Much anger has been exerted on this site for the perceived lack of progress that has been the trademark of the Chris Cosh Defense. This year, however, after winning ten games (with several key late-game defensive heroics) the narrative has emerged that Cosh has seriously improved this defense from a year ago. So, the question is begged, which is the correct viewpoint? The only way to know for sure is by comparing the numbers from every year.

Initially, based solely off the overall yardage numbers, you would have to say that yes, Cosh has improved the defense. A closer examination, though, reveals that while Cosh has improved the rushing defense from an abysmal 119 ranking and 3008 yards, his passing numbers declined from a 52 ranking to 104th and 3207 yards, with one game (Cotton Bowl!) left to play. However, his passing numbers did not increase as much as his rushing numbers decreased (421 yard vs 1430 yards), thereby accounting for the improvement seen in his overall numbers. Furthermore, we have played a much tougher schedule this year, especially in regards to passing teams, so further examination is required based upon his performance against the opposing team's average game totals.

*To make the comparison more informative, I have excluded the KSU game stats from each team's overall numbers.

**Percentages are measured in percentage points. So, if we held a team to 2.75 below their season average of 30%, we would have held them 27.25%.

Unfortunately for those advocating for Cosh's removal (myself included), these numbers would suggest that this has been the best defense of the Bill Snyder 2.0 era. While the total yards are on par with 2009, 3rd down and Red Zone defense have shown marked improvement. Our only hope of finding statistical proof of decline is to look at other defensive stats, such as INTs and Sacks, which have been remarkably consistent over the years.

But that consistency is misleading. If you compare those numbers next to the number of plays that were run, you find that this defense has dropped off somewhat in sack production. That could be an indicator that the our ability to pressure the quarterback has declined.

What does all of this mean? Everyone is free to draw their own conclusions, but to me, the numbers show that Cosh, when given the right athletes, can coach against the run. He is really good at stopping the rush in 2/3 years (and historically bad in the other year, but there was a noticeable lack of speed at linebacker).

However, his pass defense has remained consistently weak. The only "good" year he had , 2010, was in retrospect not very good at all and only in comparison to how awful we were against the run. This also seems to fit well with real world events. We now have a Co-Defensive Coordinator in charge of passing. Perhaps that is because Cosh is not that good against the pass? And if you look back on when our defense dropped off after 2003, it also coincided with the rise of the passing offense. I would submit that the reason for that was that Cosh could not come up with a scheme to contain those offenses. I would also submit that he still has not done so.

Except we are forgetting something here. These numbers have been 'deflated' from the weaker non-conference teams. If we only include stats from games against major conference competition, we see a different story.

These numbers show us that against the 2009 defense may not have actually been that good, once you remove the two FCS teams and UL-Lafayette from the schedule. Furthermore, Cosh's 2011 defense also weakens considerably when faced with stiffer competition. Only his 2010 defense was a consistent performer; it was bad across the board.

Still, Cosh's 2011 defense is pretty stout against the run. Whether tat is because teams don't bother running against us because they know they can pass, or whether it is simply because Arthur Brown is a beast, we can not say definitively at this point. All we know for sure is that against BCS competition, Cosh's defense has improved by 90 yards against the run, and regressed by 40 yards against the pass.

For anyone interested, here is the raw data set from which I drew these numbers:

Some interesting items from this season:

1. We only allowed opponents to gain more than their season average in 3 games this season. We were 1-2 in those games. (TT, OU, OSU)

2. Despite going into 4OT with aTm, we still managed to keep them under their season average in every category (including total yards) except rushing.

*game played at "neutral" location