Daily Blog • April 8, 2011

Eight years ago I did an article on ypp and every year there are some solid charts for you to review. First of all, let's explain what ypp is exactly. A ypp is simply yards per point. An offense is more efficient when their ypp is a lower number. If a team had an offensive ypp of 10.0, that would mean for every 200 yards they gained, they scored 20 points. Meanwhile, if they had an offensive ypp of 20.0, then for every 200 yards they gained, they only scored 10 points. On the other side of the ball, defenses want to have a higher ypp. Inverting the same thought, if a team allowed 200 yards and had a 20.0 ypp, that means they would allow just 10 points for every 200 yards the opposition traveled, whereas a 10.0 ypp would be 20 points for every 200 yards allowed. When I started this research in 1990, the average ypp for a team was 15.44 and the median was 15.49. It surprises me how much the median has dropped inside this decade. Here is what the YPP was in 2000.

YPP in 2000

2000 OFF YPP 2000 DEF YPP
Kansas St. 10.37 Florida St. 27.02
Virginia Tech 10.59 TCU 25.42
Miami (Fla.) 10.81 Western Mich. 24.45
Oklahoma 11.01 Toledo 23.67
Boise St. 11.05 Miami (Fla.) 21.57
Notre Dame 11.06 Michigan 20.86
Louisville 11.08 Georgia Tech 19.98
Nebraska 11.09 South Carolina 19.48
Toledo 11.13 Wisconsin 19.19
Florida 11.21 Ohio 18.47
avg 14.14 avg 14.44
Median 14.3 Median 14.9
La.-Monroe 27.76 La.-Monroe 9.37
Kent St. 23.03 Buffalo 10.40
Central Mich. 21.80 Houston 10.74
Southern Methodist 21.55 Wyoming 11.22
Michigan St. 20.48 Nevada 11.23
Buffalo 20.04 Missouri 11.60
Duke 19.88 Ball St. 11.64
Wake Forest 19.81 Kentucky 11.66
San Diego St. 19.74 Rutgers 11.67
Oklahoma St. 19.60 Duke 11.71

Here are the top and bottom YPP performances on both offense and defense from 2007-2010.

YPP Last 4 Years

2010 OFF YPP   2009 OFF YPP   2008 OFF YPP   2007 OFF YPP
Wisconsin 10.74 Boise St. 10.66 Florida 10.20 Oklahoma 10.62
Maryland 10.95 Texas 10.72 Oklahoma 10.71 Florida 10.77
Kansas St. 11.27 Temple 11.29 Utah 10.86 Boise St. 11.03
Oregon 11.29 Rutgers 11.31 Arizona 10.99 Kansas 11.22
TCU 11.46 Oregon 11.42 Florida St. 11.14 Navy 11.30
LSU 11.49 Cincinnati 11.59 Texas 11.23 LSU 11.37
Boise St. 11.56 Clemson 11.64 Rice 11.40 UCF 11.48
Ohio St. 11.57 Arkansas 11.87 Missouri 11.47 Virginia Tech 11.51
UCF 11.66 TCU 11.92 Kansas St. 11.52 West Virginia 11.52
Stanford 11.72 BYU 12.05 California 11.53 Georgia 11.52
AVG 13.73   AVG 13.96   avg 13.66   avg 13.83
Median 13.91   Median 14.06   Median 13.9   Median 14.01
Buffalo 21.01 Miami (OH) 22.04 Wyoming 23.37 UNLV 19.44
Colorado St. 20.29 Washington St. 20.72 Tulane 20.38 Baylor 19.33
Memphis 19.77 San Jose St. 20.65 Washington 19.86 Miami (Ohio) 19.08
San Jose St. 19.60 New Mexico St. 20.01 Army 19.50 Temple 18.32
New Mexico St. 18.93 Tulane 19.43 Washington St. 18.99 Iowa St. 18.00
Fla. Atlantic 17.98 New Mexico 19.31 Virginia 18.64 Florida Int'l 17.88
Vanderbilt 17.63 Hawaii 19.21 North Texas 18.15 Syracuse 17.78
Eastern Mich. 17.55 Vanderbilt 18.76 Mississippi St. 18.03 Northern Ill. 17.71
Kansas 17.35 Louisville 18.47 Miami (Ohio) 17.70 New Mexico St. 17.64
Akron 17.23 Army 17.96 Auburn 17.48 Mississippi 17.19
2010 DEF YPP   2009 DEF YPP   2008 DEF YPP   2007 DEF YPP
Missouri 22.17 Nebraska 26.08 Southern California 24.64 Cincinnati 19.62
Alabama 21.15 Penn St. 22.44 Boise St. 24.43 Utah 19.50
Boise St. 19.95 Ohio St. 20.92 Iowa 22.41 Kansas 19.37
Iowa 19.53 Alabama 20.84 Florida 22.07 Iowa 18.73
West Virginia 19.28 Florida 20.32 Ohio St. 21.10 Connecticut 18.49
TCU 19.04 LSU 20.18 Penn St. 19.47 Virginia Tech 18.48
Stanford 18.57 Iowa St. 19.04 West Virginia 19.35 Ohio St. 18.25
Oregon 18.51 Virginia Tech 18.92 TCU 19.26 Auburn 17.60
UCF 18.40 TCU 18.77 Alabama 18.45 Penn St. 17.57
Ohio St. 18.33 Oklahoma 18.75 Texas 18.27 Air Force 17.49
AVG 14.19   AVG 14.46   avg 14.16   avg 14.22
Median 14.5   Median 14.53   Median 14.28   Median 14.15
Eastern Mich. 10.34 Rice 10.77 Washington St. 10.11 North Texas 10.79
Tulane 10.50 Toledo 10.82 North Texas 10.14 Toledo 11.34
New Mexico 10.58 Miami (OH) 11.04 Idaho 11.04 Idaho 11.34
La.-Lafayette 10.80 Eastern Mich. 11.17 New Mexico St. 11.14 Florida Int'l 11.45
East Carolina 10.88 Tulane 11.53 Tulane 11.34 New Mexico St. 11.87
UNLV 11.35 North Texas 11.59 Eastern Mich. 11.48 Rice 11.90
Mississippi 11.35 North Carolina St. 11.59 UCLA 11.64 Navy 12.07
Western Ky. 11.46 New Mexico 11.66 Washington 11.71 Pittsburgh 12.27
New Mexico St. 11.48 Idaho 12.03 Wyoming 11.88 Iowa St. 12.29
Memphis 11.56 Syracuse 12.07 Utah St. 11.90 Notre Dame 12.42

Last year the avg was just 13.7 and the median was 13.9. I found teams that have a high offensive ypp (move the ball but do not score) the previous year generally have a stronger record the next season. Let's look at teams that had an unusually high ypp the previous year (an inefficient offense). 27 teams have had a ypp greater than 22.3 since 1990 and ALL 27 have had a stronger or identical record the next year. Wyoming was the last team over 22.3 (23.35 in '08) went from 4-8 to a bowl. Last year Miami, Oh was atop the chart at 22.04 and went from 1-11 to 10-4!!

Teams that had an extremely low ypp the previous year usually have a weaker record the next season. The statistics are not as dominant as the high ypp, probably because there are some teams that benefit from turnovers on a yearly basis, keeping their ypp low. Teams whose ypp were less than 11.56 the previous year had either a weaker or the same record 73.6% of the time the next year.

Now let's take a look at the teams under the defensive ypp that were fortunate and not so fortunate last year. If a team allows a defensive ypp of 13.29 or lower (meaning they gave up a lot of points but not a lot of yds), their record improves or is the same the next year 68.8% of the time. Teams whose defensive ypp was 17.35 or greater the previous year have a weaker or the same record the following year 64.6% of the time. In 2007 just 5 fit the 20.35 and higher standard and ALL 5 had the same or weaker record (4 weaker).