Daily Blog •February 22, 2013

Every year I am adding to new features and articles to my College Football Preview and PhilSteele.com and this year for all 124 teams I have added a couple extra columns to the Game-by-Game Stats that you will find on the right hand page for every team. A lot of people have been asking me what those columns stand for and I thought I would explain it further in today’s blog.

Last year during the season I was wondering how certain offensive and defensive performances that a team had vs a particular opponent stacked up on how the other opponents fared against that team. Not every performance as far as yards gained and given up is created equal due to the quality of opponent played. Let’s face it gaining 300 yards of offense last year vs Alabama’s defense would be far more impressive than gaining 300 yards vs Kansas’ D. So to the right of the net yards and points columns, you will see an offensive vs foe and defensive vs foe numbers. The first # is what that performance ranked compared to every other team their opponent allowed throughout the year (#1 being the best, with #12 being the worst since most teams played 12 games) while the second column contains the number of yards positive or negative against their opponent’s average.

If you need further explanation feel free to check out the June 14th blog.

Over the last two days I have broke down the offensive and defensive averages and in today’s blog I took all those averages (both offense and defense) and combined them to come up with the most impressive teams in the country compared to how they fared against their opponent. First, here is a ranking of all 124 teams and how they did.

Offensive and Defensive YPG Averages
Compared to Opponent Average

Overall
Rank		 Team Off Avg Off Rank Def Avg Def Rank Total
1
 Alabama 73.99 16 163.88 1 237.87
2
 Texas A&M 210.94 1 1.43 61 212.37
3
 Florida St 75.46 21 120.72 5 196.18
4
 Oregon 143.64 5 26.85 45 170.49
5
 BYU 21.83 52 130.12 4 151.95
6
 Notre Dame 49.06 28 99.31 8 148.38
7
 Georgia 111.23 7 29.20 42 140.44
8
 Fresno St 77.50 19 59.00 22 136.50
9
 Nebraska 102.23 9 23.74 49 125.96
10
 Oklahoma St 118.92 8 5.23 60 124.15
11
 Clemson 144.48 4 -20.96 79 123.52
12
 Michigan St -11.84 76 133.97 3 122.12
13
 Oklahoma 79.67 17 42.21 30 121.88
14
 Utah St 48.85 33 70.03 19 118.88
15
 Texas Tech 75.63 20 40.52 33 116.15
16
 Wisconsin 27.69 48 85.43 12 113.12
17
 Florida -25.88 83 137.19 2 111.31
18
 South Carolina 7.06 58 97.15 10 104.21
19
 Baylor 178.56 2 -77.65 115 100.91
20
 Tulsa 28.49 47 71.88 17 100.36
21
 Syracuse 101.98 12 -1.99 63 99.99
22
 LSU -1.10 64 100.64 7 99.54
23
 San Jose St 50.01 31 44.98 28 94.99
24
 Arizona St 49.11 32 44.10 29 93.21
25
 Oregon St 33.23 43 58.61 23 91.84
26
 Michigan 27.05 49 61.79 21 88.84
27
 Ohio St 43.18 38 40.03 34 83.21
28
 Northern Illinois 56.23 25 24.66 47 80.89
29
 Virginia Tech -2.60 67 83.26 13 80.66
30
 Georgia Tech 44.34 34 35.45 39 79.79
31
 Louisville 46.49 36 28.19 43 74.68
32
 Boise St 0.61 61 73.04 16 73.66
33
 TCU -33.19 90 104.51 6 71.33
34
 Penn St 32.01 46 38.97 36 70.98
35
 USC 47.69 29 20.65 52 68.33
36
 Arkansas St 56.81 27 11.22 57 68.03
37
 Stanford -30.63 91 97.75 9 67.12
38
 Mississippi 38.86 41 28.15 44 67.01
39
 UCLA 59.37 22 7.53 59 66.90
40
 Marshall 120.32 10 -54.56 100 65.76
41
 Kansas St -32.92 89 96.84 11 63.92
42
 Pittsburgh 12.90 56 46.69 27 59.59
43
 Texas 18.30 53 41.03 32 59.32
44
 Nevada 94.74 15 -35.44 90 59.30
45
 North Carolina 85.59 18 -28.68 88 56.91
46
 Troy 97.92 13 -45.48 96 52.44
47
 San Diego St 0.02 63 51.20 26 51.23
48
 West Virginia 96.65 14 -45.58 97 51.07
49
 Louisiana Tech 175.74 3 -128.18 124 47.55
50
 UCF -1.47 66 39.70 35 38.22
51
 Arkansas 55.42 30 -19.36 77 36.06
52
 Virginia -21.39 79 56.56 24 35.16
53
 Cincinnati 52.34 35 -23.64 83 28.70
54
 Ohio 30.58 50 -7.65 64 22.93
55
 Arizona 124.61 6 -102.54 122 22.07
56
 Louisiana 67.69 23 -46.75 98 20.94
57
 WKU -33.37 86 52.99 25 19.62
58
 Missouri -7.45 72 23.25 51 15.80
59
 Northwestern 24.24 51 -8.72 66 15.52
60
 Tennessee 112.77 11 -97.51 121 15.27
61
 Bowling Green -67.94 110 82.08 14 14.15
62
 Connecticut -66.17 108 74.76 15 8.58
63
 Rutgers -61.77 106 69.97 20 8.20
64
 Buffalo -31.64 85 38.88 37 7.24
65
 Mississippi St -8.24 73 15.26 54 7.01
66
 NC State 32.11 45 -26.04 84 6.06
67
 ULM 17.99 54 -18.30 75 -0.31
68
 Washington -43.35 97 41.37 31 -1.98
69
 SMU -42.51 96 36.74 38 -5.77
70
 Ball St 38.68 39 -45.39 95 -6.71
71
 Vanderbilt -32.22 88 23.53 50 -8.69
72
 FIU -25.20 82 13.01 56 -12.19
73
 Air Force -4.72 69 -9.66 68 -14.38
74
 Houston 45.99 37 -61.05 107 -15.06
75
 USF -6.15 70 -9.25 67 -15.40
76
 Toledo 41.53 40 -57.02 103 -15.50
77
 Kent St -1.42 65 -15.19 74 -16.62
78
 Rice -6.20 71 -12.71 71 -18.91
79
 Western Michigan 12.91 55 -32.40 89 -19.49
80
 Army 35.52 44 -55.18 102 -19.67
81
 Miami, Fl 72.77 24 -93.71 120 -20.94
82
 California 0.58 62 -23.58 82 -23.00
83
 Minnesota -59.77 105 31.53 41 -28.24
84
 Purdue 7.32 57 -36.50 91 -29.18
85
 Navy -37.20 93 1.28 62 -35.92
86
 East Carolina -8.56 75 -27.48 87 -36.04
87
 Maryland -108.66 121 70.04 18 -38.62
88
 Duke 34.60 42 -74.11 111 -39.50
89
 Indiana 64.00 26 -104.34 123 -40.34
90
 South Alabama -66.92 109 24.65 48 -42.28
91
 North Texas -20.68 78 -21.68 80 -42.36
92
 Middle Tennessee 2.44 59 -44.85 94 -42.41
93
 UAB 1.17 60 -44.84 93 -43.67
94
 Washington St -23.22 80 -22.70 81 -45.92
95
 UTSA -36.01 81 -9.99 69 -46.01
96
 Utah -82.40 114 34.64 40 -47.76
97
 Florida Atlantic -40.99 94 -7.74 65 -48.73
98
 Colorado St -51.79 99 -13.48 73 -65.27
99
 Iowa St -53.65 102 -13.25 72 -66.90
100
 Iowa -85.98 115 16.30 53 -69.68
101
 UTEP -42.42 95 -40.05 92 -82.47
102
 Kansas -60.13 104 -26.63 86 -86.76
103
 Central Michigan -31.26 87 -57.71 104 -88.97
104
 Wyoming -9.31 74 -80.32 117 -89.62
105
 Hawaii -99.80 119 9.38 58 -90.42
106
 Miami, Oh -4.02 68 -86.59 119 -90.61
107
 Kentucky -72.08 107 -20.01 78 -92.09
108
 Akron -17.02 77 -75.45 112 -92.47
109
 Southern Miss -74.54 113 -18.58 76 -93.12
110
 Memphis -123.49 123 26.18 46 -97.32
111
 Illinois -115.02 122 13.49 55 -101.53
112
 New Mexico -48.60 100 -54.75 101 -103.35
113
 Temple -43.26 92 -60.83 106 -104.08
114
 Auburn -94.08 116 -10.32 70 -104.40
115
 UNLV -46.00 98 -59.18 105 -105.17
116
 Wake Forest -79.23 112 -26.62 85 -105.84
117
 Texas St -59.01 103 -49.10 99 -108.11
118
 Boston College -31.61 84 -77.00 114 -108.61
119
 Eastern Michigan -57.36 101 -76.24 113 -133.60
120
 Idaho -76.11 111 -61.18 108 -137.29
121
 Colorado -95.24 117 -72.71 110 -167.95
122
 Tulane -93.32 120 -81.38 118 -174.70
123
 New Mexico St -95.31 118 -79.98 116 -175.29
124
 Massachusetts -113.53 124 -64.41 109 -177.94

To no surprise coming in at the top of the chart was Alabama. The Crimson Tide gained on average 74 more yards on offense than what their opponent was giving up and on defense Bama allowed 164 yards less than what their opponents were averaging coming in. When you add the two columns together, Alabama performed on average 238 yards better as far as the total number of offensive yards gained and defensive yards allowed than what their opponent was averaging.  The only team to beat Alabama this past year came up #2 thanks to their offense as Texas A&M performed on average 212 yards better.

A couple of surprise non-BCS teams near the top were BYU and Fresno St. Ohio St which was the only team to finish the season undefeated actually finished at #27 one spot behind arch rival Michigan who played a much tougher schedule (albeit the Buckeyes did beat the Wolverines head-to-head).

At the bottom is Massachusetts which on average gained 114 yards less than what their opponents were allowing and then on defense allowed 64 yards more than what their opponents were averaging coming in for a -178 yards per game net.

Remember you can find these averages on every single team page in the game-by-game stats section.

Also make sure to check PhilSteele.com everyday for updates on our free downloadable spring guide that details an early preview of 2013. It comes complete with team schedules, coaching changes, who’s back and who’s not among my 2012 postseason All-Conference and All-Americans, NFL Draft analysis, interesting tidbits and so much more.