For all the posters that have been going on and on about how this defense is nowhere near the old Wrecking Crew days under RC Slocum, and how our defense would have to be consistently in the top 5 to earn the moniker back, I decided to do a little fact checking.
I looked up A&M's national scoring defense rankings for every year of Slocum's tenure. I chose scoring defense because at the end of the day, all that really matters is keeping points off the board. So I figured that was the most appropriate standard to use.
Scoring Defense:
1989: 9th
1990: 28th
1991: 7th
1992: 9th
1993: 2nd
1994: 4th
1995: 3rd
1996: 38th
1997: 16th
1998: 10th
1999: 19th
2000: 10th
2001: 13th
2002: 42nd
Average: 15th
2016 so far: 12th
So really, the current defense is statistically on par with the average Slocum defense, and the only period that was significantly ahead of where we are now was the 3 season stretch from 1993 to 1995 when our defense was in the top 5. Those were also the only top 5 scoring defenses Slocum fielded as a head coach.
And if you consider the difference in schedule strength between the old SWC and our current SECW slate, and the fact that 75% of this season's games that have gone into that current ranking were against UCLA, Auburn, and Arkansas, while most of the teams ahead of us have played 2-4 cupcakes so far to help pad their stats, and that #18 ranking starts to look even more impressive.
I know that as we get older, our younger selves become cooler and more handsome, and the girls we "dated" get prettier and prettier in our memories, and the football team we remember becomes increasingly fearsome, but when you get down to brass tacks, the numbers show we are looking at what would have been considered a standard Wrecking Crew defense back during Slocum's tenure.
Give the players what they've earned.
WRECKING CREW
I looked up A&M's national scoring defense rankings for every year of Slocum's tenure. I chose scoring defense because at the end of the day, all that really matters is keeping points off the board. So I figured that was the most appropriate standard to use.
Scoring Defense:
1989: 9th
1990: 28th
1991: 7th
1992: 9th
1993: 2nd
1994: 4th
1995: 3rd
1996: 38th
1997: 16th
1998: 10th
1999: 19th
2000: 10th
2001: 13th
2002: 42nd
Average: 15th
2016 so far: 12th
So really, the current defense is statistically on par with the average Slocum defense, and the only period that was significantly ahead of where we are now was the 3 season stretch from 1993 to 1995 when our defense was in the top 5. Those were also the only top 5 scoring defenses Slocum fielded as a head coach.
And if you consider the difference in schedule strength between the old SWC and our current SECW slate, and the fact that 75% of this season's games that have gone into that current ranking were against UCLA, Auburn, and Arkansas, while most of the teams ahead of us have played 2-4 cupcakes so far to help pad their stats, and that #18 ranking starts to look even more impressive.
I know that as we get older, our younger selves become cooler and more handsome, and the girls we "dated" get prettier and prettier in our memories, and the football team we remember becomes increasingly fearsome, but when you get down to brass tacks, the numbers show we are looking at what would have been considered a standard Wrecking Crew defense back during Slocum's tenure.
Give the players what they've earned.
WRECKING CREW