[Austroturf]

Stanford had one of the top defenses in the conference in 2015.  I remember that I used to do the per drive stats back then, and the key was that we had one of the best offenses in the country on a per drive basis, and one of the best defenses in the conference if not the country on that basis.

BC

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Even in 2017 we had a very good defense.

BC

I have a lot of statistics on this.  On virtually every measure, we are giving up more yards and points than in earlier years of this decade.  Here are the numbers for PPG allowed by year and our national rank.  Yes, a potent offense helps keep the defense fresh and off the field.  But these are the naked defensive stats.  It's kind of hard not to see the decline.  I would also be interested to see statistics on how long our defense is on the field these days and how many 3-and-outs they manage versus previous defensive units (but I don't have the stats).  Shaw's proclivity for punting was always predicated on the ability of our defense to get a stop and put the ball back in the hands of the offense.  As we have seen too often in recent years, he can no longer "ride" the defense.  First, our defense was "party-in-the-backfield".  Then it turned to "bend-but-don't-break".  Now, it is "bend and break".  The final Cal drive in Big Game was proof positive of this trend.  Earlier defensive units would have stuffed them in their own end of the field without sniffing midfield, let alone the red zone and the end zone.       

Year   PPG  rank

2010  17.4 10th  
2011  21.9 30th
2012  17.2 11th
2013  19.0 10th
2014  16.4  2nd
2015  22.6 33rd
2016  20.4 18th
2017  22.7 35th
2018  22.9 38th
2019  27.6 70th

[Austroturf]

Stanford had one of the top defenses in the conference in 2015.  I remember that I used to do the per drive stats back then, and the key was that we had one of the best offenses in the country on a per drive basis, and one of the best defenses in the conference if not the country on that basis.

BC

---

Even in 2017 we had a very good defense.

BC

I have a lot of statistics on this.  On virtually every measure, we are giving up more yards and points than in earlier years of this decade.  Here are the numbers for PPG allowed by year and our national rank.  Yes, a potent offense helps keep the defense fresh and off the field.  But these are the naked defensive stats.  It's kind of hard not to see the decline.  I would also be interested to see statistics on how long our defense is on the field these days and how many 3-and-outs they manage versus previous defensive units (but I don't have the stats).  Shaw's proclivity for punting was always predicated on the ability of our defense to get a stop and put the ball back in the hands of the offense.  As we have seen too often in recent years, he can no longer "ride" the defense.  First, our defense was "party-in-the-backfield".  Then it turned to "bend-but-don't-break".  Now, it is "bend and break".  The final Cal drive in Big Game was proof positive of this trend.  Earlier defensive units would have stuffed them in their own end of the field without sniffing midfield, let alone the red zone and the end zone.       

Year   PPG  rank

2010  17.4 10th  
2011  21.9 30th
2012  17.2 11th
2013  19.0 10th
2014  16.4  2nd
2015  22.6 33rd
2016  20.4 18th
2017  22.7 35th
2018  22.9 38th
2019  27.6 70th