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Comparing 2023 and 2024 Stats (Year to date)

denverdore

Gold Member
Dec 3, 2021
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This has seemed like an ongoing point of conversation so I was curious and wanted to pull some statistical numbers to compare how we're performing this year compared to last year (through 304 games). From a statistical standpoint, it's hard to guage through 4 games as we don't know 1) if Vandy will fall off a cliff like they did after the UNLV game last year and 2) how good/bad teams like Ga St, Va Tech, and Mizzou are this year.

For the sake of this data pull, I removed the FCS games (Alabama st and Alcorn st), as frankly it would really inflate some numbers (which would benefit the defense), but I might pull those numbers if requested.

OFFENSE
2023Points ScoredYards per gamePassing Yards per gameRushing Yards Per GameTurnovers3rd Down %Red Zone EfficiencySacks AllowedTime of Possession
Hawaii3530325845042%100%324
Wake Forest21423314109350%66%225
UNLV3742033783339%75%330


2024Points ScoredYards per gamePassing Yards per gameRushing Yards Per GameTurnovers3rd Down %Red Zone EfficiencySacks AllowedTime of Possession
Va Tech34371190181042%100%234
Ga St32380270110146%100%127
Missouri27324178146029%75%127

This brings us to:

Points ScoredYards per gamePassing Yards per gameRushing Yards Per GameTurnovers3rd Down %Red Zone EfficiencySacks AllowedTime of Possession
2023 avg31.0382.0303.079.02.044%80%2.726.3
2024 avg31.0358.3212.7145.70.339%92%1.329.3


So what this tells us
  • Statistically, the offense is actually performing worse through 2 FBS games compared to last year
  • The big differences are:
    • Rushing yards/game have nearly doubled
    • Time of possession increased nearly 3 min/game
    • Turnovers and sacks allowed massively decreased
Overall, this ties into the ongoing narrative that the offense's goal is to take long and methodical drives, be very safe with the ball, cut down turnovers


DEFENSE
2023Points allowedYards allowed per gamePassing Yards allowed per gameRushing Yards allowed Per GameTurnovers forced3rd Down %Red Zone Efficiency (of other team)SacksTackles for Loss
Hawaii2839135140227%60%38
Wake Forest29484196288066%80%22
UNLV40403276127255%100%29


2024Points allowedYards allowed per gamePassing Yards allowed per gameRushing Yards allowed Per GameTurnovers forced3rd Down %Red Zone Efficiency (of other team)SacksTackles for Loss
Va Tech2739732275150%75%48
Ga St36426269157156%100%25
Missouri30442226216041%80%38

This brings us to:
Points allowedYards allowed per gamePassing Yards allowed per gameRushing Yards allowed Per GameTurnovers forced3rd Down %Red Zone Efficiency (of other team)SacksTackles for Loss
2023 avg32.3426.0274.3151.71.349%80%2.36.3
2024 avg31421.7272.3149.30.749%85%3.07.0


So what this tells us
  • Statistically, the defense is playing basically the same (statistically)
  • The only slight differences are:
    • Sacks and TFL has slightly increased



Finally, I was curious about the quality of opponent YoY, because my assumption was this years' opponents to dat have been tougher. So I pulled the SP+ ratings from last year, and what we have to date this year:
SP+HawaiiWake ForestUNLV
20231239661
Virginia TechGeorgia StMissouri
20244011010

YearAvg SP+ of opponent
202393.3
202453.3


So from this data,
  • On average, we're playing teams ranked about 40 spots higher than last year
  • Offense is slightly worse, but playing way better opponents. It should have been a reg flag earlier that our offense last year was having trouble scoring against said teams, but now we know)
  • Defense stats are about the same, but playing teams that are way way better this year
  • Damn that Georiga state game!


My conclusion (not surprisingly) is that both sides of the ball are better. The offense is doing what they are supposed to do: chew up clock, don't turn the ball over, and score when we can. The defense, while the stats looks similar to the prior year, are doing it against much better competition, which would indicate that it's a better defense.

FWIW, Vandy's final SP+ of 2023 was 110 and as of now (in 2024), we're ranked 69.



Just thought I'd share. I'll do my best to keep this up to date as the season progresses!
 
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