Looking at average yards allowed per play, Cal's defense has improved every game:

[U]Yards Allowed Per Play[/U]
vs Hawaii 6.69
@ SDSU 6.61
vs Texas 6.31
@ ASU 5.68
vs Utah 4.56

Cal started off the season dead last in the conference in this category, but has now improved to 8th. Stanfurd's "great" defense is ranked just ahead of Cal in 7th place.

1 Washington 4.23
2 Colorado 4.35
3 UCLA 4.88
4 Utah 5.46
5 USC 5.52
6 Oregon State 5.58
7 Stanford 5.61
8 California 5.89
9 Oregon 5.92
10 Arizona 6.07
11 Washington State 6.56
12 Arizona State 6.79

Let's hope this trend continues this week as Cal plays Oregon State, who ranks dead last in the Pac-12 in Offensive yards per play (4.46). Side note, Furd ranks 2nd to last in conference in Offensive yards per play with 5.32.

Update:

Even though the conference season is just starting out, Cal is #1 in the conference in Defensive Yards allowed per play:

[U]Yards Allowed Per Play In Pac-12 Games only[/U]

1 California 5.06
2 UCLA 5.08
3 Colorado 5.10
4 Washington 5.25
5 USC 5.46
6 Stanford 6.02
7 Washington State 6.50
8 Oregon State 6.70
9 Arizona 7.00
10 Arizona State 7.16
11 Oregon 7.23
12 Utah 7.67

Excellent news, thanks for posting the data. Let's hope this trend continues!

I think our defense can sometimes get a bad rap just because of all the extra possessions they have to defend. It drives me crazy that its the year 2016 and people on this board (and other places) are still using PPG as a relevant stat.

Its great to see that our YPP is so good. I'd love to see what our points per possession is compared to the rest of the league. (sorry I'm just too lazy to look it up).

If our defense can even just finish in the middle of the PAC in points per possession, I think we could probably get to 7 wins.

Fantastic news UCBerkGrad. Thanks much for sharing.

I smell a winning conference record for us...

This is good news but the key for the teams future growth and success is a sustained effort in defensive talent recruiting. As much as I've appreciated coach Art's steadying hand these past seasons, the next logical step is to bring in an innovative recruiter and schemer as DC.

UCBerkGrad;842739483 said:

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Looking at average yards allowed per play, Cal's defense has improved every game:

[U]Yards Allowed Per Play[/U]
vs Hawaii 6.69
@ SDSU 6.61
vs Texas 6.31
@ ASU 5.68
vs Utah 4.56

Cal started off the season dead last in the conference in this category, but has now improved to 8th. Stanfurd's "great" defense is ranked just ahead of Cal in 7th place.

1 Washington 4.23
2 Colorado 4.35
3 UCLA 4.88
4 Utah 5.46
5 USC 5.52
6 Oregon State 5.58
7 Stanford 5.61
8 California 5.89
9 Oregon 5.92
10 Arizona 6.07
11 Washington State 6.56
12 Arizona State 6.79

Let's hope this trend continues this week as Cal plays Oregon State, who ranks dead last in the Pac-12 in Offensive yards per play (4.46). Side note, Furd ranks 2nd to last in conference in Offensive yards per play with 5.32.

Update:

Even though the conference season is just starting out, Cal is #1 in the conference in Defensive Yards allowed per play:

[U]Yards Allowed Per Play In Pac-12 Games only[/U]

1 California 5.06
2 UCLA 5.08
3 Colorado 5.10
4 Washington 5.25
5 USC 5.46
6 Stanford 6.02
7 Washington State 6.50
8 Oregon State 6.70
9 Arizona 7.00
10 Arizona State 7.16
11 Oregon 7.23
12 Utah 7.67

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Thank you. And yours was a great post. It's been my belief that other than turnovers, yards per play is the most important stat that correlates with winning and losing the game.

ducky23;842739725 said:

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It drives me crazy that its the year 2016 and people on this board (and other places) are still using PPG as a relevant stat.

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Especially when you give up a pick 6 and an onsides kick return TD in the same quarter. Watching the SC game they kept talking about the 31 points that ASU scored in the 4th quarter without mentioning they "only" got 17 on offense.