Florida/Georgia Statistical Rankings: A Comparison

Decided to do some number crunching to get an idea of the level of competition Georgia and Florida have faced up to this point. To start, Florida's offense is:

Florida's Offense:
21st in rushing offense (196 yards per game)
61st in passing offense (214.29 yards per game)
31st in total offense (410.29 yards per game)
7th in scoring offense (42 points per game)
11th in pass efficiency (158.32 rating)

To place these figures in context, Florida has played opposing teams ranked a combined:

51st in rushing defense (allowing 132.94 rushing yards per game)
41st in pass defense (allowing 191.3 passing yards per game)
42nd in total defense (allowing 324.2 total yards per game)
60th in scoring defense (allowing 24.3 points yards per game)
49th in pass efficiency defense (allowing a 117.68 rating)

From this, Florida's defensive competition has been a mixed bag; some opponents--such as Kentucky and Tennessee, have solid defensive units, while others such as Ole Miss and Arkansas have fielded bad ones. Because of this uneven level of competition, Florida's slate of defensive opponents has been mediocre as a whole. Now for Florida's defensive rankings:

15th in rushing defense (allowing 102.71 rush yards per game)
17th in passing defense (allowing 170.71 pass yards per game)
13th in total defense (allowing 273.43 total yards per game)
6th in scoring defense (allowing 11.86 points per game)
9th in pass efficiency defense (allowing a 99.06 rating)

Florida's defense has been much improved over last year's, and it shows in the statistics. The pass defense is what sticks out the most, as Florida finished 98th in this category last year. Now, let's examine the offenses Florida has faced. On average, they have combined to be:

76th in rushing offense (134.26 rushing yards per game)
67th in passing offense (206.15 passing yards per game)
78th in total offense (340.41 total yards per game)
70th in scoring offense (24.52 points per game)
82nd in pass efficiency (115.33 rating)

From this, one thing is clear: Florida's played some horrendous offenses. The Gators haven't faced a single team that is ranked in the top 25 in any of these categories; the closest they have come is facing a LSU unit that is 30 in total offense and 33rd in scoring offense. In short, Florida has yet to be tested by an offense of Georgia's caliber. In terms of rankings, Georgia is:

39th in rushing offense (172.50 rushing yards per game)
23rd in passing offense (258.75 passing yards per game)
25th in total offense (431.25 total yards per game)
24th in scoring offense (34.25 points per game)
22nd in pass efficiency (148 rating)

From this, it's clear that UGA's offense is better than the majority of the offenses Florida has faced, and that's being generous. They are balanced, and can move the ball and score point efficiently. Let's place their offensive output in context, though. Their opposing teams have combined to be (and for this, I have included Georgia Southern's offensive and defensive numbers; even though they are a FCS team, I have applied new FBS rankings to their statistics according to what they would represent if they played in the FBS):

46th in rushing defense (allowing 124.8 rushing yards per game)
56th in pass defense (allowing 204.07 passing yards per game)
46th in total defense (allowing 328.93 total yards per game)
47th in scoring defense (allowing 21.83 points per game)
45th in pass efficiency defense (allowing a 116.39 rating)

From this, it can be seen that Georgia has faced slightly better defensive competition overall. Here, South Carolina and Alabama make the difference, as both teams have top 20 defenses in terms of total and scoring defense. A straight extrapolation of Georgia Southern's statistics also works in UGA's favor, as there's no real way of knowing how'd they actually fare against FBS teams. Examining the Bulldog defense, we see that they are:

6th in rushing defense (allowing 76.88 rushing yards per game)
77th in passing defense (allowing 221.25 passing yards per game)
21st in total defense (allowing 298.13 total yards per game)
36th in scoring defense (allowing 20.25 points per game)
57th in pass efficiency defense (allowing a 121.81 rating)

Georgia's rushing defense has been dominant, but their passing defense leaves a bit to be desired. The passing figure cannot be attributed to big leads by Georgia, as the Dawgs have only beaten three of their eight opponents by more than 14 points. It could mean that teams are forced to pass since they are unable to run against UGA's front line. However, let's examine this further. UGA's opponents have managed to produce offense on the order of being:

70th in rushing offense (139.86 rushing yards per game)
60th in passing offense (207.85 passing yards per game)
67th in total offense (347.71 total yards per game)
65th in scoring offense (25.78 points per game)
66th in pass efficiency (123.05 rating)

From this, Georgia has played better offenses than Florida as a whole, though, again, directly extrapolating GSU's statistics helps them here. Still, Georgia's defense is largely untested against top offenses. Georgia, like Florida, has played no top 25 offenses in terms of scoring or total yardage; the closest offense to it has been--again, like Florida--LSU's. In the common game between the two, Florida surrendered 21 points; Georgia gave up 38. This game, however, means little in determining how good each teams' units are. They are both largely untested on both sides of the ball; this can be seen in the fact that Florida will be the best offense Georgia has faced up to this point, while Georgia will be the best team Florida has faced up to this point. Defensively, the same holds true (though South Carolina has a better total defense ranking, Florida's scoring defense is better) for both teams. Will the slight edge UGA has in competition faced translate to a win? That remains to be seen.