Quote Originally Posted by DancingRabbit View Post
I think there's some truth to your point, but I don't agree entirely. Playing with pace doesn't necessarily mean big plays, quick scores or quick 3 and outs. MSU averaged 25.7 first downs per game which led the SEC. We tend to methodically march down the field but we do it with pace. Our downfall on offense last year was in the red zone.

With running the ball a lot and passing with a fairly high completion percentage, our offense didn't stop the clock a lot.
Go back and look at the top teams in the nation in first downs per game. Baylor, Oregon, Washington State, Ohio State, West Virginia, TCU, us, etc....see a pattern here? The pace of the offense dictates both sides of the ball. Look at Bama, until this year when they went up tempo their defense have not ran over 858 plays in a season. This last year 945 and was 771 plays in 2013. Their offense from 826 plays in 2013 to 1018 last year. Tempo effects both sides in amount of plays.