There's a reason that SEC Offenses average scoring significantly more points against non-SEC BCS Schools than they do when playing against SEC foes: the SEC defenses are better.
What does this have to do with the style of offense that you run? Well, obviously, it's about your defense.
If you want to see some interesting stats, take a look at plays per point, i.e., how many plays it averages a team to score a point, for offenses and defenses but especially in regards to the highest scoring offenses in each conference over the past few years. (Note: when putting together stats for team/conference comparison I typically only include BCS foes.)
In looking at the offenses you'll see something very interesting. First, you'll notice that there is a big disparity between some offenses versus others in this stat even though they average about the same about of points per game. Second, you'll notice that the highest scoring offenses in the Big 12 over the past few years have averaged more points per game compared to the highest scoring SEC offenses over the past few years while the highest scoring SEC offenses have averaged fewer plays per point. What does this mean? It means that the Big 12 offenses scored more points because they had more chances, i.e., more plays and more drives. Most importantly, it means that the best SEC offenses were more efficient than the best Big 12 offenses. The head to head match-ups between upper level SEC and Big 12 teams over the past few years will bear this out.
So, why the disparity? The disparity is a direct result of two things: 1) the style of offense being run and 2) the quality of the defenses faced.
In looking at the defenses you'll also notice something interesting but for a different reason than when looking at the offenses: the disparity you would expect for defenses isn't there, or at least is not as great, as with the offenses. The better defenses, i.e., defenses allowing the fewest points, will usually average forcing around the same number of plays per point. This is usually true even from conference to conference. For example, the better defenses in the Big 12 over the past few years have averaged forcing fewer plays per point than the best SEC defenses but the disparity isn't nearly as great as with the offenses. There is a disparity, though, and that is regarding the average points allowed per game. The better Big 12 defenses allow more points per game than the better SEC defenses. Why? Because, even though they aren't that much less efficient than the better SEC defenses, they average defending more plays per game than the SEC defenses. Why? The disparity in the average number of plays defended per game is, somewhat ironically, almost identical to the reason for the offensive disparity: 1) the style of offense your team plays and 2) the quality of defenses your offense is facing.
The reason for all of this, in a way, boils down to one simple analogy:
Team A has a good offense. Team B has a good defense. Team A will score more points, on average, if they are given 75 plays in a game as opposed to 60.
Case in point:
Last year Arkansas had one of the best offenses in the NCAA. They played the two best defenses in the SEC in Alabama and LSU and two Big 12 defenses in Texas A&M and Kansas State. While LSU and Alabama both had much better defenses than TAMU and KSU there wasn't a huge difference between the plays forced per point against conference foes. This, unsurprisingly, shows up in the box scores for those four games.
Against the Aggies and the Wildcats, Arkansas had 142 offensive plays. They scored 71 points, for a total of 2 plays per point.
Against Alabama and LSU, Arkansas had only 99 offensive plays. They scored 31 points, for a total of 3.2 plays per point.
That's not nearly as big of a difference - in terms of defensive efficiency - as you would expect just looking at the scores, with Arkansas having put up more than twice as many points against their two Big 12 foes than against those two SEC foes.
So, the bottom line is this:
The more plays your defense has to defend the more points they give up. And the unit that most determines the numbers of plays your defense has to defend is not your defense but your offense. The faster the pace you play on offense the more plays your defense has to defend.
In a conference with few to no great defenses then a fast-paced, high-flying offense can succeed more or less week in and week out. In a conference such as the SEC which has 2 or 3 great defenses and another half a dozen good to very good defenses that kind of offense will usually run out of steam in two or three, if not more, games per season.
When you run that kind of offense in the SEC your are literally hanging your defense out to dry. You will have to out-score your opponents more often than not. You can't do that successfully week in and week out when you end up facing offenses like Alabama, Arkansas, and even LSU in conference play. If you guys are going to run that kind of offense then, like Arkansas, you'll need to put up 35-40+ points against the best teams in the conference to win. Arkansas averaged, I think, over 40 points per game last year excepting the Alabama and LSU games. Against Alabama and LSU they only managed to score 14 at most and got blown out in both games. They put up 29 and 42 points against KSU and Texas A&M last year, winning both, in games they were expected to lose by most.
There's a reason most teams play some sort of ball-control offense in the SEC and it's not because they don't have the talent to play offense. It's because both the offenses and the defenses in the SEC are very good and they want to limit the number of plays the opposing offense gets to run. Limit the plays, limit the points. Limit the points and it takes pressure off of your offense to score as much, making games easier to win.
Ask Bobby Petrino and Urban Meyer what happens when you get behind in the SEC while running a hurry-up offense. (Note: Meyer began drasticly slowing down the overall pace of his offense in his second year in the SEC.)
In other conferences a fast-paced, high-flying offense might win you an extra game or two. In the SEC it's more likely to lose you an extra game or two.
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