Hm, I didn't break the categories out that far. I was lumping points allowed into the kickoff coverage and considered the allowance of a TD far more than compensation for less than a yard. If we do break out the points allowed into separate categories then we get 1 more category in which we improved but two more in which we were worse. It's still not a pretty picture any way you slice it, our 2010 special teams were inferior to our 2008.
70% may be a big percentage, but a big percent of a little is never alot. If I'm worth a dollar and you give me a dollar, you've doubled my net worth, but I'm still not worth öööö. This is the primary reasoning behind my weighting of the points allowed by special teams. In the end, the 'good' and the 'bad' are statistically very similar so what separates an acceptable performance from an unacceptable one is who screws up the least. With the exception of two or three isolated plays that could be considered screwups and the anomalous LSU game, the 2008 special teams was marginally worse than most other teams but they didn't do a whole lot of screwing up. Acceptable.
Your last points all agree with a point I made earlier, which is that just a slightly better special teams play is all that's necessary for us. You could shift that 5 yards per special teams play onto the offense much more easily. If the offense had managed 5 more yards per drive we're in the same situation in each of those scenarios. The offense is supposed to be our strength, and I'd be very happy if our special teams just stayed out of the way (like they mostly did in 2008). I think you and I are just aiming in different directions with way we view the team at this point.
FWIW my ST superhero for the last decade is Travis Bell (although Brooks is somewhere on the all-decade special teams). One of my all-time favorite GT players and a helluva guy. He runs a pretty good waffle house too.
