Kyle Whittingham knows a thing or three about defense. The former WAC Defensive Player of the Year, NFL and USFL linebacker has coordinated defenses for Eastern Utah, Idaho State and Utah across a coaching career now approaching 40 seasons.
He also knows how to win championships. In 18 seasons as Utah's head coach, he's led the Utes to one Mountain West championship, at least a share of four Pac-12 South titles, and the last two Pac-12 crowns.
And as an expert on both topics, Whittingham no longer believes the "defense wins championships" adage is true. At least not in college football.
"I believe you've got to have a quality defense to compete for a championship, but if you look at the analytics, offense has really taken the forefront for what is more conducive to winning football games," Whittingham said Friday.
"I think it was, offense is responsible for 50 percent of your outcome, defense 35 percent and special teams 15 percent. In that regard, in order to win a championship, you better be pretty good on offense."
For what it's worth, Utah ranked sixth in the Pac-12 in yards per play (conference games only) at 6.6 and fourth in yards per play defense, surrendering 5.95. Of the 10 teams to win their respective FBS conference championships in 2022, not a single one led their conference in yards per play, while two led their league in defense. In fact, six finished higher on the defensive chart than they did on offense, compared to three who ranked higher on O than D (conference games only).
Of course, Whittingham wasn't saying that defense is not important, or that a good offense alone can carry the day. He wasn't saying that at all.
What he was saying that, from his perspective as a defensive-minded head coach, the days of trying to grind out 17-13 wins over the course of an entire season is no longer a reliable path to a trophy.
"Being a defensive-minded guy, (defense) is always going to be important to me personally but you've got to change with the times," he said. "Maybe the old adage is not quite as true as it used to be. Offense is more important to winning football games, at least on paper."