What's Happened to Defense in the State Finals?

[OldSchoolLion]

When one looks at the data below, it begs the question "why?"  Have offenses gotten more explosive?  Is there not as much emphasis on defense as in the past?  Has the increase in classifications resulted in less parity?  etc etc  Opinions?

Below is the average number of points scored by the state champions in each decade.  

1970's 23 points

1980's 26 points

1990's 28 points

2000's 31 points

2010's 36 points

Prior to 2010, there was only one year in which the average number of points scored by all state champions was 40 or more...42 in 2005.  In the 2010's, we experienced 3 such years (41 in 2011, 40 in 2013, and 43 in 2015).  

In 2013, the biggest scores were in the upper classes.  In the 2014, the biggest scores were in the lower classes.  So, it is not as if the big scores this decade are all coming from a certain class(es).

In case you are interested, below is the average number of points scored by the state champions from each year between 2000-2019.  The 2002 and 2003 finals were great...only one blowout each year and lots of tight games.

2000-32

2001-28

2002-22

2003-22

2004-36

2005-42

2006-29

2007-32

2008-33

2009-31

2010-34

2011-41

2012-35

2013-40

2014-34

2015-43

2016-28

2017-28

2018-36

2019-39

 

[DarterBlue2]

Not sure what accounts for this. If Apopka is lucky enough to get to the state finals, win or lose, the winner scores 21 or likely less. So, at least it's possible 8A reverts to the 20th century averages, at least for this year. 

[AmstaffNole]

The Spread...