Phil Steele Blog • June 16, 2017

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% of Yards Returning

Today’s blog continues my in-depth look at my NCAA Experience Chart. For eight years I had listed an experience chart, which broke down the number of seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen each team had in the two deep and rated the teams experience level with a formula I devised. In 2009, I made the experience chart FIVE TIMES better by adding new categories like Career Starts on Offensive line, % of Offensive Yards returning, % of Defensive Yards returning and % of lettermen returning.

Dont forget that the 2017 College Football Preview is up and available right now on iTunes, Google Play and also we now offer a browser version. (see bottom of page).

Today I will look at the % of yards returning. I took all of the yards each QB threw for as well as all of the individual rushing yards and receiving yards for each team. I then took all of the returning yards from 2016 and divided it into those for the percentage.

At the top of the chart is Troy. They return 8 starters from last year’s offense including their QB, top 7 rushers and top 7 receivers. They have 98.7% of their total yards returning from last year. They are followed by Florida Atlantic, who returns 9 starters on offense, their QB, top 4 rushers and top 3 receivers and 96.2% of their yards back. Other schools at the top of the list include: Wake Forest (95.5%), SMU (94.8%) and Vanderbilt (93.7%).

Last year the teams at the top of this chart were Louisville (8-5 to 9-4), Old Dominion (5-7 to 10-3), LSU (9-3 to 8-4), Georgia Southern (9-4 to 5-7) and SMU (2-10 to 5-7). Three of the top five improved their record while LSU and Georgia Southern did not.

At the bottom of the list of course is UAB. The Blazers (0.0%) is coming back after having no football program the last 2 years. North Carolina is next with 12.7%, Clemson (22.4%) and Nebraska (22.4%).

It is very interesting to note that defending national champ Clemson ranks low at #128 with 22.4% of their yards returning. Clemson has 5 offensive starters returning. They lose their QB, top 2 rushers and 3 out of their 5 top receivers.

I will be back Monday to take a look at another factor in my experience chart (% of tackles returning).

NCAA % YDS NCAA % YDS
Rank Team Return Rank Team Return
1 Troy 98.7% 66 San Diego St 66.4%
2 Florida Atlantic 96.2% 67 New Mexico 66.2%
3 Wake Forest 95.9% 68 Texas 65.7%
4 SMU 94.8% 69 Indiana 64.4%
5 Vanderbilt 93.7% 70 Hawaii 64.3%
6 Iowa St 92.7% 71 Utah 63.7%
7 TCU 91.3% 72 Stanford 62.6%
8 UTSA 91.0% 73 Michigan 62.1%
9 FIU 90.7% 74 Southern Miss 60.6%
10 Memphis 90.1% 75 Air Force 60.3%
11 Penn St 89.9% 76 South Alabama 60.2%
12 Missouri 89.6% 77 Virginia 59.5%
13 ULM 89.1% 78 Boise St 58.7%
14 Kent St 88.7% 79 Florida St 56.8%
15 Colorado St 88.1% 80 Illinois 56.5%
16 Georgia 87.1% 81 Rutgers 55.8%
17 New Mexico St 86.6% 82 Boston College 55.6%
18 Miami, Oh 86.3% 83 North Texas 55.1%
19 Arizona St 85.0% 84 Arkansas 55.0%
20 Army West Point 84.6% 85 Oklahoma 55.0%
21 Washington 84.5% 86 Coastal Carolina 54.3%
22 Washington St 83.7% 87 Georgia Tech 53.8%
23 Auburn 83.5% 88 Kansas 53.2%
24 Duke 81.6% 89 UTEP 53.1%
25 Massachusetts 81.5% 90 Charlotte 52.4%
26 Eastern Michigan 81.4% 91 WKU 51.9%
27 Georgia St 81.1% 92 Old Dominion 51.5%
28 Northwestern 80.9% 93 Buffalo 50.2%
29 Oregon St 80.7% 94 Maryland 50.2%
30 Arkansas St 79.9% 95 Wisconsin 50.1%
31 Kansas St 79.0% 96 Ohio 48.8%
32 Alabama 78.6% 97 Texas St 48.5%
33 Oklahoma St 78.5% 98 Wyoming 48.0%
34 NC State 78.1% 99 Central Michigan 47.8%
35 Utah St 78.1% 100 Minnesota 47.1%
36 UNLV 78.0% 101 Baylor 47.0%
37 Fresno St 77.6% 102 Michigan St 46.9%
38 Mississippi St 76.9% 103 Temple 46.8%
39 South Carolina 76.0% 104 Houston 46.5%
40 Appalachian St 75.9% 105 Texas A&M 44.3%
41 Florida 75.0% 106 Notre Dame 43.6%
42 Middle Tennessee 74.5% 107 San Jose St 42.0%
43 UCF 74.3% 108 East Carolina 40.7%
44 USF 74.2% 109 Texas Tech 37.8%
45 Purdue 73.7% 110 Northern Illinois 37.6%
46 Ball St 73.3% 111 Pittsburgh 37.0%
47 Syracuse 73.1% 112 California 34.6%
48 Connecticut 71.9% 113 West Virginia 34.4%
49 Nevada 71.4% 114 Georgia Southern 33.6%
50 Idaho 71.3% 115 Mississippi 33.5%
51 Tulane 71.2% 116 Miami, Fl 33.3%
52 Ohio St 70.9% 117 Western Michigan 32.6%
53 Arizona 70.7% 118 Rice 31.5%
54 Louisville 70.1% 119 Navy 31.3%
55 Bowling Green 69.6% 120 Louisiana Tech 30.6%
56 Colorado 69.4% 121 Iowa 30.4%
57 Akron 69.1% 122 Louisiana 27.1%
58 Cincinnati 68.7% 123 Tulsa 27.0%
59 UCLA 68.3% 124 Tennessee 25.7%
60 USC 68.3% 125 Virginia Tech 25.6%
61 LSU 68.2% 126 BYU 24.6%
62 Oregon 67.7% 127 Nebraska 22.4%
63 Kentucky 67.5% 128 Clemson 22.4%
64 Marshall 67.4% 129 North Carolina 12.7%
65 Toledo 66.7% 130 UAB 0.0%


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