![]() ![]() And, remarkable, it occurred during Pry’s worst year (by far) in scoring defense by a touchdown. That 329-yard average was the best performance by a Brent Pry defense at Penn State. In 2020, the Lions ranked 6 th in the conference by allowing 27.7 PPG (below the mean average but better than median) but ranked 3 rd in yards allowed at 329 YPG. This type of relationship (ranking better in scoring defense than total defense) generally held true until last season. For example, in 2017, the defense ranked 3 rd in the league in points allowed at 19.1 (trailing only Wisconsin’s 14.1 and Northwestern’s 18.9) even though the Lions ranked 6 th in yards allowed (348). The team has had a “bend don’t break” reputation for several years and it’s exemplified by this data. Here is a stat where Pry has excelled with his units. The graph shows Penn State’s annual performance (blue number next to the logo) and the league average (black number on the gray line). It shows the year-by-year performance of the Penn State defense in terms of points-allowed-per-game (PPG-All) in the Big Ten. The Penn State defense has been pretty good limiting opponent in Brent Pry’s time, but what about scoring defense? Look at the graph below (and get used to the format…). Out of the 5 years, not once were the Lions below the league average. The Penn State performances year-by-year are shown below. I calculated hundredths of a yard here to show just how close these schools are. In YPP, Penn State is slightly ahead of Wisconsin (4.99). This figure only trails Michigan (4.69), Iowa (4.75), and OSU (4.78). Since 2016, PSU has ranked 4 th in the conference in YPP, allowing a respectable 4.91. The two best seasons ranked 9 th (2019, 107 RYPG-all) and 14 th (2017, 117 RYPG-all) out of the 70 Big Ten teams of the last 5 years.ĭrilling down one more level and looking at average yards-per-play, we see where Pry’s defenses tend to really shine. On rush defense, they only had one season (2018) that was below average. ![]() You can see that on the passing side, there’s been a lot more volatility with the team having 3 seasons that were better than average (2016, 2018, and 2020) and two that were fairly below average. Over the 5 years, the mean average for PYPG-all has been 211 YPG and for rushing 164 YPG. ![]() Overall though, for yardage, Penn State has been solid over the last 5 years but definitely a step behind Michigan, Ohio State, and Wisconsin.īefore we leave yards, let’s look at Penn State’s year-by-year performance for passing yards (blue) and rushing yards (orange) allowed. And in rushing, Wisconsin and OSU have been top of the conference and the Lions are in the logjam at ~135 RYPG-allowed. You see that Penn State hasn’t been at the level of Michigan, Iowa, OSU, or Wisconsin for passing yards (y-axis) and is even behind Illinois, Nebraska, and Minnesota. The label underneath each team logo is the total average yards per game allowed. Below is the graph of Rush Yards per Game (RYPG) and Pass Yards per Game (PYPG) allowed by each conference team’s defense from 2016 to 2020. But when you combine those two into total yards, the Lions end up 5 th in the Big Ten. Interestingly, if we look at only rush OR pass yards against, the Penn State defense is smack dab in the middle of the league. The third column in the table features the top Big Ten team in each specific category over those same five years with their yards or points allowed in parentheses. ![]() Again, the table below shows the Nittany Lions defense’s average since 2016 in conference games only along with their total league rank in parentheses. Let’s start with the Big Picture and look at the total average performance over the last 5 years on some of the basic defensive stats. Akron, Kent State, Georgia State and all the other non-Power 5 schools that come to get clobbered and collect a check – basically, the statistical “gimmes” are gone. I’m doing that mostly to normalize 2020 versus the previous 4 years of the PSU defense by leaving out the annual non-conference rent-a-win’s vs. To provide appropriate context, we are only calculating conference games. But what do the stats say? Are there specific areas of weakness? 3 rd down defense? Pass defense against otherwise mediocre quarterbacks? Let’s find out. So today let’s analyze how he’s done leading the squad over the past five years.ĭuring Pry’s tenure, there have been periods of frustration – the 20 OSU comeback losses, the 4 th quarter of the 2017 Rose Bowl, the first half of the 2020 season – but all-in-all the fan barometer of our time with Pry seems mostly positive. Therefore, In comparison, the fact that defensive coordinator Brent Pry is about to enter his 6 th season calling the shots on the other side of the ball makes him a relative stalwart and model of stability. With the offseason hiring of Mike Yurcich, Penn State welcomes its fourth different offensive coordinator in five years. ![]()
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