I pointed out the most important defensive statistic last year it is: points allowed per play (adjusted for strength of schedule).
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That would be a great statistic for the NCAA to track. Assuming 65 by the opposition per game the 2010 defense was just a FG worse than the 2009 defense.
NT (2010) = 65.4
NU (2010) = 70.7
NU (2007) = 68.4
TT (2009) = 66.0
Reg Season total raw DE
2010 = 30.7
2009 = 27.7
2008 = 34.8
2007 = 31.6
2006 = 27.0
DE is points given up in 75 offensive plays, so yep your analysis is spot on.
this is the stat that should be kept by the NCAA. Extrapolate it over the avg. number of plays offenses get per game over a season to make more of an apples to apples. Our ppg is actually better, I would guess, because we hold the ball longer and allower fewer snaps than the opposition though that is probably a staple of better teams as well.
I split the difference between the '09 and '10 seasons with roughly 65 snaps per by opposing offenses...that is how I arrived at a FG difference. I think it was 757 snaps in 12 games in 2009 and 907 snaps in 13 games in 2010.
I think my DE stat (and OE as well) is the proper metric since it does take into account tempo (hence a per play stat, which is fair to compare year to year imo). The raw numbers are calculated as you mentioned (I think). I take the total number of points scored (over the course of the season) and divide it by the number of offensive plays (over the course of the season). I then multiply by 75 to simply make a more familiar number (75 being about the avg number of offensive plays).
Example:
Team A lets its opponent average 40 plays a game, and they give up a TD+xp on 4 (10%) of them [28 pts]
Team B lets its opponent average 80 plays a game, and they give up a TD+xp on 6 (7.5%) [42 pts]
On first glance most people would say the first team is a better defense based on the lower number of points allowed.
The first team actually has an objectively worse defense, but they play a slower tempo.
