Daily Blog •July 26, 2012

Today’s blog is the 2nd day in a row I am going to analyze a conference vs conference breakdown. Today I will look at returning experience for each conference as far as % of yards coming back, % of tackles returning and finally the number of OL Career Starts coming back.

Also I thought it would be interesting to see which conference has the most experience coming back at certain positions like QB, RB, WR and also on the defensive side looking at Tkls, Sks and passes defended.

My first chart comes straight from my NCAA experience chart that is featured on page 321 of this year’s magazine. All of the columns represent a conferences' avg among its members. The first column is the NCAA avg rank of the teams in the conference. With this column the lower number the better since you want your teams to have more experience. The 2nd column is the % of yards (pass/rush/receiving) coming back. The 3rd column is the % of tackles returning while the fourth is the avg number of OL Career Starts returning.

AVG NCAA Rank for Each Conference
From Experience Chart

    NCAA % YDS % TKL OL CAR
Rk Conf Rank Return Return STRS
1 MAC 44.3 67.87% 67.78% 75.2
2 Big 12 46.6 73.59% 66.06% 67.8
3 Sun Belt 49.1 75.76% 62.67% 61.3
4 ACC 54.3 72.79% 68.87% 61.3
5 Big East 59.8 69.86% 65.27% 52.0
6 SEC 59.8 67.71% 66.41% 67.7
7 WAC 64.9 61.66% 62.36% 57.9
8 Big 10 72.1 66.81% 66.04% 51.9
9 Pac-12 75.4 57.34% 64.94% 57.7
10 CUSA 80.7 59.43% 64.72% 51.9
11 MW 84.9 56.61% 56.76% 59.1

Our NCAA Experience Chart factors in not only the number of upperclassmen/lowerclassmen starters a team has but also the % of lettermen returning, the % of yards returning, the % of tackles returning and finally the total # of OL career starts and then ranks the teams according to experience from #1-124 with #1 being the most experienced team in the country.

In this analysis you want a lower number because that means you had more teams with more experience. The MAC and the Big 12 have the most experience coming back this year among its teams while CUSA and the MW are at the bottom.

Highest % of Yards Returning

Rk Conf Rank Return Return STRS
    NCAA % YDS % TKL OL CAR
1 Sun Belt 49.1 75.76% 62.67% 61.3
2 Big 12 46.6 73.59% 66.06% 67.8
3 ACC 54.3 72.79% 68.87% 61.3
4 Big East 59.8 69.86% 65.27% 52.0
5 MAC 44.3 67.87% 67.78% 75.2
6 SEC 59.8 67.71% 66.41% 67.7
7 Big 10 72.1 66.81% 66.04% 51.9
8 WAC 64.9 61.66% 62.36% 57.9
9 CUSA 80.7 59.43% 64.72% 51.9
10 Pac-12 75.4 57.34% 64.94% 57.7
11 MW 84.9 56.61% 56.76% 59.1

The Sun Belt comes in at #1 here and if you check the chart below it should come as no surprise as they return 9 of their Top 10 Pass Efficiency QB’s, 7 of their Top 10 rushers, and 8 of their Top 10 receivers. The Big 12 comes in at #2 here and it comes as no surprise especially when you factor in West Virginia’s yards coming back.

Highest % of Tackles Returning

    NCAA % YDS % TKL OL CAR
Rk Conf Rank Return Return STRS
1 ACC 54.3 72.79% 68.87% 61.3
2 MAC 44.3 67.87% 67.78% 75.2
3 SEC 59.8 67.71% 66.41% 67.7
4 Big 12 46.6 73.59% 66.06% 67.8
5 Big 10 72.1 66.81% 66.04% 51.9
6 Big East 59.8 69.86% 65.27% 52.0
7 Pac-12 75.4 57.34% 64.94% 57.7
8 CUSA 80.7 59.43% 64.72% 51.9
9 Sun Belt 49.1 75.76% 62.67% 61.3
10 WAC 64.9 61.66% 62.36% 57.9
11 MW 84.9 56.61% 56.76% 59.1

The ACC and the MAC both return 7 of their conference Top 10 tackles from last year and come in at the top here. At the bottom the MW only returns 3 of their Top 10 tacklers from last year.

Highest # of Career OL Starts Returning

    NCAA % YDS % TKL OL CAR
Rk Conf Rank Return Return STRS
1 MAC 44.3 67.87% 67.78% 75.2
2 Big 12 46.6 73.59% 66.06% 67.8
3 SEC 59.8 67.71% 66.41% 67.7
4 ACC 54.3 72.79% 68.87% 61.3
4 Sun Belt 49.1 75.76% 62.67% 61.3
6 MW 84.9 56.61% 56.76% 59.1
7 WAC 64.9 61.66% 62.36% 57.9
8 Pac-12 75.4 57.34% 64.94% 57.7
9 Big East 59.8 69.86% 65.27% 52.0
10 Big 10 72.1 66.81% 66.04% 51.9
10 CUSA 80.7 59.43% 64.72% 51.9

The MAC clearly has the most experience returning on the OL this year as the each conference team averages an amazing 75.2 Career OL Starts. At the bottom is the Big 10 and CUSA averaging just 51.9 Career OL Starts.

Finally I wanted to see what conference has the most experience coming back at certain positions. Below is a chart listing the number of Top 10 players in the conference coming back as far as Pass Efficiency, Rushing, Receiving, Tackles, Sacks and Passes Defended.

# of Top 10 Players Returning

  # of Top 10 # of Top 10 # of Top 10 # of Top 10 # of Top 10 # of Top 10  
  Pass Eff QB Back Rushers Back Rec Back Tkl'rs Back Sks Back PD's Back Avg
Big 12 7 8 7 6 5 8 6.8
Big East 9 6 7 6 5 7 6.7
Sun Belt 9 7 8 5 5 5 6.5
Big 10 6 8 2 8 5 7 6.0
Pac-12 5 7 6 4 6 8 6.0
ACC 9 6 5 4 7 4 5.8
MAC 9 5 3 5 7 6 5.8
SEC 7 4 6 3 6 6 5.3
CUSA 5 7 5 4 3 5 4.8
MW 4 5 6 3 4 6 4.7
WAC 5 2 7 3 3 5 4.2

The Big East and Sun Belt each are loaded at QB with 9 of the Top 10 QB’s back while the MW only has 4.  At RB, the Big 12 and Big 10 each have 8 of the Top 10 rushers back while the WAC with losing three teams to the MW only return 2 of their Top 10 rushers. At WR, the Sun Belt has 8 of their Top 10 back with the Big 10 having only 2 back.  The Big 10 though has the most experience as far as tackles coming back with 8 of the Top 10. The ACC and MAC each have 7 of their top 10 sackers back while the Big 12 and Pac-12 have the most experience in the secondary with 8 of the Top 10 players back as far as passes defended.               

Only 35 Days Until the First College Football Game!