate that Arkansas has a less effective defense than the average team TT has played.
In the OU vs Tennessee game, Tennessee averaged 3.34 yards per play and against all opponents they have averaged 5.5 yards per play. Against all opponents OU has allowed 4.1 yards per play.
Also, the perceptions that exist now are a result of several years of observations. Even though the plays per game this year are fairly comparable, it has not always been so. In 2011 when we missed the playoffs by an eyelash and part of the miss was due to people polls and perceptions, using Alabama's plays per game as a reference, OSU's defense played 3 more games.
First of all, an observation: Isn't the primary objective in a college football game to score more points than your opponent? If a result of 'arena football' is scoring more points, then why would it be put forward as a negative, disparaging comment?
Thus far the Big 12 has averaged 78.5 play per game with West Virginia the high at 87 and Texas the low at 65.9. The SEC has averaged 76.4 plays per game with Mississippi the high at 79 and Georgia the low at 64.7. So not a very big difference. But when you look at points per play, the Big 12 has 5 teams (Baylor, TCU, OSU, OU and Texas Tech) in the top 10. The SEC has only one - LSU. So ... what are the points: 1) 'arena football' produces points and 2) if your defense plays most of its games against more efficient Big 12 offenses then the per game stats aren't going to look as good.
In addition there are some corroborating facts from the two Big 12 / SEC games thus far. In the Texas Tech vs Arkansas game, TT averaged 8.4 yards per play. Arkansas has allowed 5.6 yards per play for all opponents this year. On that day TT had a more effective offense than the other teams Arkansas has played. Also, TT has averaged 7.1 yards per play against all opponents this year. So this one game would indicate that Arkansas has a less effective defense than the average team TT has played.
In the OU vs Tennessee game, Tennessee averaged 3.34 yards per play and against all opponents they have averaged 5.5 yards per play. Against all opponents OU has allowed 4.1 yards per play.
Also, the perceptions that exist now are a result of several years of observations. Even though the plays per game this year are fairly comparable, it has not always been so. In 2011 when we missed the playoffs by an eyelash and part of the miss was due to people polls and perceptions, using Alabama's plays per game as a reference, OSU's defense played 3 more games.
