Take one look at the nation’s statistical leaders and you’ll find something that might come as a surprise: Six Big Ten teams rank in the Top 20 in the country in total defense.
But don’t tell that to Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald.
“I'm a pretty firm believer that stats are for losers," he said Tuesday on the weekly Big Ten coaches teleconference.
While Fitzgerald is right to a certain extent — any coach will tell you wins and losses are more important than statistics — the numbers are certainly worth mentioning at this point in the year.
A lot of early-season stats can be inflated because of weak non-conference schedules and whatnot, but we are now near the midway point of the college football season and they deserve to be looked at a little closer. Specifically in the Big Ten, where the total defense numbers kind of jump off the page.
Often the national media's punching bag (and rightfully so), the Big Ten has been surprisingly not-so-bad this year, especially on defense. At least that's what the stats say.
Entering today's games, Wisconsin is ranked eighth in the country in total defense (286 yards per game), Penn State is ninth (289), Michigan State is 11th (297), Iowa is 15th (311), Ohio State is 18th (315) and Michigan, despite being 2-4, is 19th (316).
"That doesn't surprise me," Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said of the Big Ten's defensive numbers. "That's good for our conference."
| team | yards per game | ncaa rank |
|---|---|---|
| Wisconsin | 285.6 | 8th |
| Penn State | 288.8 | 9th |
| Michigan State | 297.0 | 11th |
| Iowa | 310.4 | 15th |
| Ohio State | 314.4 | 18th |
| Michigan | 315.5 | 19th |
| Minnesota | 341.2 | 34th |
| Nebraska | 346.7 | 35th |
| Northwestern | 374.8 | 56th |
| Rutgers | 396.7 | 69th |
| Purdue | 408.7 | 76th |
| Indiana | 415.2 | 78th |
| Maryland | 451.2 | 97th |
| Illinois | 482.3 | 112th |
It's probably fair to say that in today's pass-happy, spread-offense era that offenses have an advantage on defenses.
There are currently 42 teams in college football averaging over 450 yards of total offense per game and 38 teams average more than 35 points per contest.
Having said that, however, there are still six Big Ten teams which rank in the nation's Top 27 in scoring defense. Ohio State ranks 34th nationally, allowing 20.8 points per game.
"In today's day in age with the way the rules are for the offense, I think that's pretty good defense," Fitzgerald said laughing. "When I was playing they'd say hold your opponent to less than 17 and you're gonna win a lot of games. And now, it's four scores. If you can keep your opponent off the scoreboard less than four times, you've got a chance to win."
So, is it possible for teams to play shut down defense anymore like they did back in the day?
"I don't know — that's certainly something I'm gonna watch this weekend, too," Meyer said. "There's certainly some great defenses out there. I don't know the averages, but it seems like scoring is up."
With that in mind, these numbers likely will not remain like this for the rest of the season.
But for now — while they may not mean much to coaches — the Big Ten's defenses have statistically been amongst the best in the country. Of course, that doesn't always lead to a strong win-loss record, but for a league that has certainly taken its fair share of shots it's something that can be looked at as a positive.
"For me, stats get played out by the end of the season after you look at everything," Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio said. "It's a little bit early to lay it all out there like that, but there's good football being played here and there's very good coaching."
