Daily Blog •January 31, 2014

Every year I am adding to new features and articles to my College Football Preview and PhilSteele.com and 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 FIU’s 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.

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

Rank Team Off Avg Off Rank Def Avg Def Rank Total
1 BAYLOR 231.4 1 32.0 44 263.4
2 FLORIDA ST 125.4 7 128.6 5 253.9
3 ALABAMA 66.7 25 136.2 3 202.9
4 OREGON 139.0 4 57.7 24 196.7
5 LOUISVILLE 67.2 23 116.5 6 183.7
6 CLEMSON 142.6 3 37.2 39 179.9
7 WISCONSIN 71.0 18 101.0 10 172.0
8 GEORGIA 112.6 10 38.9 36 151.5
9 BYU 98.3 14 44.8 32 143.1
10 ARIZONA ST 77.9 16 62.7 22 140.6
11 OHIO ST 117.2 8 20.5 57 137.8
12 S CAROLINA 63.6 26 71.2 16 134.8
13 MISSISSIPPI 70.9 19 63.4 21 134.3
14 LSU 58.6 29 73.5 15 132.1
15 MISS ST 38.6 41 87.7 12 126.2
16 FRESNO ST 125.9 6 -5.6 73 120.4
17 WASHINGTON 70.0 20 49.8 29 119.8
18 AUBURN 115.1 9 4.2 66 119.4
19 MICHIGAN ST -26.8 84 140.0 2 113.2
20 STANFORD 1.1 64 102.9 9 103.9
21 VIRGINIA TECH -40.2 92 142.9 1 102.7
22 OKLAHOMA 29.5 47 69.3 17 98.8
23 CINCINNATI 51.2 32 43.8 33 95.1
24 UCF 62.6 27 31.1 46 93.7
25 OKLAHOMA ST 59.8 28 32.6 43 92.4
26 TEXAS A&M 150.6 2 -58.4 107 92.3
27 EAST CAROLINA 68.7 22 22.9 55 91.6
28 TEXAS TECH 105.2 13 -13.6 76 91.5
29 GEORGIA TECH 39.6 37 51.2 27 90.9
30 UCLA 43.0 36 47.5 31 90.5
31 USC -19.1 79 109.5 8 90.4
32 MARSHALL 109.5 12 -19.3 82 90.2
33 BOWLING GREEN 19.7 52 64.3 19 84.0
34 IOWA -17.4 78 100.4 11 83.0
35 MISSOURI 73.2 17 7.6 63 80.8
36 ARIZONA 56.3 30 24.0 54 80.4
37 WKU 29.6 46 48.9 30 78.4
38 OREGON ST 50.8 33 26.2 52 77.0
39 BOISE ST 45.7 35 30.6 47 76.3
40 N ILLINOIS 110.4 11 -34.4 96 76.0
41 UTAH ST -40.5 93 116.2 7 75.7
42 N CAROLINA 46.8 34 18.2 58 65.0
43 KANSAS ST 7.9 59 55.2 25 63.1
44 FLORIDA -71.8 108 133.2 4 61.4
45 NOTRE DAME 22.9 49 30.4 48 53.3
46 PENN ST 20.2 51 29.9 49 50.1
47 SAN JOSE ST 87.5 15 -40.8 99 46.7
48 NORTH TEXAS -4.6 67 49.9 28 45.2
49 TEXAS 3.3 62 38.3 37 41.6
50 PITTSBURGH -24.2 81 64.2 20 39.9
51 MARYLAND 13.5 55 24.2 53 37.7
52 SAN DIEGO ST -44.0 96 79.3 14 35.3
53 NEBRASKA -1.2 66 35.5 40 34.3
54 SMU 36.6 43 -4.1 72 32.6
55 UTSA 9.7 57 20.9 56 30.5
56 RICE -11.6 71 41.4 34 29.9
57 FLORIDA ATLANTIC -37.2 90 65.5 18 28.2
58 HOUSTON 36.5 44 -11.9 75 24.6
59 TOLEDO 39.2 38 -16.8 80 22.4
60 TCU -63.5 105 83.9 13 20.5
61 UTAH -14.8 74 34.9 41 20.1
62 COLORADO ST 21.4 50 -2.0 71 19.3
63 BALL STATE 67.2 24 -49.2 102 18.0
64 MICHIGAN -13.8 72 31.7 45 17.9
65 NC STATE 16.9 54 0.9 69 17.7
66 NORTHWESTERN 24.9 48 -13.9 77 10.9
67 DUKE 38.6 40 -30.1 91 8.5
68 UNLV 8.0 58 0.0 70 8.0
69 SOUTH ALABAMA 13.0 56 -9.1 74 4.0
70 MIAMI FLA 70.0 21 -69.4 111 0.6
71 BUFFALO -16.3 76 14.9 60 -1.4
72 NAVY -40.8 95 39.2 35 -1.5
73 SYRACUSE -14.4 73 7.0 64 -7.3
74 INDIANA 131.5 5 -141.0 123 -9.6
75 VIRGINIA -30.7 87 15.2 59 -15.5
76 VANDERBILT -48.9 99 32.8 42 -16.1
77 MIDDLE TENN -0.4 65 -16.4 79 -16.8
78 MINNESOTA -55.9 103 37.3 38 -18.6
79 TENNESSEE -24.2 82 4.5 65 -19.7
80 WASHINGTON ST 1.8 63 -26.4 87 -24.6
81 WYOMING 37.6 42 -62.6 108 -25.0
82 ARKANSAS -31.8 88 1.5 68 -30.3
83 ILLINOIS 38.6 39 -71.4 112 -32.8
84 TULANE -88.6 114 54.9 26 -33.7
85 UL LAFAYETTE -16.5 77 -20.0 83 -36.5
86 BOSTON COLLEGE -15.0 75 -27.3 89 -42.4
87 CONNECTICUT -53.6 100 8.4 62 -45.2
88 CALIFORNIA 35.5 45 -84.2 115 -48.7
89 WEST VIRGINIA 5.3 60 -55.7 106 -50.4
90 TULSA -32.2 89 -18.7 81 -50.9
91 KENT ST -27.7 85 -25.4 86 -53.1
92 USF -117.5 121 62.3 23 -55.2
93 AKRON -67.6 106 12.2 61 -55.4
94 OHIO -21.9 80 -35.2 97 -57.2
95 KENTUCKY -26.4 83 -32.8 94 -59.2
96 ARKANSAS ST -37.4 91 -22.1 84 -59.5
97 TEMPLE 17.1 53 -76.7 113 -59.5
98 MEMPHIS -87.3 112 27.6 51 -59.8
99 HAWAII -8.2 69 -51.9 105 -60.1
100 TROY 55.3 31 -116.2 120 -60.9
101 NEVADA 4.1 61 -66.2 110 -62.1
102 ARMY -40.6 94 -33.1 95 -73.7
103 IOWA ST -30.5 86 -49.8 103 -80.3
104 RUTGERS -58.4 104 -27.2 88 -85.6
105 WAKE FOREST -114.5 119 28.8 50 -85.6
106 ULM -54.4 102 -38.3 98 -92.7
107 COLORADO -47.3 98 -50.2 104 -97.5
108 NEW MEXICO -9.8 70 -97.9 119 -107.8
109 W MICHIGAN -92.3 115 -22.9 85 -115.2
110 LOUISIANA TECH -54.3 101 -66.1 109 -120.4
111 TEXAS ST -125.2 122 2.3 67 -122.8
112 UAB -5.9 68 -118.0 121 -123.9
113 PURDUE -96.9 116 -30.7 92 -127.6
114 KANSAS -116.7 120 -14.3 78 -131.0
115 SOUTHERN MISS -86.7 111 -46.0 101 -132.6
116 C MICHIGAN -104.1 117 -29.0 90 -133.0
117 UMASS -112.1 118 -43.9 100 -156.0
118 AIR FORCE -71.4 107 -84.8 116 -156.2
119 IDAHO -73.8 109 -86.2 117 -160.0
120 UTEP -87.8 113 -80.2 114 -168.0
121 E MICHIGAN -75.1 110 -119.1 122 -194.2
122 NEW MEXICO ST -44.5 97 -166.5 124 -211.0
123 FIU -184.0 123 -32.4 93 -216.4
124 MIAMI, OH -185.7 124 -93.1 118 -278.8

Baylor used one of the most explosive offenses in college football history to rank #1 in this category. The Bears gained on average 231 more yards on offense than what their opponent was giving up and on defense Baylor allowed 32 yards less than what their opponents were averaging coming in. When you add the two columns together, Baylor performed on average 263 yards better as far as the total number of offensive yards gained and defensive yards allowed than what their opponent was averaging.  The National Champs checked in at #2.

At the bottom is Miami, Oh which on average gained 186 yards less than what their opponents were allowing and then on defense allowed 93 yards more than what their opponents were averaging coming in for a -279 yards per game net.

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