Not sure if anyone knows the specifics, but wanted to ask
Nov 9, 2019, 2:09 PM
If you look at any of the advanced statistics on Clemson the past few years, we tend to be very close to the top in defensive efficiency every year, and with the exception of 2017, we tend to be near the top in offensive efficiency. The same is true once again this year.
However, for the past few years, ESPN and S&P have included a special teams metric in their overall calculations. I have no idea how this metric works, but unlike in 2015 and 2016, our return games has been better and our kickoff team has been miles better than it was in those years. Yet our special teams efficiency is still abysmal. My only guess is that it comes mostly down to punting. Our punters just don't kick the ball as far as our opponents punters. Even with better returns and less fair catches than a few years back, it doesn't seem to make a difference with punters kicking 50+ yards against us each game.
FG kicking has probably dragged it down a bit this year too, but we haven't been bad overall in FG kicking every year.
Does anyone know anything about how the special teams efficiency is calculated?