Just How Bad Is The Texas Tech Defense?

Texas Tech is allowing 41.8 points per game, which is good for 124th in the country. Loyal readers of this blog know that we would never rely on points per game to tell us how good (or in this case, bad) a defense is. Let’s take a closer look at how this defense stacks up to other units across the country over the past few years.

For this post, I’ll use Brian Fremeau’s Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI), which is a ratings system based on drive efficiency. It is adjusted for opponent strength and garbage time. It looks at how many points an opponent scores per drive compared to how many an average offense would normally score given the starting field position. Maybe Tech performs better in this advanced system (spoiler: they don’t).

I looked at all Power 5 defenses from 2012 to current under the FEI system, a group of 314 defenses. Here’s how Texas Tech’s defense ranks over each of the five years in my analysis:

Texas Tech defense

• 2012 – 214 out of 314
• 2013 – 227
• 2014 – 301
• 2015 – 304
• 2016 – 308

Hey Kliff. Might be time to start focusing a little time on your defense. Three consecutive years below the fourth percentile is willfully incompetent. Only one team in the lower 10 percent (one out of 31 teams) of this group has a winning record (Texas A&M 2014 – and the defensive coordinator was fired after the season). You absolutely cannot have a winning program with a defense this bad.

So, 308th out of 314 is how bad this defense is. They are 313th in this group in Fremeau’s average yards percentage rating, which is simply How Many Yards Did You Allow/How Many Yards Were Available on a drive. Tech allows opponents to gain 62.5 percent of available yards per drive, which is better than only one other team on this list: the 2015 Kansas team that went 0-12. Yurcich’s bunch could light this team up in their sleep.

Now, how does OSU’s defense stack up on this list?

Oklahoma State defense

• 2012 – 93 out of 314
• 2013 – 18
• 2014 – 242
• 2015 – 182
• 2016 – 186

Not great, but no surprise. Three consecutive below-average years on a national basis, but the last two years have been just below average even in the Big 12. Still, it could be much worse.

Curious how the offenses stack up? Me too. No commentary on this section, but here you go:

Texas Tech offense

• 2012 – 100 out of 314
• 2013 – 93
• 2014 – 132
• 2015 – 31
• 2016 – 36

Oklahoma State Offense

• 2012 – 102 out of 314
• 2013 – 90
• 2014 – 226
• 2015 – 113
• 2016 – 147