USC Offense vs Utah Defense
Chart reflect ranking percentile for Offense or Defense vs NCAA
0 is worst unit in NCAA 100 is best
0 is worst unit in NCAA 100 is best
Until Week 5-6 the model outputs are pretty directional, but still very useful
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USC's offense (#44) you have one result that makes sense and two that don't. I don't think anyone expected USC to put up 30+ points on Alabama, but getting held to 6, even by Alabama's defense, is pretty surprising. Even more surprising was putting 10 on the board against a Stanford defense that ranked 49th in Beta_Rank last year. Maybe Stanford's defense made a big jump from last year, the early returns are very good, but that it a huge improvement to sustain over a season.
USC has been very good so far at avoiding negative drives (<3.333 yards per play) and also very good at preventing the defense from Plus plays (sacks, TFLs, QB hurries, turnovers, pass deflections). USC has mostly accomplished being bad at offense in undramatic fashion.
USC's offense has too many athletes to be held to 92nd in Explosiveness, and it is probably this more than anything else that has led to the QB change from Browne to Darnold. USC simply isn't getting the ball downfield, which is a major problem with a set of receivers like they have. Ranking 69th in Play Efficiency speaks to not just problems at QB, but problems in the running game. The line isn't giving up negative plays, but it isn't creating much in the way of gaps or cutback lanes either.
Utah's defense (#54) has looked OK against two pretty bad early season offenses. BYU is a bit of a Pac12 South measuring stick so far and Utah won the game, but managed to give up more points at home to BYU than Arizona's not so great defense did at a neutral site. Utah is going to have a long season if it gives up close to 20 points a game to bad offenses.
Utah is very good at causing Defensive Plus plays, but when you weight that against their lackluster schedule thus far and that Beta_Rank doesn't count games against FCS opponents, it doesn't look as outstanding. Utah has been very good in limiting explosive plays. The perennial strong defensive line should put pressure on Darnold and keep him from getting too comfortable.
Utah has not been great at creating negative drives against FBS competition and they need to step this up if they want to have another banner year on defense. Darnold is going to make this more difficult because of his mobility. Utah has struggled against mobile QBs so Darnold may prove a challenge if they can't keep him in the pocket.
USC has been very good so far at avoiding negative drives (<3.333 yards per play) and also very good at preventing the defense from Plus plays (sacks, TFLs, QB hurries, turnovers, pass deflections). USC has mostly accomplished being bad at offense in undramatic fashion.
USC's offense has too many athletes to be held to 92nd in Explosiveness, and it is probably this more than anything else that has led to the QB change from Browne to Darnold. USC simply isn't getting the ball downfield, which is a major problem with a set of receivers like they have. Ranking 69th in Play Efficiency speaks to not just problems at QB, but problems in the running game. The line isn't giving up negative plays, but it isn't creating much in the way of gaps or cutback lanes either.
Utah's defense (#54) has looked OK against two pretty bad early season offenses. BYU is a bit of a Pac12 South measuring stick so far and Utah won the game, but managed to give up more points at home to BYU than Arizona's not so great defense did at a neutral site. Utah is going to have a long season if it gives up close to 20 points a game to bad offenses.
Utah is very good at causing Defensive Plus plays, but when you weight that against their lackluster schedule thus far and that Beta_Rank doesn't count games against FCS opponents, it doesn't look as outstanding. Utah has been very good in limiting explosive plays. The perennial strong defensive line should put pressure on Darnold and keep him from getting too comfortable.
Utah has not been great at creating negative drives against FBS competition and they need to step this up if they want to have another banner year on defense. Darnold is going to make this more difficult because of his mobility. Utah has struggled against mobile QBs so Darnold may prove a challenge if they can't keep him in the pocket.
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