On an unrelated topic, is defense in college football dead?

[oldguystudent]

I tallied all the scores from this past week's FBS games.  57 games played, 3,425 points scored.  Average 30 points per team per game. Median score per team per game was 28.

There was one shut-out (Kansas state goose egged).

Of the 114 teams involved, 5 scored 7 or fewer points.   Of 114 teams, 56 scored 30 or more points.

Here's a handy chart of team by team points scored:

I haven't delved into historical data, but my gut tells me that offense is consistently on the rise and that defense is consistently on the decline.

What say you, oh great college football wizards of Denton?

*Disclaimer:  I did not check for typos in my data entry, but believe that I am mighty accurate with the ten-key.

[eulessismore]

Yes, the idea now is outscore your opponent.  Defense is getting enough of a lead to where they have to pass.

[UNTLifer]

Today's rules make it much more difficult for defenses.  Personally, I don't care for it.  I would rather see a game end 24-21 or something similar to the Michigan/MSU game vs. TCU type games.

[Cerebus]

Rule changes have damn near made the sport arena football.  I think they did this in part to reduce head injuries, but all the science not points to the fact that the real threat isn't the large concussive hits, but repeated high impact hits.  Like what linemen face every snap.  All the rules have done is greatly increase the number of snaps per game.

[NT2002]

I think the trend started with high school football. High school football has changed to where most schools stack their offenses with talent. I think you have seen this in the typical high school game. Every play is designed to score a touchdown. Defenses are fast but can't cover the space on the field as well created by the spread O and trickery of the multi-dimensional QB. I would be curious how many colleges recruit O first and settle on lesser recruits for defense. 

 

[MeanMag]

I tallied all the scores from this past week's FBS games.  57 games played, 3,425 points scored.  Average 30 points per team per game. Median score per team per game was 28.

There was one shut-out (Kansas state goose egged).

Of the 114 teams involved, 5 scored 7 or fewer points.   Of 114 teams, 56 scored 30 or more points.

Here's a handy chart of team by team points scored:

I haven't delved into historical data, but my gut tells me that offense is consistently on the rise and that defense is consistently on the decline.

What say you, oh great college football wizards of Denton?

*Disclaimer:  I did not check for typos in my data entry, but believe that I am mighty accurate with the ten-key.

I'll try to find the article written about a month ago that talks about the proliferation of offense in CFB.

The gist of it is: 10 years ago 6 of the top 10 teams had top 10 defenses. Now, only 1 team in the top 10 (Ohio State) has a top 10 defense (at least at the time of the article).

Also, contrary to what many think, it is not passing that is increasing. It's actually rushing.

Edited October 19, 2015 by MeanMag

[VideoEagle]

Today's rules clearly favor offense. But I think these things are cyclical. Right now, everyone want's to be Oregon or Baylor. That's not surprising as they win a lot. But if next year's champion has a strong defense, then D will make a come back. 

[untjim1995]

Nowadays, college football games look like old college basketball, with very free-flowing offenses...and college basketball games look like old college football games with the physicality that gets allowed now on defense.