Golden defense game-by-game performances
With emoji ratings!
Year Opp Points Run/Pass Y Yds/play Rating 2022 @OSU 21 172/223 5.72 ⛅ 2022 Marsh 26 219/145 5.13 ☠️ 2022 Cal 17 112/184 4.35 ☺️ 2022 @UNC 32 66/301 6.12 ☔ 2022 BYU 20 164/120 6.17 ⛑️ 2022 Stan 16 97/288 4.75 ⚡ 2022 UNLV 21 146/153 4.90 ☺️ 2022 Syr 24 61/225 4.69 ⛅ 2022 Clem 14 90/191 4.32 ☝️ 2022 BC 0 117/58 2.98 ☘️ 2022 @USC 38 204/232 7.15 ☢️ 2022 USC 38 65/287 4.96 1H: ⛈️/ 2H: ⛱️ 2023 Navy 3 126/42 3.07 ❤️ 2023 TennSt 3 89/67 2.69 ☘️ 2023 Nc St 24 84/260 4.41 ☺️ 2023 CMU 17 131/137 4.96 ☺️ 2023 OSU 17 126/240 5.63 ⛹️ 2023 @Duke 14 189/134 4.82 ☺️ 2023 @Lou 33 185/145 5.16 ⛑️ 2023 USC 20 109/199 4.16 ⭐⭐ 2023 Pitt 7 53/202 5.00 ☘️ 2023 @Clem 31 176/109 4.13 ☔ 2023 WF 7 134/98 4.07 ⭐ 2023 @Stan 23 143/216 4.92 ☺️ 2023 Or St 8 2/195 4.48 ⚡ 2024 TAMU 13 146/100 3.62 ✊ 2024 NIU 16 190/198 5.97 ☠️ 2024 @Pur 7 38/124 3.31 ☘️ 2024 MOH 3 110/119 3.58 ❤️ 2024 Lou 24 131/264 5.20 ☔ 2024 GT 13 64/269 4.97 ☺️ 2024 Navy 14 222/88 5.44 ⛏️ 2024 FSU 3 120/88 3.01 ✂️ 2024 UVA 14 128/172 4.41 ☀️ 2024 Army 14 207/26 3.48 ☄️ 2024 @USC 35 197/360 7.23 ☢️ 2024 IU 17 63/215 4.56 1-3Q: ☘️/ 4Q: ☠️ 2024 UGA 10 62/234 4.85 ⭐☘️☄️ 2024 PSU 24 204/135 5.22 1H: ☢️/ 2H: ⭐ 2024 OSU 34 214/231 7.81 ☢️☣️☠️
Thoughts:
- Year 1 was more of a struggle than we probably remember.
- Year 2 gets a ton of credit for good overall performances, with some nice efforts against OSU and USC. I'm willing to accept a bad statistical defensive night for Louisville as chalked up to poor complementary from the offense. Clemson looks decent on paper, but it felt like they could get a score whenever they really wanted to push for one.
- Year 3 had some very good efforts, but some pretty poor ones as well. NIU, USC, and OSU were war-crime level performances.
- Overall: a really good coordinator that after year 1 was able to contribute winning defensive efforts consistently. Struggled to even slow down the best passing efforts. 'Best in country' or 'elite' ratings seem like hyperbole but are understandable. I view him as the "James Franklin of defensive coordinators"
- Projection: He's going to have to expand his toolkit in the NFL. In year 1, he'll probably have to simply play for disruptive plays and turnovers while counting on Burrow and the offense to win games.
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I'm a bad take machine!