Oi Vei! Defense? Where? By the numbers...

Here are some interesting numbers:

North Texas (0-6, 0-2) Offense Versus:
@KSU 205 yards, 6 points
Tulsa 450 yards, 26 points
@LSU 199 yards, 3 points
@Rice 412 yards, 20 points
FIU 428 yards, 10 points
Louisiana 528 yards, 30 points

Versus the other five opponents, North Texas averaged 403.4 yards (50.8% of season average) and 17.8 points (33.7% of season average). I think we can conclude that KSU's defense did a good job stopping North Texas.

Montana State (3-3, 1-1) Offense versus:
Adams State 422 yards, 59 points
@Kansas State 191 yards, 10 points
@Minnesota 356 yards, 23 points
South Dakota 387 yards, 37 points
@Idaho State 358 yards, 33 points
Weber State 306 yards, 12 points

Versus the other five opponents, Montana State averaged 365.8 yards (52.2%) and 32.8 points (30.5%). Those numbers are skewed by Montana State's win versus division II Adams State. That said, it appears the Wildcats did a good job defensively against this FCS team.

Louisville (3-2, 0-1) Offense versus:
Kentucky 205 yards, 2 points
Tennessee Tech 451 yards, 51 points
Kansas State 577 yards, 38 points
Connecticut 508 yards, 21 points
@Memphis 299 yards, 35 points

Versus the other four opponents, Louisville averaged 365.75 yards (157.8%) and 27.25 points (139.4%). I think we can conclude the KSU defense failed miserably.

Louisiana (3-3, 2-0) Offense versus:
@Southern Mississippi 394 yards, 21 points
@Illinois 287 yards, 17 points
Kent State 667 yards, 44 points
@Kansas State 509 yards, 37 points
@ Louisiana-Monroe 728 yards, 44 points
@North Texas 590 yards, 59 points

Versus the other five opponents, Louisiana averaged 533.2 yards (95.5%) and 37 points (100%). I think we can conclude that KSU was an average defense versus Louisiana. Of course, average means that it compared similarly to (primarily) Sun Belt or non-BCS type defenses. That does not bode well.

Texas Tech (6-0, 2-0) Offense versus:

Eastern Washington 639 yards, 49 points
@Nevada 421 yards, 35 points
Southern Methodist 693 yards, 43 points
Massachusetts 538 yards, 56 points
@Kansas State 626 yards, 58 points
Nebraska 421 yards, 37 points

Versus the other five teams, Texas Tech averaged 542.4 yards (115.4%) and 44 points (131.8%). KSU's defense was awful in comparison, allowing an extra 14 points over the average, and almost a hundred extra yards--and that's compared to two FBS teams out of the five other teams Tech has played. Simply awful.

Texas A&M (2-4, 0-2) Offense versus:
Arkansas State 303 yards and 14 points
@New Mexico 236 yards and 28 points
Miami (FL) 362 yards, 23 points
Army 290 yards, 21 points
@Oklahoma State 402 yards, 28 points
Kansas State 544 yards, 30 points

In their other five games, Texas A&M has averaged 318.6 (170.7%) yards and 22.8 points (131.6%). This is perhaps the overall worst performance of the KSU defense to date.

Now, extrapolating the data to Colorado:

Colorado averages 310.2 yards and 22.5 points per game for the season. Eliminating the anomolies of the first two games where the KSU defense played decently against inferior opponents, we can expect Colorado to average approximately 135% of their season total for offense this game, which comes out to around 418 yards. That should allow Colorado to score roughly 126% of their season point total average, which comes out to around 28 points.

Oddly enough, I think that KSU would gladly hold Colorado to 418 yards and 28 points. Sadly, the K-State defense lacks the ability to hold CU to even that relatively paltry margin it appears.