Some more bye week numbers

I think BSR will give us a baseball playoff recap and ALCS preview this week. I haven't watched much so far, but Yankees/Red Sox should be exciting. One thing about Roger Clemens, he has been worth every penny hasn't he? And that Derek Jeter, boy he always comes through in the clutch. And Bernie Williams is always good for a big hit along with Paul O'Neil.

Alright enough baseball since the Pirates were eliminated in late April and are on the clock for a 2008 elimination starting any day now. First, as per the request of Wolf in the comments let's look at how WVU has done against the averages of the teams faced. Syracuse had 202 total yards (108 passing and 94 rushing) and averages 261 per game (211 passing/50 rushing). USF had 274 yards (135 passing and 139 rushing and averages 364 (183 passing/181 rushing). ECU gained 160 total yards (54 passing and 106 rushing) and averages 315 yards (191 passing/124 rushing). The Terps gained 269 yards (180 passing/89 rushing) and averages 347 (185 passing/162 rushing). Marshall gained 387 yards (266 passing/121 rushing) and averages 385 (280 passing/ 105 rushing). Finally, WMU gained 277 total yards (245 passing/32 rushing) while averaging 400 yards (275 passing/126 rushing).

On average WVU is holding opponents to 83.8 total yards under their average for the season (56.2 yards under their average through the air and 26.2 below their average on the ground). The offensive ranks are as follows: WMU is 56th, Marshall is 67th, Maryland is 86th, ECU is 103rd, USF is 76th, and Syracuse is 116th. So the offenses have been pretty poopy, but WVU is holding these bad offenses well under their bad averages.

Some more numbers for comparison to last year. WVU has forced 15 turnovers this year through 6 games for an average of 2.5 per game. Additionally, the defense has 18 sacks for an average of 3 per game. Last season the defense struggled in both of these areas forcing 24 turnovers on the season (2 per game) and only had 22 sacks on the season (1.8 per game).

An additional area of major improvement for the defense has been opponent third down percentage. Last year the defense failed miserably to stop drives even when opponents had a third and long. For the season WVU opponents were 83 for 177 on third down which is a conversion rate of 46.9%. This season opponents are 43 for 126 for a conversion rate of 34%.

Finally, penalties have been cut in half. Last year by month the team averaged 71.3 penalty yards per game in Aug/Sept., 92.3 in October, 58.8 in November, and 35 in Dec/Jan. for a total of 66.7 penalty yards per game last year. This year WVU is averaging 38 penalty yards per game which is quite an improvement.