NC State

You weren't one of the top defenses in the nation.

 

They were 8th in total D (Click HERE)

and 12th in scoring D (HERE)


I don't have any thing to contest the cupcake schedule though:supergrin

 

Ok, I see what happened. Those rankings include the bowl games while I was referring to the regular season rankings. Those rankings have N.C. State finishing 14th in yardage allowed and 22nd in points allowed. Interestingly, I never would have guessed that Connecticut would be ranked higher than State in both categories.

 

It really doesn't matter. That Mienekee bowl opponent (So. Fla.) was little more than the icing on a cupcake schedule. eacemanm

 

Playing Buffalo, Liberty, and Syracuse does wonders that way.

 

If we are going to be technical, wouldn't even your rankings mean they were still one of the top defenses in the country? How many I-A schools are there again? 117, isn't that correct? So, to do the math for you 14/117 in yardage allowed, and 22/117 in points allowed. Therefore, 103 schools allowed more yardage and 95 allowed more points. Would this not qualify as one of the top defenses in the country? I would think so.

And also, just for the record, the NCAA statistics are through January 4, 2006. Which would mean they are after the bowl game. S. Fla had the 18th best rushing offense in the country and 79th best in the country total offense. Not that the total offense ranking should be great, but they were ahead of a few ACC schools including NC State (103), and just behind GA. Tech (78) and Miami (Fl., 73). So, a pretty damn good defense at NC State last year if you ask me. So, I stand behind my comments that they were in fact one of the top defenses in the country.

 

No. Was Texas Tech one of the top teams in the country? No. Being a #15-#20 defense means that you were good, but not great, and certainly not one of the top defenses, especially when you factor in what a pathetic schedule you guys played.

 

I didn't say State was a good team. I said they had one of the top defenses in the country. Texas Tech however, is a good team. Top ranked offense in the country I believe, and ironically their defenses was one of the worst. Kind of an interesting thing I noticed while looking at stats, most of the teams with top defenses had horrible offenses and vice versa. Not all, but a lot did. And as for them being in the top 25, yes I think that would make them one of the top teams in the country, not as good as say the #1 ranked team, but one of the top teams in the country, which is why fans get excited when teams become ranked in the top 25.

 

And I can't defend the schedule, I wish it was tougher, but it's not. However, lots of cancellations hurt their schedule and they had to add MTSU and one of the other ones, who I can't remember at the present time. Schedule definitely gets tougher in the coming years with Tennessee Ohio State and Notre Dame (unless they cancelled completely and I'm not sure). This coming year is kind of weak again but a little tougher than last year. I look forward to the App game as they have always performed well against I-A competetion. It will be embarrassing if they lose to them though, even though they are defending nat'l champs.

 

State and Carolina have plenty of common OOC opponents in the next few years, so we'll only have to listen to Collin bitch about something else ad nauseam by then.