Defensive stats for Alabama Football and the Tennessee Vols are misleading

For the last almost 11 quarters of Alabama Football, the Crimson Tide defense has not measured up to expectations. Given that similar performances also occurred in the last few seasons of the Nick Saban era, perhaps the expectations for the 2024 defense were too high. Then again in the context of every season expectations for the Alabama Crimson Tide, no standard is too high.

The Alabama Football defense must improve on missed assignments and missed tackles. The Alabama defensive staff agrees. The Tennessee game would be a great time to show improvement.

The Tennessee Vols’ defense has been regularly praised this season. Diving into team stats shows results by Tennessee have been better than Alabama in three key defensive stats.

Measuring the numbers, the Vols have the better defense. That is not the correct conclusion. Projecting whether Tennessee or Alabama is better on defense requires consideration of Strength of Schedule (SOS).

Using ESPN’s analytics, the Crimson Tide’s SOS through six games is No. 24 among all FBS teams. The SOS for Tennessee is No. 59. Using ESPN’s current FPI rankings, the average ranking for the six teams Alabama has played is No. 47. Measuring the average for Tennessee requires some speculation because the Vols opened with FCS, Chattanooga. The Mocs are a good FCS team, though not one of the best. The Vols beat them 66-3. To calculate an average for this post, I gave Chattanooga a No. 135, FPI ranking. Using that number the average of Tennessee’s opponents is No. 71.

For the last almost 11 quarters of Alabama Football, the Crimson Tide defense has not measured up to expectations. Given that similar performances also occurred in the last few seasons of the Nick Saban era, perhaps the expectations for the 2024 defense were too high. Then again in the context of every season expectations for the Alabama Crimson Tide, no standard is too high.

The Alabama Football defense must improve on missed assignments and missed tackles. The Alabama defensive staff agrees. The Tennessee game would be a great time to show improvement.

The Tennessee Vols’ defense has been regularly praised this season. Diving into team stats shows results by Tennessee have been better than Alabama in three key defensive stats.

Measuring the numbers, the Vols have the better defense. That is not the correct conclusion. Projecting whether Tennessee or Alabama is better on defense requires consideration of Strength of Schedule (SOS).

Using ESPN’s analytics, the Crimson Tide’s SOS through six games is No. 24 among all FBS teams. The SOS for Tennessee is No. 59. Using ESPN’s current FPI rankings, the average ranking for the six teams Alabama has played is No. 47. Measuring the average for Tennessee requires some speculation because the Vols opened with FCS, Chattanooga. The Mocs are a good FCS team, though not one of the best. The Vols beat them 66-3. To calculate an average for this post, I gave Chattanooga a No. 135, FPI ranking. Using that number the average of Tennessee’s opponents is No. 71.