In my magazine on the conference pages, I give you a complete breakdown of a team-by-team stat analysis of their conference games only. I find these stats sometimes more intriguing than overall season totals because many teams can pad their stats in non-conference games while a conference stat breakdown gives you a more even playing field when analyzing a team especially when comparing to other conference foes who played many of the same teams.

In today’s blog I though it would be interesting to take a look at those conference stats with an average for each conference and then compare them to the other conferences in the country to see which conference averages the most ppg, the most ypg, the most rush yds, pass yds, etc.

First let me explain what each column is. The first column is the avg total ppg for each conference gm, the 2nd is the total offense ypg for each conference gm played, 3rd total rush ypg, 4th conf avg rush ypc, 5th total passing ypg, 6th conf avg comp % and finally the conf avg yards per point (ypp).

Total Conference PPG Average
(Conf gms only)

As you can see here the Big 12 involved the highest scoring games last year avg nearly a TD more than the #2 conference. At the bottom of the list to no surprise was the SEC which avg’d just 45.4 total ppg in conference games last year. No doubt Texas A&M and Missouri will have to adjust to the drastically different conference styles moving from the Big 12 to the SEC. West Virginia’s offense however is clearly more of a fit in the much higher scoring Big 12 as Big East games avg’d just 50.0 ppg last year.

Total Conference YPG Average
(Conf gms only)

Similar to the total ppg, the total ypg in conference games shows a huge disparity between the Big 12 at #1 with 891 ypg while the SEC avg’d only 653 total ypg last year more than 200 yards less!

Total Conference Rush YPG Average
(Conf gms only)

Total rush yards per game is vastly different than the first two columns as the MW thanks to Air Force and other strong run oriented teams is first with the most total rush ypg avg. While “three yards and a cloud of dust” may no longer be the case in the Big Ten, I do find it interesting that the Big Ten is 9th among the 11 conferences in total ppg and total ypg but jumps all the way up to 3rd in total rush ypg.

Total Conference Pass YPG Average
(Conf gms only)

The WAC has always been known as a high-flying league back to the days when BYU was in the conference and even though BYU is long gone, the conference still was 2nd among the 11 conferences in avg total pass ypg last year at 523 ypg.

Conference YPP Average
(Conf gms only)

I also wanted to see which conferences were most efficient as far as yards per point (ypp). Remember the lower the number the better because you want to score more points and have less yards to do so. Again the Big 12 and WAC were at the top while the SEC, MW and Big Ten were at the bottom.

Conference Run/Pass % Avg
(Conf gms only)

One final category I wanted to look at was the Run/Pass % mix for each conference. College football has surely changed in play calling over the past 20 years as only one conference the MW had a greater run % than pass % a year ago. You can definitely see that the MW, Big Ten and SEC are far more run oriented than the rest of the conferences while I did think it was surprising that the Big East and CUSA ran the ball the least % of the time.

Tomorrow’s blog will take a look at which conferences have the most experience coming back as far as pass yards, rush yards, etc.           

Only 36 Days Until the First College Football Game!