...Nothing stark here. Generally, the teams which gave up a lot of points (say 368 or above) had less sacks than those that gave up few (say 331 or below) points.
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And yet, if you plot those on a graph, the correlation is not as obvious as you might expect. Yes, there are points like EMU, with only 18 sacks and 505 points given up, or Akron, with only 279 points given up, and 33 sacks, but there are also plenty of points that don't fit. Consider CMU, with only 14 sacks, but only 280 points given up, or BG and Miami, both of whom had 30 sacks, but gave up 405 and 384 points respectively.
I do expect the sack count to go up this season, and the points given up to go down, and for a several reasons:
1. First, there is an amazing amount of quality depth on the line. That will enable a lot of rotation, meaning fresh legs at all times.
2. Similarly, it appears there will be better depth at linebacker, also meaning fresher legs.
3. The front seven has more experience, meaning they can do more complicated stunts, including looping, zone blitzes, and the like.
4. Coach Williams has done a great job of recruiting and player development. We are now reaching the point at which players he recruited are upperclassmen. His first class included Porter, Aloese, Basham, and Sayles. I think we'll see some All-MAC players from that group, and from the groups that followed.
5. This is the third year with the Cover-4. Each year they use it they learn new things about it's strengths and weaknesses, and they fine tune it. I expect more improvement this year.
6. With a relatively experienced front 7, and a relatively inexperienced backfield, I expect they will bring more heat from the guys up front to take pressure off the backs. Last year it was the reverse - they had experience at DB, and youth up front, so they used less pressure, and relied more on the DBs.