Pac-10 VS SEC 2009 - Defensive Comparison

Of course I live here in SEC country and all I ever hear about is how much better the SEC is. "Pac-10 doesnt know how to play defense", not a day goes by I don't here that. I decided to do some break downs and comparisons on this years match ups.

Those who know me know tat my point is not that the Pac-10 is better or would cream anyone in every game, but neither is the SEC. The defenses in the Pac-10 give up a lot of points because the offenses are so good, not because of bad defense.

I looked at 3 Pac-10 vs SEC Match ups.....

UCLA over Tenn 19-15 in Tenn
LSU over Wash 31-23 in Washington
Georgia over Arizona State 20-17 at Georgia

So 2-1 SEC VS Pac-10.

The Pac-10 teams that played were the #7, #8 and #9 teams of the conference.
The SEC teams that played were the #2 and #3 of the West and #2 of the East.

So 3 bottom tier Pac-10 played 3 games, 2 games on the road, against 3 top tier SEC teams and came out 1-2.


Let's look at the defenses, to compare I'm looking at the Pac-10 defensive performance vs the top 3 SEC defenses against the same teams.

The University of Tennessee's offense..........

VS.................UCLA........Alabama....Florida....LSU
Points.............15..........12.........13.........didn't play
Total Yards........208.........341........210
Passing............93..........265........93
Rushing............115.........76.........117

Keep in mind this is the #9 team in the Pac-10 compared to the #1 and #2 SEC teams.

UCLA held TN to less yards than AL and FL. While both SEC teams held TN to fewer poins. UCLA's defense performed nearly equal in every category as Florida. Bama's rush defense held better but gave up more than double the passing yards.


LSU's offense........................

VS.................WASH........Alabama....Florida
Points.............31..........15.........3
Total Yards........321.........253........162
Passing............172.........158........66
Rushing............149.........95.........96

Keep in mind this is the #7 team in the Pac-10 compared to the #1 and #2 SEC teams.

Both Bama and FL held LSU a lot better in the scoring department. LSU was able to gain 50 more yards on the ground agaist Washington.


Georgia's offense........................

VS.................AZ ST.......Alabama....Florida...LSU
Points.............20..........DNP........17........13
Total Yards........334....................286.......274
Passing............242....................164.......229
Rushing............92.....................210.......49

This is the #9 team in the Pac 10 playing on the road.

Again we see a better scoring defense out of the SEC schools.

I do see here that the numbers show a better defense in the SEC. But not by much. Considering that some of the top teams in the SEC played some of the worse teams in the Pac-10 makes these numbers look even closer.