The Most Important Defensive Stat Can't Be Found in a Box Score

By D.J. Byrnes on November 9, 2015 at 10:06 am
Oklahoma State DC makes valid point.
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Glenn Spencer's Oklahoma State defense surrendered 663 yards to Texas Christian's vaunted offense in the Cowboys 42-29 victory over the Horned Frogs.

While 663 yards might sound like a bad day at the office for any defense no matter the opponent, Spencer doesn't think so. He views his defense's performance through a different lens.

From Footballscoop.com:

As far as plays go, 110 is about twice as many plays as most defenses saw on Saturday, so giving up 663 yards really isn’t all that bad in the grand scheme of things. Spencer noted that sentiment after the game.

“Some teams will play 55 snaps today. I think we defended 17 possessions, 110 (snaps), so we just played two ball games compared to what some people do.” Spencer told NewsOK.

“That’s why the yardage thing is so irrelevant. People of influence have got to figure this out how to evaluate defense.”

It might sound unorthodox, but it's hard to argue with the results.


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