In Defense Of Arkansas' Defense

Please continue evaluations of Arkansas’ 2009 Defense and mention that Arkansas' Defense ranked 89th out of 120 Division I schools every time. The assistance is greatly appreciated!

Had the oracles really been in tune with making a point, they might have added, “An 89th ranking is 73 spots below Army and 59 teams below Northern Illinois.” The Razorbacks ranked 89th in Total Defense.  It sounds practically the same as an overall evaluation of defensive effectiveness, right? Hold that thought.

Since entering the Southeast Conference, Arkansas has played in more regular-season, conference games (32) decided by 3 points than any other SEC school. [That’s another post you’ll see shortly.]  Finding the rainbow in the clouds, analysts would point out that the Razorbacks “won” about every statistical category except the scoreboard, “It’s there. It’s just not producing the expected results.”  Mark another “Loss” for those achievements.  Arkansas’ success was always around a corner that would never quit bending.

The criticism against Arkansas’ 2009 Defense, a squad which returns almost intact for 2010, is the flip-side of the same “rainbow of hope” Hog Fans heard after Razorback losses.  If a unit plays goal line defense on every play and holds opposing offenses to minimal points, then it’s done its job regardless of the statistical categories that describe how it was accomplished.   “Total Defense” is based solely on “net yards per game” and completely ignores points -- when points are all that matter. 

Superficially, there would seem little point to be made.  Arkansas ranked 58th nationally and 9th in the SEC in Scoring Defense. Ho-hum numbers they are for sure, but they saddle the Razorback Defense with early-season impressions and numbers that weren’t attributable to them.  The point of a 2010 evaluation is to determine where the squad ended in 2009.  Most teams try to pick up where they left off.

In eight of the ten games following the Hogs’ loss to Alabama, Arkansas’ Defense alone allowed 24 points or fewer through 4 quarters of play. The 27 points Eastern Michigan scored was still a win, and the 30 points by Ole Miss is the lone, inescapable black mark. Against Eastern Michigan, Texas A&M and East Carolina, the Hog Defense scored 6 points to offset 6 points allowed, netting 21, 13, and 11 points allowed respectively.  In Death Valley, Trindon Holliday scampered an 87-yard punt return against Arkansas’ special teams unit, not the defense. Likewise, three of LSU’s points were scored in OT.

Team—Points Allowed

Missouri State—10

Georgia—52

Alabama—35

Texas A&M–19

Auburn–23

Florida–23

Mississippi–30

Eastern Michigan–27

South Carolina–16

Troy–20

Mississippi St–21

LSU—24

East Carolina (Liberty)—17

But their importance rests here.

Since Arkansas formally entered the Southeast Conference, there were winners in 812 of 816 SEC regular-season, conference games. Four were ties. Of those 812 games, Winners managed victory with 24 points or fewer in 35.85% of the 812 games. 23 points or fewer accounted for only 28.33% of all Winners’ scores while Winners’ scored 22 points or fewer in only 24.88% of all games.

After Alabama, the 2009 Arkansas Defense limited opposing offenses to point totals which would keep opponents from winning more than 2/3 of the games by measurable and objective seventeen-year standards.

Last year’s biggest unreported story for most of the season was that Ryan Mallett was draft eligible.

The biggest unreported story of 2010 is that Arkansas returns a defense that’s better than anyone thinks.   

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