There has been a lot of talk about how deficient our offense and defensive coaches have been. Well since I had some time at work I did some research on Pac 12 stats. Here you go.
Passing Off
UCLA - 3rd
SC- 4th
(WSU 1st, Cal 2nd)
Pass Def
UCLA - 1st
SC - 9th
(UCLA has 3rd fewest TD allowed)
Pass Def Efficiency
UCLA - 1st
SC - 10th
Points per game
UCLA - 7th (33.5)
SC - 4th (35.6)
Points allowed per game
UCLA - 4th (23.7)
SC - 5th (25.0)
Total Offense
UCLA - 5th (482 yds/game)
SC - 7th (461 yds/game)
(Oregon 1st, Cal 2nd, AZ 3rd, WSU 4th)
Total Defense
UCLA - 4th (392 yds/game)
SC - 5th (403 yds/game)
(U Dub 1st, Stanford 2nd, Utah 3rd)
Rushing Offense
UCLA - 4th
SC - 8th
Rushing Defense
UCLA - 7th
SC - 4th
Sacks against
UCLA - 1st (11 sacks allowed)
SC - tied 6th (30 sacks allowed)
3rd down Conversion - offense
UCLA - 2nd
SC - 8th
Red Zone Success - Offense
UCLA - 3rd
SC - 6th
Red Zone Success - Defense
UCLA - 2nd
SC - 7th
First, based on every stat we are clearly better than SC. And that's with their army of 5 star recruits. This game doesn't have to be close. Secondly, there is nothing in the stats that support the idea that Mazzone, Klemm, Martin, Bradley and/or Yarber sucks. In fact, they all say the opposite.
Now, do we need to clean up the penalties? Yes. We are last in the conference and close to last in the country in penalties. Do we need to get better at rushing defense? Yes, but we are hardly awful. Would it be great to get more pressure on the qb and get more sacks? Sure but that clearly isn't the key to success because ASU leads the conference in sacks by a fairly wide margin and they are only 8th in total defense. Would it be nice to get a few more top notch recruits? Sure.
I think because we care so much and are so close to the "weeds" in looking at our team that we don't take time to step back and look at the bigger picture as fans. Considering all the adversity we've been through as a team with injuries and such to be 8-3 and have a chance to go to the Pac-12 championship and have the stats we have is really amazing. Rather than crushing the coaches I think there should be celebration. I'm by no means am advocating pumping sunshine all the time (qb recruiting has been horrible and can definitely derail us if Rosen gets hurt). But rather than focusing solely on the negative and blowing things out of proportion lets look at some positives too.
Passing Off
UCLA - 3rd
SC- 4th
(WSU 1st, Cal 2nd)
Pass Def
UCLA - 1st
SC - 9th
(UCLA has 3rd fewest TD allowed)
Pass Def Efficiency
UCLA - 1st
SC - 10th
Points per game
UCLA - 7th (33.5)
SC - 4th (35.6)
Points allowed per game
UCLA - 4th (23.7)
SC - 5th (25.0)
Total Offense
UCLA - 5th (482 yds/game)
SC - 7th (461 yds/game)
(Oregon 1st, Cal 2nd, AZ 3rd, WSU 4th)
Total Defense
UCLA - 4th (392 yds/game)
SC - 5th (403 yds/game)
(U Dub 1st, Stanford 2nd, Utah 3rd)
Rushing Offense
UCLA - 4th
SC - 8th
Rushing Defense
UCLA - 7th
SC - 4th
Sacks against
UCLA - 1st (11 sacks allowed)
SC - tied 6th (30 sacks allowed)
3rd down Conversion - offense
UCLA - 2nd
SC - 8th
Red Zone Success - Offense
UCLA - 3rd
SC - 6th
Red Zone Success - Defense
UCLA - 2nd
SC - 7th
First, based on every stat we are clearly better than SC. And that's with their army of 5 star recruits. This game doesn't have to be close. Secondly, there is nothing in the stats that support the idea that Mazzone, Klemm, Martin, Bradley and/or Yarber sucks. In fact, they all say the opposite.
Now, do we need to clean up the penalties? Yes. We are last in the conference and close to last in the country in penalties. Do we need to get better at rushing defense? Yes, but we are hardly awful. Would it be great to get more pressure on the qb and get more sacks? Sure but that clearly isn't the key to success because ASU leads the conference in sacks by a fairly wide margin and they are only 8th in total defense. Would it be nice to get a few more top notch recruits? Sure.
I think because we care so much and are so close to the "weeds" in looking at our team that we don't take time to step back and look at the bigger picture as fans. Considering all the adversity we've been through as a team with injuries and such to be 8-3 and have a chance to go to the Pac-12 championship and have the stats we have is really amazing. Rather than crushing the coaches I think there should be celebration. I'm by no means am advocating pumping sunshine all the time (qb recruiting has been horrible and can definitely derail us if Rosen gets hurt). But rather than focusing solely on the negative and blowing things out of proportion lets look at some positives too.
