RE: National Championship JMU Versus NDSU January 11, 2020
Finally, I wanted to dive into the offensive rankings of each team’s opponents to see if their D stats are in fact legitimate, or are we looking at a paper tiger kind of scenario where they have great D stats against sub-par offenses (ala UNI).
JMU: (Order of ranking: Scoring, Passing, Rushing)
West Virginia (FBS) – 114th, 53rd, 128th
St. Francis – 73rd, 27th, 113th
Morgan State – 108th, 83rd, 97th
Chattanooga – 63rd, 85th, 24th
Elon – 74th, 76th, 100th
Stony Brook – 82nd, 62nd, 22nd
Villanova – 9th, 28th, 27th (Balanced Offense)
William & Mary – 70th, 113th, 30th
Towson – 38th, 41st, 57th (Good, but slightly Un-Balanced Offense)
New Hampshire – 100th, 84th, 72nd
Richmond – 87th, 55th, 80th
Rhode Island – 67th, 13th, 117th
Monmouth – 13th, 23rd, 21st (Balanced Offense)
Northern Iowa – 98th, 93rd, 104th
Weber State – 57th, 91st, 62nd
Average (FCS only) – 67th, 62nd, 66th
NDSU:
Butler – 103rd, 112th, 58th
North Dakota – 62nd, 26th, 96th
Delaware – 86th, 88th, 54th
California-Davis – 52nd, 6th, 92nd
Illinois State – 104th, 118th, 33rd
Northern Iowa – 98th, 93rd, 104th
Missouri State – 120th, 67th, 122nd
South Dakota State – 44th, 82nd, 23rd (Good but un-balanced Offense)
Youngstown State – 37th, 86th, 29th (Good but un-balanced Offense)
Western Illinois – 109th, 73rd, 108th
South Dakota – 38th, 37th, 31st (Balanced Offense)
Southern Illinois – 53rd, 94th, 12th
Nicholls State – 55th, 65th, 25th
Illinois State – 104th, 118th, 33rd
Montana State – 27th, 104th, 8th (Good but un-balanced Offense)
Average – 73rd, 78th, 55th
JMU faced slightly better offenses overall, while facing better passing offenses. Alternatively, NDSU faced better rushing offenses. An argument could be made that each team’s pass or rush D stats are worse in part because they faced better respective offenses.
Defining a top 50 scoring offense as good, JMU faced three good offenses, two being balanced offenses. NDSU faced four good offenses, only one being balanced. The slightest of offensive quality in opponents to JMU. They both faced more offensive mediocrity than not. That’s part of why their Ds are as good as they are.
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