(All data here were entirely researched by Fox71, and the writing is primarily his, though I've made some edits/tweaks with his permission, and added my own conclusions and editorial at the end. -KSBruin)

Three weeks after the Debacle in the Desert, here are the stats following the Utah game. Someone asked if these are cumulative, and they are.  After ten games, they’re not going to move much, and they pretty accurately reflect the performance of our team. I added all the rankings and divided by the number of rankings, to get what we lawyers call "the average." We average 79th, so we’re just barely out of the bottom third in the country. (Remember, this is out of all 120 D-1 teams.)

I think there are many observations that can be made from these numbers. One that jumps out at me is that our coach’s philosophy does not mesh with performance of the team. CTSS (and yes, moderators, I’m back to CTSS; it’s shorter than Richard Gerald Neuheisel, Jr.) thinks that kicking is winning. Let’s look at that. Our net punting is 34, and that’s good. But to have a chance in the battle for field position, you have to have a defense, and our defensive numbers are not good (although surprisingly higher than the eye test or the stomach test results). Some low-lights and the full table of data after the jump.

Punt return yardage defense: 83. Meaning teams return the ball far better than average against our special teams. 

Rushing defense: 95. Meaning that when the other team gets the ball, they move it just about at will against our defense. 

Passing defense: 61. Meaning we’re only barely in the bottom half of all the Division 1 teams, but it doesn’t matter, because teams don’t have to pass against us. 

Red zone defense: 109. Meaning once a team gets to our twenty yard line, our chances of getting a stop without a score are not very good, to say the least.

Turnovers gained: 79. A turnover in the red zone would be nice, but we don’t do that. We’re too busy bending. 

There are 37 categories listed above. We are in the top third of D-1 teams in 4: interceptions thrown, net punting, rushing offense, and sacks allowed.

We are in the top half in a whopping 7 of 37: the four above plus 4th down percentage, passes intercepted (thanks Tevin!), and tackles for loss allowed (which has still dropped considerably over the past four games).

We are in the bottom third of all 120 D-1 teams in 21 of 37 categories...way too many for me to list, as it's a majority of them.

We rank no better than 100th in 8 of 37 categories, and we're in the bottom ten in opponent's 3rd down percentage (though we've risen one spot in each of the last four weeks - progress!), kickoff return yardage defense, punt returns, and sacks.

Seen enough, Chancellor?