There's good news for a longtime tortured, persecuted segment of the college football population. Defensive coordinators can begin looking at themselves in the mirror again.
In some small ways, their defenses have finally answered the offensive revolution that has ruled this decade.
Passing, rushing, total offense and scoring are down slightly at this point from two years ago when college football set all-time records in half of the 14 offensive categories tracked by the NCAA. In the last two years, records have been posted in 10 of those 14 categories. While they're not defensive numbers Bo or Woody would be proud of, progress is progress. That means there is evidence that the dominant offense of the day, the spread, may have peaked statistically.
!['I don't know if it's [defenses] gaining a foothold on the spread, it's gaining a foothold, period,' Rich Rodriguez said. (Getty Images)](http://images.cbssports.com/u/photos/football/college/img12434609.jpg)
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| 'I don't know if it's [defenses] gaining a foothold on the spread, it's gaining a foothold, period,' Rich Rodriguez said. (Getty Images) |
All-time records were set two years ago in scoring (28.4 points per team per game), total offense (392.8 yards per team) and passing (233.7 yards per team). The average of 159.7 rushing yards per team that year was the highest since 1996.
However, offenses are finding it at least slightly more difficult to move the ball this season. Average rushing yardage is down 3.1 percent from 2007. Passing yardage is down five percent and total yards are down 4.8 percent from two years ago. The biggest drop from 2007 has been in scoring -- that year teams averaged more than four touchdowns per game. So far this season, teams are averaging 26.9 points, a reduction of 5.3 percent. For the second consecutive year, overall scoring is down.
While the decreases might seem small, there is further anecdotal evidence that coordinators are coming up with answers for today's complicated offensive schemes. Not surprisingly, the top three teams in the country -- Florida, Alabama and Texas -- are (in that order) first, fourth and second in total defense. However, surprising Iowa has become one of the seven remaining undefeated teams with a relentless defense that leads the country with 15 interceptions.
The 2007 Heisman winner and 2008 runner-up, Tim Tebow and Colt McCoy, have seen their production reduced, in some cases significantly. McCoy set the all-time accuracy record last season (76.67 percent). This season, he is completing "only" 71.65 percent of his passes. More telling is his overall efficiency, having dropped from fourth last year to currently 29th in the latest NCAA statistics. More than halfway through the season, McCoy has thrown as many interceptions (eight) as he did all of last season.
Most telling, he has become less of a rusher with a total of 104 yards and one touchdown this season compared to 561 yards and 11 touchdowns in '08. That's clear evidence that Texas is relying more on its stout defense.
Florida is having trouble throwing downfield at this point. The loss of Percy Harvin and Louis Murphy has been bigger than anyone expected. Consequently, defenses are packed in a tighter space and are able to slow down Tebow and his teammates. Superman is coming off the Mississippi State game in which he threw two pick sixes for the first time in his career. Like McCoy, Tebow has thrown as many interceptions (four) as he did all of last season. His average passing yards per game are down 15 percent (to 165.5 yards per game). His average rushing yards are actually up (to 66.5 yards). Along with that, though, has come a concussion.
"Anytime you have a little more familiarity with something, you do better against it," Ohio State's Jim Tressel said this week.
The spread has been out there for so long it has become the dominant offensive philosophy of this decade. The game's defensive minds also have had the time to dissect it. It helps when the defending Heisman Trophy winner has been eliminated from the argument. Sam Bradford announced Sunday his intention to have surgery on his injured shoulder and prepare for the 2010 NFL Draft. Oklahoma as a whole isn't the same offensively, scoring 20 fewer points per game after setting the modern record for season scoring in 2008.
Alabama coach Nick Saban called out offensive coordinator Jim McElwain after the offense was held without a touchdown at home for the first time in four years. On the other side, though, is a dominant defense run by Kirby Smart. The Tide won Saturday basically because nose guard Terrence Cody blocked two Tennessee field goals.
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| Monte Kiffin is a leading candidate to win the Frank Broyles Award. (Getty Images) |
Monte Kiffin has brought his defensive expertise to Tennessee to the point that the 69-year-old could be a favorite to win this year's Frank Broyles Award as assistant coach of the year. Tennessee's defense has not allowed a touchdown in the last eight quarters.
USC's Pete Carroll has been able to break in freshman quarterback Matt Barkley by leaning on a typically strong defense despite the loss of eight starters. Ohio State's constant through the struggles of quarterback Terrelle Pryor has been its No. 13 defense.
Two of the top three teams in the rankings feature their own superstar defensive coordinators -- Texas' Will Muschamp and Florida's Charlie Strong. Even those coordinators less known are getting more out of less. Injuries have ravaged Navy to the point that coordinator Buddy Green has had 20 different starters. Last year, his defense surrendered an average of two touchdowns less per game than in 2007 (22 points per game). Incredibly, the Middies, on a five-game winning streak, are better this season giving up 20.75 points per game.
The current top four in total defense could have been the same 10 years ago -- Florida, Texas, Penn State, Alabama. The "newcomer" is TCU, currently fifth in total defense. The Horned Frogs have been in the top 15 for four years running -- finishing second in 2006 and first in 2008.
Coach Gary Patterson is considered one of leading enemies of the spread. His 4-2-5 formation is based on speed using sometimes undersized players.
"Gary Patterson has recruited to that system, recruited a lot of speed, recruited exactly what they need to play that," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said. "That's the positive of their situation, they're just very fast. Things look like they're going to open up and then they close real fast.
"Because of their speed and quickness, they play receivers a lot closer and tighter. The perception to the quarterback is that those guys are not as open."
Sanford should know. As Urban Meyer's offensive coordinator at Utah, he was one of those who led the offensive revolution.
The offensive numbers have increased despite the NCAA rules committee beginning to tinker with pace of play three years ago. The average number of plays per team dropped from 70.6 in 2005 to 64.1 in 2006.
Those 2006 numbers are so skewed that they almost have to be discounted in the analysis. After a misguided attempt to cut the number of plays, coaches balked and the pace of play was adjusted again beginning in 2007.
Discounting 2006, then, the current scoring pace would be the lowest since 2005 and fifth-lowest this decade.
"Football goes in evolution of style and scheme," Sanford said. "People spend a lot of time defending what's in vogue. That's what's happened. They [defenses] are catching up."
For the rest of the national notes read Dennis Dodd's blog Dodds and Ends.
