Arguably the defining niche statistic this season for Stanford football has been the number of tackles for loss allowed.
Heading into the game against Virginia Tech, Stanford tied with Kal to rank No. 129 out of 133 FBS teams in TFLs allowed, giving up 8.25 a game, on average. Well, that average increased after this past Saturday against Virginia Tech, as Stanford gave up 12 TFLs, according to somewhat reliable LiveStats.
I checked, and among teams giving up at least 7 TFLs per game before Saturday, there were some decent-to-pretty-good teams like Colorado, Kal, Illinois, Kentucky and, coincidentally, Virginia Tech. But, unsurprisingly, none of them have good offenses as measured by yards per play. The data source I used for yards per play included games from this past Saturday, and only Virginia Tech ranked in the top 70 in yards per play.
So far this year, Stanford ranks No. 121 in yards per play, per the site TeamRankings.com.
As bad as last year was, Stanford finished the season ranked No. 104th in yards per play. Last year, Stanford ranked No. 122 in TFLs allowed, with 7.5 per game.
In Shaw's last year, 2022, an undeniably crummy team ranked No. 70 in TFLs allowed, giving up 5.75 per game.
I believe that the data suggests poor offensive line play but, because I believe that the O-line *should be* and *actually is* better in 2024 compared to 2023, the answer has to include a.) poor and possibly deteriorating QB play and b.) flaws in the offensive gameplans. I glibly posted once that this data suggests TT is in over his head. What do other people think?
UPDATE: After the Virginia Tech loss, Stanford ranks No. 132 out of 133 FBS teams in TFLs allowed with 9 per game. In dead last is South Carolina, giving up 9.2 per game. Only one other team, Houston, is giving up more than 8 per game.
Heading into the game against Virginia Tech, Stanford tied with Kal to rank No. 129 out of 133 FBS teams in TFLs allowed, giving up 8.25 a game, on average. Well, that average increased after this past Saturday against Virginia Tech, as Stanford gave up 12 TFLs, according to somewhat reliable LiveStats.
I checked, and among teams giving up at least 7 TFLs per game before Saturday, there were some decent-to-pretty-good teams like Colorado, Kal, Illinois, Kentucky and, coincidentally, Virginia Tech. But, unsurprisingly, none of them have good offenses as measured by yards per play. The data source I used for yards per play included games from this past Saturday, and only Virginia Tech ranked in the top 70 in yards per play.
So far this year, Stanford ranks No. 121 in yards per play, per the site TeamRankings.com.
As bad as last year was, Stanford finished the season ranked No. 104th in yards per play. Last year, Stanford ranked No. 122 in TFLs allowed, with 7.5 per game.
In Shaw's last year, 2022, an undeniably crummy team ranked No. 70 in TFLs allowed, giving up 5.75 per game.
I believe that the data suggests poor offensive line play but, because I believe that the O-line *should be* and *actually is* better in 2024 compared to 2023, the answer has to include a.) poor and possibly deteriorating QB play and b.) flaws in the offensive gameplans. I glibly posted once that this data suggests TT is in over his head. What do other people think?
UPDATE: After the Virginia Tech loss, Stanford ranks No. 132 out of 133 FBS teams in TFLs allowed with 9 per game. In dead last is South Carolina, giving up 9.2 per game. Only one other team, Houston, is giving up more than 8 per game.