Found this on Yahoo today.
The most exciting defenses to watch are the ones that specialize in raising hell. We have a statistic to tell us which teams are the best at this kind of specialization. It's appropriately named havoc rate, and just as it sounds, it determines how often a defense wreaks havoc on opposing offenses.
Havoc rate measures the percentage of plays that end in a tackle for loss (including sacks), forced fumble, or tipped/intercepted pass. See more on Bill Connelly's havoc rate and other advanced stats here.
The national average was 15.8 percent for the 2014 season, and the defense best at raising hell was Clemson, which finished almost two percentage points better than second place TCU.
Here are 2014's full 1-to-128 rankings, all from the Football Study Hall database, followed by a glimpse at the top 10 power-conference defenses.
1. Clemson
195 havoc plays, 23.2 percent havoc rate. Four returning starters for 2015.
The Tigers were expected to have a ferocious style under Brent Venables, and that's exactly what they did. They were particularly good up front, finishing with 17 more tackles for loss than anyone else. Now who's gonna replace those two first-round draft picks?
**** Of note, South Carolina came in #121. Just ahead of Kent State, Cal, SMU, Troy, Navy, Georgia State and New Mexico State
The most exciting defenses to watch are the ones that specialize in raising hell. We have a statistic to tell us which teams are the best at this kind of specialization. It's appropriately named havoc rate, and just as it sounds, it determines how often a defense wreaks havoc on opposing offenses.
Havoc rate measures the percentage of plays that end in a tackle for loss (including sacks), forced fumble, or tipped/intercepted pass. See more on Bill Connelly's havoc rate and other advanced stats here.
The national average was 15.8 percent for the 2014 season, and the defense best at raising hell was Clemson, which finished almost two percentage points better than second place TCU.
Here are 2014's full 1-to-128 rankings, all from the Football Study Hall database, followed by a glimpse at the top 10 power-conference defenses.
1. Clemson
195 havoc plays, 23.2 percent havoc rate. Four returning starters for 2015.
The Tigers were expected to have a ferocious style under Brent Venables, and that's exactly what they did. They were particularly good up front, finishing with 17 more tackles for loss than anyone else. Now who's gonna replace those two first-round draft picks?
**** Of note, South Carolina came in #121. Just ahead of Kent State, Cal, SMU, Troy, Navy, Georgia State and New Mexico State