The Belk Bowl: it might as well be referred to as the Todd Grantham Bowl. If there was ever a way in which Louisville coach Bobby Petrino would take a back seat storyline wise in the city of Atlanta, it could only be done by the presence of former Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham.
Earlier this week, Grantham took credit for helping “put Georgia back on the map.” For those of you who ever listened to 680 College Game Day during the 2013 season, you may remember that I was not a fan of Todd Grantham. In fact, I believe he is a clown that is eventually destructive to any defensive goals your team may have. Grantham is a coordinator, not a teacher, and his defenses at Georgia were often defined by a lack of understanding.
You can blame the students, I’ll blame the professor.
The Georgia defense was greatly improved in 2014 due to Todd Grantham being elsewhere. Some people get caught up in pointing to the amount of turnovers forced by the Bulldogs over the course of the 2014 season. Turnovers are fickle, as they don’t tend to show up from season to season despite the talent of your defense. For example, Alabama was 82nd in the country this year in turnovers forced per game. They were 96th and 20th in the country in 2013 and 2012 respectively.
Let’s take a look at a few simple measures of defense:
Points per Game: 21.3 (2014) vs. 29.0 (2013)
Opposing Passer Rating: 106.36 (2014) vs. 134.75 (2013)
Rushing Yards Allowed: 2,107 (2014) vs. 1,926 (2013)
You’ll notice the obvious improvement in points per game. A nearly eight point improvement from Grantham’s final year is considerable considering the lack of depth with the Bulldogs defense. The defense improved across the board with the exception of rushing yards allowed.
But let’s look a little deeper:
Penalties: 60 for 543 yards (2014) vs. 83 for 624 yards (2013)
Yards per Play: 4.8 (2014) vs. 5.4 (2013)
The Georgia defense was much more disciplined in 2014. Penalties can be attributed to discipline, a lack of talent, effort, etc. In this case, the defense committed 23 fewer penalties in 2014 while also allowing fewer points per game and yards per play. All of this while also losing talented players in the secondary to transfer and discipline.
The final pair of numbers I wish to point out to you is what made Bulldog fans in 2013 crazy with their defense. The lasting vision I have of the 2013 defense is the numerous times the group was confused and allowed a big play. Football Outsiders keeps track of a couple of statistics that I find amazing. They’re called explosive drives and methodical drives.
An explosive drive is considered one in which the offense averages 10 yards per play. Such as a drive that goes: 4 plays, 60 yards and a touchdown. A methodical drive is one in which the offense runs at least 10 plays. Here is how Georgia ranked in 2014 vs. 2013:
Explosive Drives Allowed: 17th (2014) vs. 81st (2013)
Methodical Drives Allowed: 87th (2014) vs. 104th (2013)
But the story of Todd Gratham doesn’t end there. Because remember, a bad teacher doesn’t improve no matter what school he moves to. Here’s a look at the Louisville defense from 2013 to 2014. While the school moved into the ACC, eight of the conference’s teams finished in the bottom half of college football in points per game scored.
Points per Game: 20.5 (2014) vs. 12.2 (2013)
Opposing Passer Rating: 103.91 (2014) vs. 99.17 (2013)
Rushing Yards Allowed: 1,124 (2014) vs. 1,049 (2013)
Penalties: 61 for 535 yards (2014) vs. 43 for 396 yards (2013)
Yards per Play: 4.58 (2014) vs. 4.2 (2013)
Explosive Drives Allowed: 26th (2014) vs. 16th (2013)
Methodical Drives Allowed: 8th (2014) vs. 88th (2013)