State In The Stats – Two Weeks In
Long-time readers of the blog know I love to look at national statistical rankings. They're not perfect, particularly this early in a season, but after week four or so, they should start to give us a quantifyable idea of where State stands relative to the rest of the FBS programs.
Bright green numbers mean top 25% of FBS; dark green, 26–50%; dark red, 51–74%; bright red, bottom 25%
| Offense | Rank | Value | |
| Scoring offense | 106 | 15.5 | pts/gm |
| Rushing offense | 110 | 86.5 | yds/gm |
| Passing offense | 59 | 246.0 | yds/gm |
| Total offense | 95 | 332.5 | yds/gm |
Ugh. Lots of bright red. Don't get me wrong, I like the color, but when it means three out of four metrics of your offense are in the bottom fourth nationally, that's not good. The passing offense is the only element of the game toting any water at the moment, but to say the passing is game is working would be a lie, as well.
A lot of these numbers have to do with how poorly our offensive line has played thus far. State is 114th in sacks allowed, 3.5 per game. As Derek Medlin points out in his Extra Points column, in year six we're still waiting on State to develop the kind of offensive line the Tom O'Brien staff was known for at BC.
| Defense | Rank | Value | |
| Scoring defense | 53 | 21.0 | pts/gm |
| Rushing defense | 41 | 113.0 | yds/gm |
| Passing defense | 89 | 268.5 | yds/gm |
| Total defense | 63 | 381.5 | yds/gm |
A better story here, but perhaps a tad misleading. State holding UConn to just seven points offset their dismal 35-point effort in the Tennessee game, and the Huskie offense performed to their low expectations, managing only 35 total rushing yards on 32 attempts. But State's defense played a part in taking away their rushing game, and the defensive secondary that looked so bad against UT bounced back nicely with three interceptions and some key plays late.
As coaches are fond to say, the defense is typically ahead of the offense this time of year, and these number bear that out I suppose. But neither set is good, and the offense has a LONG way to go if this team has any expectations on fulfilling the promise this coaching staff and many fans had for it.
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