Cincinnati Football: Final Season Stats Paint The Picture Of An Exhausted Defense
By Chris Bains
It’s not exactly Earth shattering to make the statement that the Cincinnati Bearcats struggled defensively this season. I mean, you’d only have to watch.. well.. any one of their games to figure that out.
In losses UC’s defense seemed to give up a boatload of yards and points. In wins UC’s defense seemed to give up a boatload of yards and points. Even on bye weeks UC’s defense seemed to still give up a boatload of yards and points.
The Bearcats were on the field for 72.6 plays per game, which is 50th in college football, and just 28:45 per game (38th). On the surface it doesn’t seem like they would be especially “exhausted” after each outing despite the yards and points allowed. But it’s not until you dive deeper into the final regular season stats does that picture really become clear.
- Let’s just start with the overall numbers; 84th in total defense, 66th in passing defense, 94th in rushing defense, 88th in scoring defense. No matter how you slice it this was a unit that was used and abused for much of the season.
- The only times the Bearcats held opponents under two touchdowns was against Central Florida, UConn, and Alabama A&M, who never won a game, are UConn, and are a FCS school, respectively. The losses only exacerbated the problem, as the defense allowed an average of 44.6 points during those games, including a 65-pointer against South Florida.
- Cincinnati was one of 33 teams to allow a passing play of 80 yards or more and were 84th in the country allowing six rushing plays of 40 yards or more. Overall, UC ranked 88th in the country in allowing five plays from scrimmage of 60 yards or more.
- Ok, so specials teams isn’t really defense but Cincinnati was one of just 12 teams to allow kickoff returns of 30 yards or more. It’s illustrative of a group of players who didn’t really fill their gaps, maintain their assignments, or tackle all that well.
- While the Bearcats were rather excellent in forcing offenses off the field on third downs, ranking 36th best in college football, the problem was UC allowed 20.2 first downs per game (60th). 73.7% of drives against Cincinnati’s defense resulted in at least a touchdown or a first down (80th).
- Here’s where we start getting into the stats that really show how damn worn out this defense was. 14% of opposing drives lasted for 10 plays or longer, which was the 69th most in the country. When you combine that stat with the fact that 41% of opposing drives started inside their territory and finished at or beyond UC’s 30 yard line (71st), it’s clear that the Bearcats were getting methodically hammered between the 20’s and it’s rather surprising they didn’t finish worse than 88th in scoring defense.
- Plus, Cincinnati’s offense didn’t exactly help their buddies out on the other side of the ball. They’ve turned the ball over 30 times thus far this season, 6th most in the country. As a result, 14.3% of opposing drives (25th most) started inside UC territory. So even when the Bearcats’ defense was able to get off the field for a breather, about 1/6th of the time they were forced back on to the field right away to defend a short field, thanks in large part to the offense’s inability to hold onto the football.
- The inexperience, lack of talent, or whatever you want to call it from Cincinnati’s front seven certainly didn’t help matters. Just 6.6% (122nd in college football) of their plays resulted in a tackle for loss, pass defensed, or forced fumble. No wonder opponents averaged 191 yards per game on the ground against the Bearcats. Conversely, UC’s defensive backs were rather solid at making these types of plays with 7.1% (34th) resulting in
So when you look at average plays and time of possession per game, it appears that Cincinnati’s defense was a rather middle of the road unit, not necessarily one would have been worn out game after game. But the fact remains that UC was prone to turning the ball over, therefore preventing the defense from getting necessary rest on the sidelines, and additionally defending short fields. Plus the Bearcats allowed opposing offenses to move fairly easily down the field, gave up a ton of first downs and big plays, especially via the rushing game.
Combined with the plethora of injuries the defensive backs sustained as well as the turnover in the front seven coming into the 2015 season and you can see why a general lack of depth would cause players to become overworked by October and November. One can only hope that the defense is getting plenty of rest this month as they face a San Diego State team that seems to take great pleasure in wearing out opponents on the ground.