Daily Blog •December 6, 2012

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.

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 Averages
Compared to Opponent Average

    OFFENSE AVG DEFENSE AVG OFF + DEF
RANK TEAM vs OPP vs OPP DIFFERENCE
1 Alabama 62.3 169.1 231.4
2 Texas A&M 208.0 -5.1 202.9
3 Oregon 162.0 21.8 183.7
4 Notre Dame 53.8 122.0 175.7
5 Florida St 61.3 112.1 173.5
6 Fresno St 91.7 68.5 160.3
7 BYU 24.7 128.3 153.0
8 Oklahoma 86.1 61.4 147.5
9 Nebraska 105.1 41.9 147.1
10 Texas Tech 74.8 55.9 130.7
11 Georgia 99.5 31.0 130.5
12 Wisconsin 37.2 92.0 129.2
13 Oklahoma St 119.7 7.9 127.6
14 Michigan St 0.7 126.3 126.9
15 Florida -19.0 142.3 123.3
16 LSU 15.9 104.2 120.1
17 Utah St 47.9 59.8 107.7
18 Michigan 30.3 75.1 105.4
19 Oregon St 48.4 56.0 104.4
20 South Carolina -1.3 105.6 104.3
21 Clemson 141.9 -37.7 104.2
22 Baylor 188.6 -87.0 101.7
23 Tulsa 29.0 69.5 98.4
24 Northern Illinois 59.1 35.0 94.1
25 Syracuse 108.8 -18.3 90.6
26 San Jose St 47.3 42.2 89.5
27 Ohio St 46.5 41.3 87.8
28 Arkansas St 77.0 10.5 87.5
29 Boise St -3.2 90.2 87.0
30 Virginia Tech 9.1 77.6 86.7
31 USC 69.8 15.8 85.6
32 Arizona St 31.6 50.1 81.7
33 UCLA 76.3 2.2 78.5
34 Pittsburgh 26.2 50.8 77.0
35 Penn St 35.3 38.9 74.3
36 Louisville 46.4 27.0 73.4
37 West Virginia 111.2 -41.2 70.0
38 Kansas St -27.4 97.4 70.0
39 Stanford -30.1 98.6 68.4
40 TCU -37.9 106.2 68.3
41 Mississippi 38.6 20.8 59.4
42 Nevada 89.1 -29.9 59.2
43 Georgia Tech 40.3 17.3 57.6
44 Troy 100.4 -43.1 57.3
45 Texas 18.3 38.4 56.7
46 North Carolina 83.2 -28.3 54.9
47 San Diego St 4.9 42.5 47.4
48 Louisiana Tech 178.4 -132.2 46.2
49 Cincinnati 46.2 -4.4 41.8
50 Marshall 119.7 -78.3 41.4
51 Arkansas 57.5 -16.1 41.4
52 Western Kentucky -24.2 59.1 34.9
53 Virginia -25.8 57.9 32.1
54 Arizona 122.4 -93.1 29.3
55 UCF -6.1 26.3 20.2
56 Air Force 18.7 -0.2 18.4
57 Tennessee 113.2 -95.3 18.0
58 Bowling Green -65.1 82.5 17.4
59 Missouri -4.4 21.7 17.3
60 ULM 25.3 -8.5 16.9
61 Northwestern 32.6 -16.4 16.3
62 Mississippi St 1.2 13.4 14.6
63 Louisiana Lafayette 58.2 -44.9 13.3
64 Buffalo -29.4 42.1 12.7
65 Vanderbilt -17.7 26.5 8.8
66 Connecticut -68.1 76.4 8.4
67 Ball St 47.2 -38.9 8.3
68 Rutgers -55.4 59.4 4.0
69 Toledo 50.1 -48.8 1.3
70 Ohio 14.9 -17.3 -2.4
71 Navy -22.7 18.7 -4.0
72 Washington -60.1 53.5 -6.6
73 FIU -24.7 13.6 -11.1
74 USF -5.0 -7.8 -12.8
75 Western Michigan 14.2 -28.5 -14.3
76 Houston 43.5 -60.6 -17.1
77 NC State 24.9 -43.6 -18.7
78 Miami, Fl 72.6 -92.7 -20.1
79 California 0.4 -21.4 -21.0
80 Army 38.0 -62.0 -24.0
81 East Carolina -8.9 -16.9 -25.8
82 Purdue 14.5 -40.8 -26.3
83 Kent St 1.2 -28.5 -27.3
84 SMU -55.8 27.2 -28.6
85 Minnesota -63.2 30.5 -32.7
86 Indiana 66.9 -99.7 -32.8
87 North Texas -17.3 -18.3 -35.5
88 Middle Tennessee 1.8 -41.5 -39.7
89 Maryland -113.1 71.9 -41.3
90 South Alabama -67.9 26.6 -41.3
91 Wash St -23.5 -20.2 -43.7
92 Utah -81.2 36.2 -45.0
93 Florida Atlantic -37.7 -8.2 -45.9
94 UAB -0.5 -46.0 -46.5
95 Rice -17.4 -31.1 -48.5
96 UTSA -52.5 1.2 -51.3
97 Duke 16.3 -68.5 -52.2
98 Colorado St -48.6 -13.4 -62.0
99 Iowa -82.9 20.9 -62.0
100 Iowa St -52.7 -12.2 -64.9
101 Kansas -61.9 -19.7 -81.6
102 UTEP -43.5 -39.5 -82.9
103 Hawaii -98.2 15.1 -83.0
104 Wyoming -6.9 -76.3 -83.2
105 Kentucky -71.4 -16.5 -87.8
106 Miami, Oh -3.2 -86.2 -89.4
107 Akron -17.3 -73.3 -90.6
108 Southern Miss -75.3 -18.8 -94.1
109 Central Michigan -34.1 -62.6 -96.8
110 New Mexico -47.2 -52.4 -99.6
111 Auburn -92.6 -7.1 -99.7
112 Illinois -113.1 13.0 -100.1
113 Memphis -127.2 24.9 -102.3
114 UNLV -43.7 -58.8 -102.5
115 Temple -45.2 -59.1 -104.3
116 Wake Forest -80.6 -25.8 -106.4
117 Texas St -54.3 -52.5 -106.7
118 Boston Coll -37.0 -74.8 -111.8
119 Eastern Michigan -57.3 -70.9 -128.2
120 Idaho -72.0 -66.5 -138.5
121 Colorado -94.1 -70.7 -164.9
122 Massachusetts -111.9 -61.8 -173.8
123 Tulane -96.0 -81.0 -177.0
124 New Mexico St -94.5 -84.4 -178.9


To no surprise coming in at the top of the chart was Alabama. The Crimson Tide gained on average 62 more yards on offense than what their opponent was giving up and on defense Bama allowed 169 yards less than what their opponents were averaging coming in. When you add the two columns together, Alabama performed on average 231 yards better as far as the total number of offensive yards gained and defensive yards allowed than what their opponent was averaging. Their opponent in the national title game Notre Dame also performed quite well with a 176 yards per game total. A couple of surprise non-BCS teams near the top were Fresno St and BYU. At the bottom is New Mexico St which on average gained 95 yards less than what their opponents were allowing and then on defense allowed 84 yards more than what their opponents were averaging coming in for a -179 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 complete information and coverage on all the bowl matchups. Later this week on the homepage click on the Bowl Matchups link, where you will find all 35 bowl games. Click on the bowl logo for each game to get all the information you need to become an expert! Start doing your homework now and get your 35 bowl predictions done.