Jim Knowles' Defense by the numbers

[Adam2014]

I have compiled some rankings of statistical rankings that I view as important for defenses coached by Jim Knowles throughout the years. Honestly, I was just curious about it, and this is why I compiled them. Let me know if you think I am missing something.

I am using the Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI) for defense as well as SP+. I used these statistics because they are adjusted for strength of opponent which is always helpful.

I compiled some other stats as well. I focused on scoring metrics mostly, because in this era it's not possible to always stop teams from moving the ball entirely. Knowles' scoring defenses became really good at the end of the Oklahoma State and Ohio State tenures. Personally, I feel it is hard to judge his first few years at Duke because those rosters were really bad. Penn State also seems fluky to me due to how things went down with Franklin.

I threw Tennessee under Banks on there for comparison. Let me know what you think!

Duke (2010-2017)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+ rankings	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2010	95th	97th	107th	N/A	114th	108th	113th	113th
2011	96th	100th	92nd	93rd	101st	86th	114th	89th
2012	99th	104th	107th	67th	113th	72nd	65th	76th
2013	59th	69th	71st	43rd	63rd	45th	41st	89th
2014	59th	55th	25th	97th	13th	21st	46th	43rd
2015	82nd	31st	59th	53rd	55th	72nd	56th	119th
2016	53rd	58th	70th	35th	85th	91st	60th	52nd
2017	23rd	20th	25th	5th	36th	19th	60th	59th

Oklahoma State (2018-2021)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2018	76th	71st	98th	74th	83rd	51st	119th	22nd
2019	40th	56th	62nd	33rd	57th	76th	59th	60th
2020	9th	9th	33rd	25th	27th	1st	61st	21st
2021	2nd	4th	10th	4th	10th	2nd	56th	3rd

Ohio State (2022-2024)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2022	12th	15th	17th	9th	29th	8th	68th	30th
2023	2nd	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	122nd	60th
2024	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	28th	93rd	4th

Penn State (2025)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2025	43rd	33rd	43rd	89th	56th	93rd	106th	47th

Tennessee (2021-2025)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2021	64th	47th	97th	111th	65th	106th	104th	46th
2022	34th	40th	30th	59th	14th	29th	31st	41st
2023	21st	23rd	22nd	24th	21st	49th	74th	14th
2024	11th	6th	8th	17th	7th	9th	29th	43rd
2025	37th	60th	91st	68th	78th	98th	15th	17th

 

[FlyFishnVol]

Can you compare these stats to other successful DC coaches?

 

[superdave1984]

Okie St is probably the best comp of talent level. Those numbers show the same pattern, it takes a year or so for it to click and then it is stout.

 

[VOL 4 Life 83]

Love the hire. Think he will do wonders here, however I don’t like the third down defense numbers…although does seem to have slight improvement year to year. That’s always been a problem at UT, hope we can clean that up

 

[#1fulmerite]

Talent makes a world of difference. Chavis proved that many times over the years.

 

[Jackcrevol]

I have compiled some rankings of statistical rankings that I view as important for defenses coached by Jim Knowles throughout the years. Honestly, I was just curious about it, and this is why I compiled them. Let me know if you think I am missing something.

I am using the Fremeau Efficiency Index (FEI) for defense as well as SP+. I used these statistics because they are adjusted for strength of opponent which is always helpful.

I compiled some other stats as well. I focused on scoring metrics mostly, because in this era it's not possible to always stop teams from moving the ball entirely. Knowles' scoring defenses became really good at the end of the Oklahoma State and Ohio State tenures. Personally, I feel it is hard to judge his first few years at Duke because those rosters were really bad. Penn State also seems fluky to me due to how things went down with Franklin.

I threw Tennessee under Banks on there for comparison. Let me know what you think!

Duke (2010-2017)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+ rankings	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2010	95th	97th	107th	N/A	114th	108th	113th	113th
2011	96th	100th	92nd	93rd	101st	86th	114th	89th
2012	99th	104th	107th	67th	113th	72nd	65th	76th
2013	59th	69th	71st	43rd	63rd	45th	41st	89th
2014	59th	55th	25th	97th	13th	21st	46th	43rd
2015	82nd	31st	59th	53rd	55th	72nd	56th	119th
2016	53rd	58th	70th	35th	85th	91st	60th	52nd
2017	23rd	20th	25th	5th	36th	19th	60th	59th

Oklahoma State (2018-2021)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2018	76th	71st	98th	74th	83rd	51st	119th	22nd
2019	40th	56th	62nd	33rd	57th	76th	59th	60th
2020	9th	9th	33rd	25th	27th	1st	61st	21st
2021	2nd	4th	10th	4th	10th	2nd	56th	3rd

Ohio State (2022-2024)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2022	12th	15th	17th	9th	29th	8th	68th	30th
2023	2nd	2nd	2nd	3rd	2nd	2nd	122nd	60th
2024	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	28th	93rd	4th

Penn State (2025)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2025	43rd	33rd	43rd	89th	56th	93rd	106th	47th

Tennessee (2021-2025)

Year	FEI Defense Rating	SP+	Points Per Game	Redzone Scores Per Game	Points Per Play	3rd Down Defense	Takeaways Per Game	Sacks Per Game
2021	64th	47th	97th	111th	65th	106th	104th	46th
2022	34th	40th	30th	59th	14th	29th	31st	41st
2023	21st	23rd	22nd	24th	21st	49th	74th	14th
2024	11th	6th	8th	17th	7th	9th	29th	43rd
2025	37th	60th	91st	68th	78th	98th	15th	17th

3rd down and Banks