I also haven't once said LSU's defense was weak. It's amazing how someone can read something and change the entire idea when they share it out.
I specifically have said "not great". How you transform that to "weak" is some interesting (un)mental gymnastics.
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National champions tend to have great defenses, statistically. So when you compare solely NCs, a good/not great defense (compared to peers) looks worse.
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Before LSU, '10 Auburn's defense was among the worst for a NC. '90 Colorado's wasn't great, but they had great sack numbers. '84 BYU obviously didn't have an elite defense, nor did '82 Penn St.
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LSU's defense was very average when compared to other national champs. I've never said or suggested weak. It was between good and great in a vacuum (not great), and worse when compared to the great teams of the past (obviously).
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Please stop misconstruing my words (if you're able).
edited to add: this seems to come off more combative than I meant it. No harsh tone is intended here.
"Both were great offenses with 'good enough' defenses."
...and numerous other comments made here and elsewhere don't sound the same as "not great." As in, they're not great. Normal conversation with that phrase generally means they're mediocre, but if that's not what you meant, my bad.
But you still didn't answer the question. They're not great in part because you looked at season long numbers, which is faulty on a number of levels. Look at how they finished the final games in any advanced stat, significantly higher than season long averages. I asked are you wanting people to compare the season-long teams (defenses included) or the units that made it into the playoffs to stake their claim? Because those are two very different things, based in large part in this case on injury and health.
And if you want to talk about season long defenses, that becomes even more iffy to use seasonal stats, because how many MOVs are based on defenses subbing out guys at the end of blowouts? How many lose focus in junk time? How many quality offenses are each playing in the first place? Does end-game defensive plans and junk time defensive plans seek to trade time for yards, or do they stick with their base? That stuff all factors in season long defense and it's a valid question to ask how useful it is for comparison. I heard this over and over from Clemson fans leading up to the game....they kept trotting out LSU's ranking in SP+ and FEI for the year, and tried to tell them it didn't mean much, this was a much, much better unit than the adv. stats showed. Which is the correct one to use here? I'm genuinely asking. October 2019 LSU would have a lot more problems with '95 Nebraska than December LSU. I don't know how to answer the question.
I'd stick with eyeball test in this case because we have nothing else useful. And the question remains, are you eyeballing the whole year's worth of defense for these teams, or just the games where they blew away their NC competitors? I really don't know how to answer that. LSU's defense in particular had problems throughout the year. Over the last 4-5 games, they were one of the better LSU defenses we've seen this century, and their results vs. top offensive teams backed it up.