Bendability Index

Bendability is a good measure of a defense because the it is not only a measure about how stingy a defense is giving up points, but it makes the opposing offense work extremely hard for the points that they do score.

This stat also measures other items as well. It brings up the ability to create turnovers, special teams, etc.


Ohio State - 3646.0 yds 166.0 pts 22.0 yards per point (Big 10 Champion)
Wake Forest - 21.0 ypp (ACC Champion)
Auburn - 21.0 ypp
Wisconsin - 21.0 ypp (Should've been in BCS)
VT - 20.0 ypp

BC - 19.8 ypp
Penn State - 19.8 ypp
Louisville - 19.7 ypp (Big East Champion)
USC - 19.5 ypp (Pac 10 Champion)
LSU - 19.2 ypp (Sugar Bowl winner)

California - 19.0 ypp
Florida - 18.9 ypp (National Champion)
Nebraska - 18.1 ypp
South Carolina - 18.0 ypp
South Florida - 17.6 ypp

Rutgers - 17.6 ypp
Clemson - 17.4 ypp
Michigan - 16.9 ypp (Rose Bowl)
Tennessee - 16.8 ypp
Arizona - 16.7 ypp

Iowa - 16.6 ypp
Oklahoma - 16.6 ypp (Fiesta Bowl)
Miami - 16.5 ypp
Maryland - 16.5 ypp
Minnesota - 16.4 ypp

Missouri - 16.4 ypp
Arkansas - 16.4 ypp
Georgia Tech - 16.4 ypp
Syracuse - 16.2 ypp
Texas - 16.2 ypp

Virginia - 16.2 ypp
Purdue - 16.2 ypp
Kentucky - 16.0 ypp
Pittsburgh - 15.9 ypp
UCLA - 15.8 ypp

Cincinnati - 15.8 ypp
Texas A&M - 15.7 ypp
West Virginia - 15.5 ypp
Alabama - 15.5 ypp
Washington St. - 15.5 ypp

Mississippi - 15.4 ypp
Colorado - 15.3 ypp
Oregon St. - 15.0 ypp
Vanderbilt - 14.9 ypp
Kansas - 14.8 ypp

Georgia - 14.7 ypp
Florida State - 14.7 ypp
Washington - 14.7 ypp
Kansas State - 14.5 ypp
NC State - 14.5 ypp

Notre Dame - 14.3 ypp (Sugar Bowl bitch slapping)
Oklahoma State - 14.2 ypp
Northwestern - 13.9 ypp
Texas Tech - 13.3 ypp
Connecticut - 13.3 ypp

Arizona State - 13.1 ypp
Michigan State - 12.8 ypp
Iowa State - 12.8 ypp
Baylor - 12.5 ypp
Mississippi State - 12.5 ypp

Stanford - 12.3 ypp
Indiana - 12.3 ypp
Oregon - 12.1 ypp
North Carolina - 12.1 ypp
Duke - 11.7 ypp

Illinois - 11.6 ypp

Georgia Tech, known for its vaunted defense, finished 28th out of 66 BCS teams. They finished a blase (can't do the accent over the e) 7th out of 12 ACC teams. Generally, if you could get a couple of first downs on a drive against them, you were getting 7.

One other note Taylor Bennett fans, Duke's defense was the equivalent of Ethiopia against Italy finishing 65th out of 66, while West Virginia was the equivalent of Argentina in the Faulklands War, finishing 38th out of 66 teams.

GT Pass Defense - Myth Vs. Fact

One of the key concerns going into the 2006 season was the pass defense. We lost a couple of key corners and we had to rely on a converted WR and a couple of freshman. When you look at the final stats of this year, we see that the concerns were true, we finished 49th in pass defense with 195.79 yards given up per game. Right? MYTH!!

Georgiatechfootballfacts is about providing a Mickey Ward liver shot to myths such as these.

Passing yards allowed is a very poor way to rate the quality of a particular pass defense. Basically, some bad teams are so easy to run on that opponents rarely pass against them. So you end up with a situation in which a team appears to have a great pass defense when, in fact, it does not.

We focus so much on passer rating as the measure of an quarterback and not of a team. The truth is that defensive passer rating is almost always a better indicator of team-wide success than an individual quarterback’s passer rating.

Let's take a gander at this stat for the 66 BCS teams. Georgia Tech finished 12th in Defensive Passer Rating of 66.1. Let's take a look at the top 10 in this ranking:

Wisconsin - 50.3
Virginia Tech - 50.7
LSU - 54.9
Georgia - 57.8
Florida - 58.0
Rutgers - 60.1
Ohio State - 61.4
South Florida - 63.6
Oklahoma - 64.9
Boston College - 65.2

Clemson was 11th at 66.0. I'd trade places with 9 of those 10.

One thing to keep in mind when we think that Taylor Bennett could be the savior next fall. Bennett played two quarters against Duke (99.4; 63 out of 66) and West Virginia (78.6; 36 out of 66).

Was Reggie Ball Really That Bad? Duh (Part Deux)

Georgia Tech was 50th out of 66 BCS teams (5.62 yds/attempt). Pathetic. Compare to the 9 BCS teams:

Louisville - 9.03 yds/attempt (1st)
LSU - 8.08 yds/attempt (2nd)
Florida - 7.44 yds/attempt (8th)
Ohio State - 7.37 yds/attempt (10th)
Oklahoma - 7.20 yds/attempt (13th)
USC - 7.16 yds/attempt (14th)
Michigan - 6.70 yds/attempt (27th)
Wake Forest - 6.46 yds/attempt (32nd)
Notre Dame - 6.41 yds/attempt (33rd)

What does this tell us? Obviously, Notre Dame's explosive pass offense was overrated (surprise), Bobby Petrino should help Michael Vick, and GT needs to have 600 additional yards of passing offense next year if they want to contend. Does that seem likely without Calvin Johnson and only one wide receiver returning that did anything?