Defensive stats to know following week 4

[Rhavicc]

Enjoy crunching numbers from time to time, decided to do it again following our game vs Mizzou, so without further ado.

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Scoring defense in conference play (2015):
Kentucky has played 3 conference games to this point, the most of any team in the country. To this point, in conference play, Kentucky has allowed 16.3 PPG, which is good for 8th best in the country, 2nd in the SEC (Mississippi State allows 15 PPG after 2 SEC games).

Scoring defense in conference play through first 3 SEC games (2014):
In Kentucky's first 3 conference games of the 2014 season, which came against South Carolina, Florida, and LSU, Kentucky gave up an average of 38.3 PPG.
To this point
How do you all like a 22 point improvement defensively from last season? I love it.

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Rushing defense in conference play (2015)
Through 3 conference games, Kentucky has allowed 142 rushing yards per game, which is 27th in the nation.

Rushing defense in conference play through first 3 SEC games (2014)
Through the first 3 conference games last season, Kentucky allowed 278 rushing yards per game, so to this point, Kentucky has nearly cut that number in half. A remarkable improvement.

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Passing defense in conference play (2015)
Kentucky has allowed 191 passing yards per game, with is 23rd nationally. Kentucky has also only allowed 2 passing touchdowns through the air through 3 games, while grabbing 2 interceptions as well.

Passing defense in conference play through first 3 SEC games (2014)
Through our first 3 conference games last season, Kentucky allowed 211 passing yards per game, which means Kentucky is giving up 20 yards less per game so far this season. Not bad, considering that Kentucky passing defense was ranked 44th in the nation last season.

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Red Zone defense (2015)
Kentucky has allowed a TD% of 38.46 so far this season, which is the 15th best RZ defense nationally.

Red Zone defense in conference play (2015)
In conference play, Kentucky has allowed a TD% of 36.36, which is ranked 13th in the nation. Very good through 3 conference games.

Red Zone defense (2014)
In 2014, Kentucky allowed a TD% of 68.18, which was 111th in the nation. So far this season, Kentucky has nearly improved by 30%

Red Zone defense in conference play (2014)
In conference play in 2014, Kentucky allowed a TD% of 67.65, which ranked 103rd in the nation.

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My take:
Kentucky has improved tenfold defensively, and the defense has seemingly improved every single game this season, which is tremendous. Kentucky has performed very well in every aspect defensively, and am eager to see how much the defense improves from this point.
To this point, the trend of Stoops having very good defenses in year 3 of whatever coaching jobs he is at has continued.
Now let's go out and pad the stats a bit and build some confidence against EKU, then come out strong against Auburn!

 

[K_TIME]

I love the statistical breakdown of just SEC games this year vs. last year....that is how you can tell how far you've come is vs. legit competition...and all signs indicate UK has come a ton in 2015.

 

[THE_OAK]

Well done Rhavicc, I'm so glad that we have a team that actually plays defense. I can't wait to see how well our D develops throughout the season. We have a very bright future on the defensive side of the ball, and that's a statement I have never been able to make before in my lifetime.

 

[BoulderCat]

That's an excellent statistical comparison/argument which clearly shows what we knew already. Our D is better. Nice job! That it blends in with the trend of Stoop's teams making big strides his 3rd year is icing on the cake. Sorry, being a climber I can't help the analogy. Stoop's is moving this program up a very challenging mountain. It falls, and slips, but overall is gaining altitude. It will fall and slip some more, but a picture is beginning to clearly materialize. This program is moving up, and as one might expect given Stoop's history the move is getting tremendous help from an improving D. Wouldn't it be something if Stoop's sticks around awhile, and produces a stream of teams which finds UK annually among the top defenses in the country? A fan can dream can't he?

 

[Smashcat]

Good stuff. Stoops has to be particularly proud of the defensive improvement.

 

[ncwildcat#1]

go big blue!

 

[ukalumni00]

SEC speed, size, talent, and depth. Would still like to find some elite level DEs to join the roster. Other positions are getting much better with depth.

 

[dcspurlock]

While we haven't played LSU and that beast of a running game this yr as opposed to last that run D improvement is pretty dang good. But the pass D is what stands out to me seeing we've already played two of the better passing teams in the league. And red zone D is just crazy. I already knew that without looking at numbers. But the numbers make it stand out that much more. And what's winning games in this league is scoring in the red zone as we've done really well this season and keeping points to a minimum when the other teams reach the red zone. I'd like to see a break down of points per red zone trip of our offense vs our defense. That's gonna win games this year and so far we've been very good at both.

 

[KyCatFan]

="Rhavicc, post: 2342033, member: 12698"]Enjoy crunching numbers from time to time, decided to do it again following our game vs Mizzou, so without further ado.

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Scoring defense in conference play (2015):
Kentucky has played 3 conference games to this point, the most of any team in the country. To this point, in conference play, Kentucky has allowed 16.3 PPG, which is good for 8th best in the country, 2nd in the SEC (Mississippi State allows 15 PPG after 2 SEC games).

Wonder where you got that idea?

http://kentucky.forums.rivals.com/t...ing-up-16-points-a-game-in-conference.117941/

 

[jrburt]

Great deal of work and really appreciate it. But the first 3 sec games of last year were Florida Vandy and USCjr...Also, Florida was a 3OT game so I do not like to count that when you are comparing one year to another, That number last year is 25 points in those 3 games. Also, considering we have played Missouri, Florida and USCjr, both years it would seem to reason that you would compare those games to determine if we are going up or down in defensive production.

The average points given up on those 3 teams last year was 26 points if you don't count the OT's in the UF game...

Big improvement to go from 26 to 16....

 

[UK Widget]

Wait till we start reeling in tons of high 4-star and 5-star players

 

[CatDaddy4daWin]

fantastic stats, and alot of folks were saying that the defense was gonna be terrible this year. Smart people knew better. I got so mad when KSR kept telling us how awful the defense was gonna be, bla bla bla. Glad to see some stats start to back up very, very solid play. How often has Kentucky been able to score 'only 21' and not lose a game in the SEC? Having Flannigan and Hatcher only makes us that more potent. Real interested in seeing how we do vs Auburn. That's a game I now believe we absolutely can win.