10-31-2016, 11:12 AM
Kind of surprising that Stanford's getting so many sacks. Visually the defense does not look as disruptive as previous editions of Stanford's defense -- if anything it looks like a lot of coverage sacks, plus Solly Thomas being a beast.
Tackle for loss stats may reflect this. This year Stanford ranks #84 on TFL. That's a brobdingnagian change from previous years. In 2015 the defense was #54, and *that* felt like an unpleasant new low. (2014: #17, 2013: #5, 2012: #1, 2011: #28.)
Obviously the defense is by far the most successful of the three Stanford units, and any fair discussion of the team's faults has to start with the offense. But I still find the defense a bit odd and not-quite-fully-satisfying. (FWIW S&P+ ranks it #16, while FEI ranks it #19.) In the ideal scenario -- in which Thomas and Phillips return -- I imagine the defense would be at 2012-14 levels of dominance in 2017.
Tackle for loss stats may reflect this. This year Stanford ranks #84 on TFL. That's a brobdingnagian change from previous years. In 2015 the defense was #54, and *that* felt like an unpleasant new low. (2014: #17, 2013: #5, 2012: #1, 2011: #28.)
Obviously the defense is by far the most successful of the three Stanford units, and any fair discussion of the team's faults has to start with the offense. But I still find the defense a bit odd and not-quite-fully-satisfying. (FWIW S&P+ ranks it #16, while FEI ranks it #19.) In the ideal scenario -- in which Thomas and Phillips return -- I imagine the defense would be at 2012-14 levels of dominance in 2017.