If you haven’t read Part 1, introducing the stats and previewing the offense, be sure to check it out.
Arkansas isn’t paying John Chavis more than $1 million per year to have a good defense, but it is paying him more than $1 million per year to avoid the common pitfall of an innovative, offensive-minded head coach: a bad defense.
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At this point, though, Chavis’ defense is ahead of Chad Morris’ offense. The Hogs weren’t great last year: they ranked 10th in EV per defensive play, but that beats the offense (13th) and, more importantly, they were across-the-board better than the 2017 unit coached by Bret Bielema and Paul Rhoads.