Big 12 Defense Apologetics

From the LandThieves research department...
I did a little number crunching today. The Big 12 is getting a lot of pub nationally for the awful defense we play here in the flyover states. If you isolate games played against the BCS conferences - so that we ignore most of the cupcakes, including Notre Dame and Western Kentucky - here is nonconference points per game allowed.


SEC - 19.64
Big 10 - 24.09
ACC - 25.65
MWC - 26.17
Big 12 - 26.21
Big East - 29.36
Pac 10 - 30.67


So, while the Big 12 is not that great, - 5th of the 7 - no one's complaining about the Big East and Pac 10 defenses. On the opposite side of the equation, let's look at the ppg allowed in conf play, and the difference between conf and non conference.


SEC - 22.4, +2.76
Big 10 - 23.68, -0.41
ACC - 21.10, -4.54
MWC - 24.33, -1.84
Big 12 - 32.35, +6.14
Big East - 23.05, -6.31
Pac 10 - 27.35, -3.32

Finally, an element to consider is the ppg scored in conference vs nonconference. Since conf points scored is the same as points allowed, below is ppg scored in nonconference games, and the increase/-decrease compared to conference games.

SEC - 21.91, -0.49
Big 10 - 28.73, +5.05
ACC -24.18, +3.07
MWC - 26.92, +2.59
Big 12 - 33.00, +0.65
Big East - 24.00, +0.95
Pac 10 - 24.33, -3.01

So, what do we learn from all these "figgers"?

• No one outside of the Big 12 conference could stop the Big 12 offenses either. In fact, Big 12 defenses deter Big 12 offenses better than non-Big 12 defenses. This includes reputable defenses like Cincinnati, Wake Forest, TCU, West Virginia, South Florida, Connecticut and Florida State.
• The SEC is horrible offensively, averaging 21.91 points per game in nonconference games. Of course, of the 12 SEC teams, they only managed 11 games against schools from these conferences.
• The Big East was the second worst offense. Amazingly, in spite of having the second worst defense, the in conference scoring average went down.
• The Pac 10 numbers are somewhat misleading courtesy of the awfulness that is football in the state of Washington now. However, Wazzuu's 2nd best defensive performance was against Big 12 juggernaut Okie State.
• The Big 10 offense is second under this point of view, which is just stunning. The Big 10 also only managed 11 games against these conferences, and only encompasses 8 of the 11 teams.
• We must extend special recognition to the schools that were unable to schedule anyone from the BCS conferences or MWC: Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Texas Tech, Air Force, San Diego State, Wyoming and LSU.
• There were 5 schools to schedule 3 games against BCS + MWC: Colorado, Baylor, Oklahoma, Connecticut and California.