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BYU's defense still continues its dominance on the field and its rise in advanced statistical measurements. Football Outsiders' latest S&P+ numbers show BYU's defense is now 2nd-best in the nation, behind only Alabama.
This ranking comes on the heels of the Zion Curtain, BYU's defense, holding its 12th-straight opponent (Utah State) under 300 yards of offense.
Football Outsiders uses advanced stats to measure success against opponents played, not just success in a statistical vacuum. Again, visit their Defensive Rankings page for more explanations.
In a continued effort to add my own perspective on this, I have broken down how BYU's opponents do against others, versus how they do against BYU. S&P+ accounts for much more depth than this, but I think this helps:
|
TEAM |
AVG vs OTHERS |
vs BYU |
Plus/Minus |
|||
|
YDS |
PTS |
YDS |
PTS |
YDS |
PTS |
|
|
WASH ST |
379 ypg |
25.0 ppg |
229 yds |
6 pts |
-150 yds |
-19.0 pts |
|
WEBER ST |
368 |
18.6 |
254 |
13 |
-114 |
-5.6 |
|
UTAH |
313 |
24.0 |
245 |
24 |
-68 |
0.00 |
|
BOISE ST |
407 |
31 |
261 |
7 |
-146 |
-24 |
|
HAWAII |
303 |
25.5 |
149 |
0 |
-154 |
-25.5 |
|
UTAH ST |
455 |
28.2 |
243 |
3 |
-212 |
-25.2 |
|
TOTAL PER-GAME AVERAGE |
-141 ypg |
-16.55 ppg |
||||
In case I haven't made the table clear enough, it shows that BYU holds opponents to 16.55 points and 141 yards less than their usual output against all other opponents.
This week, BYU plays Oregon State, the last team to post over 300 yards on the Cougar defense (12 games ago). The Beavers' offense ranks 58th in offensive S&P+. According to football outsiders, Oregon State's offense is fairly average (due to a struggling run game, certainly), and the Beavers will be without starting quarterback Sean Mannion.