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2011 FBS Adjusted Sacks Allowed

By ricobert1

A sack is a sack. It can be a drive killer, a game changer, a game killer. And it can hurt:

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Bit of a spear from former Seminole Marcus Ball; but it's probably the best move he made with his head during his time at FSU.

2 sacks allowed per game might sound ok to you. But not if your team only passes the ball 10 times -- 20% of your team's pass attempts result in a sack. If your team passes it 60 times, you're probably pretty happy with a slim 3.3% sack rate per pass.

So, let's adjust FBS team sacks allowed totals based on how many times they threw the ball.

Note: The following table may be painful for Nole fans. Or said another way; only slightly less painful than a delayed MLB blitz up the middle.

I'll let you get right to the table. PA = Pass attempts ; aPA = adjusted pass attempts (sacks added back as PAs) ; SA = Sacks allowed ; SA% = Sacks allowed divided by adjusted pass attempts. ACC teams are color-coded.

And - as always - my tables are clickable sortable.

2011 adjusted Sack rates
Team PA Rk aPA Rk SA Rk SA% Rk
Boise State 477 22 485 32 8 1 1.65% 1
Texas A&M 536 9 545 13 9 3 1.65% 2
USC 447 41 455 47 8 2 1.76% 3
Oklahoma 583 5 594 6 11 7 1.85% 4
Middle Tennessee 507 14 517 17 10 4 1.93% 5
Oklahoma State 595 4 607 4 12 12 1.98% 6
Toledo 425 53 435 61 10 5 2.30% 7
Ball State 460 32 471 38 11 8 2.34% 8
San Diego State 449 39 460 44 11 9 2.39% 9
Stanford 417 59 428 65 11 10 2.57% 10
Houston 682 1 700 1 18 34 2.57% 11
Wyoming 430 49 442 57 12 13 2.71% 12
Northern Illinois 408 62 420 70 12 14 2.86% 13
Oregon 386 73 398 80 12 15 3.02% 14
Texas Tech 600 2 619 3 19 43 3.07% 15
Southern Mississippi 489 19 506 21 17 24 3.36% 16
San Jose State 479 21 496 28 17 25 3.43% 17
Notre Dame 473 26 490 30 17 26 3.47% 18
Virginia 443 42 459 45 16 22 3.49% 19
Duke 493 17 511 18 18 35 3.52% 20
BYU 464 30 481 35 17 27 3.53% 21
South Florida 434 46 450 52 16 23 3.56% 22
Central Michigan 458 34 475 37 17 28 3.58% 23
TCU 350 88 363 96 13 16 3.58% 24
Penn State 376 79 390 83 14 18 3.59% 25
Troy 531 10 551 12 20 46 3.63% 26
Michigan State 451 36 468 39 17 29 3.63% 27
Florida International 390 72 405 76 15 20 3.70% 28
Maryland 434 47 451 49 17 30 3.77% 29
Western Michigan 554 7 576 7 22 53 3.82% 30
Arizona 577 6 600 5 23 57 3.83% 31
Nevada 409 61 426 66 17 31 3.99% 32
Virginia Tech 405 67 422 68 17 32 4.03% 33
Tulsa 419 56 437 60 18 36 4.12% 34
UAB 440 43 459 46 19 44 4.14% 35
North Texas 347 91 362 97 15 21 4.14% 36
Fresno State 448 40 468 40 20 47 4.27% 37
Tennessee 400 68 418 72 18 37 4.31% 38
Missouri 384 74 402 78 18 38 4.48% 39
Alabama 357 85 374 90 17 33 4.55% 40
Tulane 461 31 483 34 22 54 4.55% 41
West Virginia 542 8 568 8 26 68 4.58% 42
Air Force 204 115 214 117 10 6 4.67% 43
Iowa State 484 20 509 19 25 62 4.91% 44
Buffalo 422 55 444 56 22 55 4.95% 45
Louisiana Tech 477 23 502 25 25 63 4.98% 46
Arizona State 527 11 555 10 28 74 5.05% 47
Oregon State 503 15 530 14 27 69 5.09% 48
Bowling Green 428 50 451 50 23 58 5.10% 49
Arkansas State 500 16 527 16 27 70 5.12% 50
Rice 384 75 405 77 21 48 5.19% 51
Miami (Florida) 339 96 358 98 19 45 5.31% 52
Cincinnati 392 70 414 73 22 56 5.31% 53
Ohio 427 51 451 51 24 60 5.32% 54
Louisiana-Lafayette 437 45 462 43 25 64 5.41% 55
East Carolina 524 13 554 11 30 85 5.42% 56
Arkansas 471 28 499 26 28 75 5.61% 57
Utah State 290 108 308 109 18 39 5.84% 58
Clemson 525 12 558 9 33 97 5.91% 59
SMU 476 24 506 22 30 86 5.93% 60
Rutgers 475 25 505 24 30 87 5.94% 61
Michigan 284 110 302 111 18 40 5.96% 62
California 440 44 468 41 28 76 5.98% 63
LSU 279 111 297 112 18 41 6.06% 64
Memphis 408 63 435 62 27 71 6.21% 65
Marshall 407 64 434 63 27 72 6.22% 66
Idaho 419 57 447 54 28 77 6.26% 67
Baylor 424 54 453 48 29 81 6.40% 68
Hawai'i 598 3 639 2 41 113 6.42% 69
North Carolina State 466 29 498 27 32 95 6.43% 70
Colorado 450 38 481 36 31 91 6.44% 71
Syracuse 418 58 447 55 29 82 6.49% 72
Western Kentucky 301 104 322 107 21 49 6.52% 73
Iowa 412 60 441 58 29 83 6.58% 74
Purdue 391 71 419 71 28 78 6.68% 75
Mississippi State 349 89 374 91 25 65 6.68% 76
Nebraska 293 106 314 108 21 50 6.69% 77
Florida 320 101 343 102 23 59 6.71% 78
UCF 346 92 371 93 25 66 6.74% 79
North Carolina 371 81 398 81 27 73 6.78% 80
Louisiana-Monroe 473 27 508 20 35 104 6.89% 81
Boston College 324 100 348 100 24 61 6.90% 82
New Mexico State 451 37 485 33 34 101 7.01% 83
Georgia 434 48 467 42 33 98 7.07% 84
Wisconsin 328 99 353 99 25 67 7.08% 85
Wake Forest 457 35 492 29 35 105 7.11% 86
Minnesota 274 112 295 113 21 51 7.12% 87
Washington State 492 18 530 15 38 111 7.17% 88
Georgia Tech 167 118 180 118 13 17 7.22% 89
Texas 358 84 386 84 28 79 7.25% 90
Vanderbilt 346 93 374 92 28 80 7.49% 91
Indiana 378 78 409 75 31 92 7.58% 92
UTEP 399 69 432 64 33 99 7.64% 93
Washington 406 66 440 59 34 102 7.73% 94
UCLA 346 94 375 89 29 84 7.73% 95
New Mexico 355 86 385 85 30 88 7.79% 96
Kent State 348 90 378 88 30 89 7.94% 97
Eastern Michigan 202 116 220 115 18 42 8.18% 98
South Carolina 317 102 347 101 30 90 8.65% 99
Florida Atlantic 351 87 385 86 34 103 8.83% 100
Akron 376 80 413 74 37 110 8.96% 101
Utah 334 98 367 95 33 100 8.99% 102
Mississippi 312 103 343 103 31 93 9.04% 103
Illinois 362 82 398 82 36 109 9.05% 104
Colorado State 344 95 379 87 35 106 9.23% 105
Miami (Ohio) 459 33 506 23 47 119 9.29% 106
Kansas 301 105 332 105 31 94 9.34% 107
Northwestern 407 65 449 53 42 116 9.35% 108
Navy 135 119 149 119 14 19 9.40% 109
Kentucky 336 97 371 94 35 107 9.43% 110
Florida State 383 76 423 67 40 112 9.46% 111
Temple 198 117 219 116 21 52 9.59% 112
Louisville 381 77 422 69 41 114 9.72% 113
Auburn 292 107 324 106 32 96 9.88% 114
Army 97 120 108 120 11 11 10.19% 115
Connecticut 359 83 400 79 41 115 10.25% 116
UNLV 269 113 304 110 35 108 11.51% 117
Pittsburgh 426 52 489 31 63 120 12.88% 118
Kansas State 290 109 333 104 43 117 12.91% 119
Ohio State 245 114 291 114 46 118 15.81% 120

If we sort the sacks allowed per pass attempt, we see that Virginia and Duke did an excellent job at limiting sacks based on some combination of pass protection provided by their respective OLs and/or offensive scheming. Maryland is sure going to miss LT Max Garcia (of course, we won't). BC, Wake, and Georgia Tech round out the lower spots.

Florida State pulls up the conference rear and NCAA bottom-of-the-barrel with its 40 sacks allowed (112th) and 9.46% pass attempts ending with a sack. On average, FSU took a sack every 10 to 11 pass attempts. You're just not going to get any sustained successful drives when you're taking a sack at that frequency. I remember thinking our offense was highly successful toward generating scoring chances, so long as we avoided taking a sack on the drive.

For reference, Duke QBs on average were sacked only once every 28 snaps. On a side note, how much more impressive was FSU's 5 sacks in 38 adjusted pass attempts (13.15%) defensive showing at Duke in 2011?

And how awful is that 40 sacks on 291 aPA from Ohio State? 1 out of every 7 attempted passes ended in a sack! That's almost 3x the national average (5.98%).

Conversation Starter: Who do you place the bulk of the blame on for FSU's atrocious numbers? EJ? Coaching staff (prep, gameplan)? Offensive Line? Injuries?

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