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Defense By The Numbers

Was Sparty's defense really that good? Was Ohio State's really that bad? It depends on how you measure them. Here's a look at one really simple and mostly wrong way to size up defenses.

By GoForThree
Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Statistics...the lifeblood of the pundit...the stock-in-trade of the suit-wearing has-beens of the halftime circus. Week in and week out we hear the same old tired analysis. A favorite among talking heads of all flavors is the "yards per game" stat. 500 yards on offense. Only allowed 250 on defense.

Is that how we measure a team? Does that tell us who's got it and who's faking the funk? Let's see...

<iframe src="//e.infogr.am/simply-wrong-6762" width="600" height="3840" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border:none;"> </iframe><div style="width:600px;border-top:1px solid #acacac;padding-top:3px;font-family:Arial;font-size:10px;text-align:center;"><a target="_blank" href="//infogr.am/simply-wrong-6762" style="color:#acacac;text-decoration:none;">Simply Wrong: YPG Rankings            Behind the Numbers...</a> | <a style="color:#acacac;text-decoration:none;" href="//infogr.am" target="_blank">Infographics</a></div>