Number of Possessions tends to be close to equal (in the absence of TOs) and so I think efficiency per possession is the key metric. If you can do that while also giving the other guy fewer chances to score (or yourself more chances) obviously that’s better.

The issue is that every conceivable strategic alternative is not available just because you and I can think of it. Some people have the horses to run one way and others have the horses to run a different way, and some don’t have the horses no matter what strategy they use.

Our defense is set up to stop modern spread offenses and to take advantage of the fact that we often CAN get pressure and stop the run with 3-4 because at least some of our DL are really good.

It had trouble getting off the field v CC and SDSU because they just ran the football and out-patienced us. We gave up few or no big plays.

The only reason we didn’t win against CCU going away was a few missed opportunities on offense. If we converted the 4th and 1 (to pick just one of a bunch of examples) we almost certainly win that game. There are a number of others. But yeah, if your offense is much more efficient than the other guys you will win, our problem was that in that game the offense didn’t look like itself.