I went back and looked at the previous five conference champions to see what those teams looked like from a statistical standpoint.
Here is what I found:
2017-Florida Atlantic: Scoring Offense: 40.6 PPG (8th) Scoring Defense: 22.7 PPG (34th) Turnover Margin: +14
2016-Western Kentucky: Scoring Offense: 45.5 PPG (1st) Scoring Defense: 24.6 PPG (41st) Turnover Margin: +2
2015-Western Kentucky: Scoring Offense: 44.3 PPG (3rd) Scoring Defense: 25.9 PPG (53rd) Turnover Margin: +14
2014-Marshall: Scoring Offense 45.6 PPG (3rd) Scoring Defense: 21 PPG (19th) Turnover Margin: +2
2013-Rice: Scoring Offense: 29.6 PPG (62nd) Scoring Defense: 24.4 PPG (42nd) Turnover Margin: +7
The obvious take away is that a potent offense is a must. Rice is the outlier, certainly not the norm. Excluding Rice, the average offensive rank nationally from a scoring perspective is 3.7. Absurd. On the other hand, having a good defense is a must. No team ranked outside of the top 53 has won the Conference USA Championship in the past five years. In 2017, Tech scored 30.5 PPG (49th), and allowed 25.4 PPG (54th) to go along with a turnover margin that was +13. Can the offense take the next step forward and become a championship offense? Can this defense limit opponents to less than 20 points per game?
Here is what I found:
2017-Florida Atlantic: Scoring Offense: 40.6 PPG (8th) Scoring Defense: 22.7 PPG (34th) Turnover Margin: +14
2016-Western Kentucky: Scoring Offense: 45.5 PPG (1st) Scoring Defense: 24.6 PPG (41st) Turnover Margin: +2
2015-Western Kentucky: Scoring Offense: 44.3 PPG (3rd) Scoring Defense: 25.9 PPG (53rd) Turnover Margin: +14
2014-Marshall: Scoring Offense 45.6 PPG (3rd) Scoring Defense: 21 PPG (19th) Turnover Margin: +2
2013-Rice: Scoring Offense: 29.6 PPG (62nd) Scoring Defense: 24.4 PPG (42nd) Turnover Margin: +7
The obvious take away is that a potent offense is a must. Rice is the outlier, certainly not the norm. Excluding Rice, the average offensive rank nationally from a scoring perspective is 3.7. Absurd. On the other hand, having a good defense is a must. No team ranked outside of the top 53 has won the Conference USA Championship in the past five years. In 2017, Tech scored 30.5 PPG (49th), and allowed 25.4 PPG (54th) to go along with a turnover margin that was +13. Can the offense take the next step forward and become a championship offense? Can this defense limit opponents to less than 20 points per game?
