Football Outsiders has 2 measures for Offensive and Defensive Efficiency. These are innovative stats that truly tell the tale better than any other stat to measure "just how good" is an offense or defense. The are 2 rankings, the S&P and the FEI. I like the S&P better because it is more inclusive of several factors that go into it such as Success Rate for each given play and the value of each play on each given down, Explosiveness which is big plays allowed, or big plays gained by the O, and the timing of the play. For example, an O that scores from the 5 yard line for a drive that started on the opponents 5 is expected to score, etc. Redzone O and D to include drive finishing ability, Field Position changes success rate, opponent adjustments (the strength of the opponents O's and D's) which negates what conference a team is in or the style of play, and garbage time adjustments. In this S&P ranking, our D is 27th. Our O is 87th. Therefore, in the S&P ratings, the ole, "our D gives up Big plays over 20 yards" is accounted for. Or....the ole "our D doesn't stop em when we need it to." Again, accounted for in this stat. "if our D played in the Pac 12"......again, strength of the opponents O and D are accounted for. Our D in this stat is 27th. Our O is 87th.
The second formula they use for O and D efficiency is the FEI, this measures first down rates gained and allowed, explosive drive rate, available yards percentage, methodical drive rate, and value drive rate which is long drives by our O or given up by our D, etc. The problem with the FEI...there is no adjustment for the strength of the opponent's D or O like the S&P discussed above. In this formula, VT's D ranks 65th. Our O ranks 81st. As you might guess, our O just does not rank well in pretty much any statistical formula....lol. Interestingly, the formula that adjusts for strength of schedule, strength of the opponent is the one in which our D actually DOES BETTER which doesn't help the argument that...."if we weren't in the ACC playing top D's and our D had to face Pac 10 O's, the rankings would be different." Well, not exactly. Fact is, when the strength of the opponents O and D unit is adjusted for, our D bolts up to 27th in the country and the O ranks 87st. If you put both formulas together (keep in mind that one does not adjust for strength of the opponent) but if you still put them together and get and average of the two, our D ranks 46th and our O ranks 84th.
The second formula they use for O and D efficiency is the FEI, this measures first down rates gained and allowed, explosive drive rate, available yards percentage, methodical drive rate, and value drive rate which is long drives by our O or given up by our D, etc. The problem with the FEI...there is no adjustment for the strength of the opponent's D or O like the S&P discussed above. In this formula, VT's D ranks 65th. Our O ranks 81st. As you might guess, our O just does not rank well in pretty much any statistical formula....lol. Interestingly, the formula that adjusts for strength of schedule, strength of the opponent is the one in which our D actually DOES BETTER which doesn't help the argument that...."if we weren't in the ACC playing top D's and our D had to face Pac 10 O's, the rankings would be different." Well, not exactly. Fact is, when the strength of the opponents O and D unit is adjusted for, our D bolts up to 27th in the country and the O ranks 87st. If you put both formulas together (keep in mind that one does not adjust for strength of the opponent) but if you still put them together and get and average of the two, our D ranks 46th and our O ranks 84th.
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