I was reading the accolades our newly successful Tigers are getting and felt the warm, tingling sensation in my nether regions as I contemplated another post-season of glory for our beloved Auburn. Then I started reminiscing about championships past and attempting to mentally compare this team to one of them. I ended up in a strange place.
Note: I had to pro-rate the historic numbers or suffer falling down some stat-site rabbit hole. I rationalized thusly: by game 9, these teams are what they are and any early tendencies are statistical outliers.They run hard like the 2013 team, but without the significant contribution of Nick Marshall or Cam.
But...we're more on par as a passing squad with Nick than we are Cam or JCam.
Add those factors up and you'll find that we're a bit less productive, in total numbers, than in '10 or '13, but significantly better than Jason, Caddy and Ronnie by a similar factor.
Defensively, we are light years better than the 2010 squad and much more effective than the '13 team...but not quite as good as KD, DT and the boys.
So...what the fuck does it all mean? I take from this that a transcendent QB (Cam and, to a lesser extent, Nick) can elevate this offense and overcome any defensive deficiencies. The defense that Kevin Steele is fielding this year is underrated in the assistance they're giving an offense trying to find its way.
We'll likely end up with an offense more productive than the 2004 team and a defense better than the '10 and '13 squads. All of those were championship teams. Do not sleep on this year's iteration of the Tigers.
2016 2013 2010 2004
Rushing Yards 2427 3064 2658 1589
Passing Yards 1634 1615 2002 2057
Total Yds 4061 4679 4660 3646
Points Against 109 169 213 87
Points Against per Game12.1 18.8 23.7 9.7
|
Fuck it, the table's attached, too.
18 Replies
3815 Views