| Spring Blog • June 9, 2015 |
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% of Yards Returning
Today’s blog continues my in-depth look at my NCAA Experience Chart. For seven 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.
Let me interrupt this message to let you know that the 2015 College Football Preview is up and available right now on iTunes (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 2014 and divided it into those for the percentage.
At the top of the chart is Tulsa. They return 10 starters from last year’s offense (only lost 2 OL and a TE) including their top 8 rushers and 8 of their top 9 receivers. They have 97.5% of their total yards returning from last year. They are followed closely by Arkansas St, who returns 9 starters on offense (only lost 2) incl QB Fredi Knighten, their top 7 rushers and top 8 receivers. They have 97.1% of their yards back. Other schools at the top of the list include: Appalachian St (96.46%), Western Michigan (96.29%) and Army (92.63%).
Last year the teams at the top of this chart were Maryland (7-6 to 7-6), Akron (5-7 to 5-7), Wash St (6-7 to 3-9), Iowa (8-5 to 7-6) and Army (3-9 to 4-8). Surprisingly just one of those top 5 improved their record. #6 was Memphis and they did improve from 3-9 to 10-3 and also in the top 20 Central Michigan and Arkansas both got to bowl games after neither had been to a bowl for a few years.
It is very interesting to note that defending national champ Ohio State ranks a strong #17 with 87.5% of their yards returning and TCU which was #3 in the country at the end of last year is #15 with 88.3% of their yards returning.
At the bottom of the list is one team that lost OVER 80% of their yards gained from last year. Kansas St loses their QB, 2 of their top 3 rushers and top 3 receivers. Two powerhouses that will be in the preseason AP Top Ten also find themselves at the bottom of the yards returning chart in Auburn (22.7%) and Alabama (24%).
Last year team #127 in this category was LSU. In 2013 LSU became the first team in SEC history to feature a 3,000 yard passer, two 1,000 yard receivers and a 1,000 yard rusher and unfortunately for them all four of those players departed last year! Boston College was #128 with just 12.8% of their yards returning last year.
I will be back tomorrow to take a look at another factor in my experience chart (% of tackles returning).
% of Yards Returning
| NCAA | % of | NCAA | % of | ||
| Rank | Team (Conf Rank) | Yds Returning | Rank | Team (Conf Rank) | Yds Returning |
| 1. | Tulsa (1) | 97.46% | 65. | Illinois (4) | 63.58% |
| 2. | Arkansas St (1) | 97.13% | 66. | Air Force (6) | 63.50% |
| 3. | Appalachian St (2) | 96.46% | 67. | Kansas (5) | 62.90% |
| 4. | W Michigan (1) | 96.29% | 68. | Texas (6) | 61.48% |
| 5. | Oklahoma (1) | 96.03% | 69. | Louisville (8) | 61.20% |
| 6. | North Carolina (1) | 93.32% | 70. | San Diego St (7) | 61.08% |
| 7. | California (1) | 93.26% | 71. | USC (7) | 60.88% |
| 8. | Buffalo (2) | 92.87% | 72. | Purdue (5) | 60.32% |
| 9. | Virginia Tech (2) | 92.01% | 73. | Wisconsin (6) | 59.89% |
| 10. | Charlotte (1) | 91.91% | 74. | UCF (10) | 59.61% |
| 11. | Bowling Green (3) | 91.84% | 75. | Michigan St (7) | 58.89% |
| 12. | Toledo (4) | 91.58% | 76. | Missouri (6) | 58.73% |
| 13. | Massachusetts (5) | 89.24% | 77. | Miami, Fl (9) | 58.66% |
| 14. | Arkansas (1) | 89.10% | 78. | Texas A&M (7) | 57.45% |
| 15. | TCU (2) | 88.27% | 79. | Arizona St (8) | 57.24% |
| 16. | Texas Tech (3) | 87.65% | 80. | Ball St (11) | 55.33% |
| 17. | Ohio St (1) | 87.54% | 81. | Rutgers (8) | 55.00% |
| 18. | Ohio (6) | 87.39% | 82. | E Michigan (12) | 54.80% |
| 19. | Pittsburgh (3) | 87.28% | 83. | Baylor (7) | 54.66% |
| 20. | WKU (2) | 86.78% | 84. | Oklahoma St (8) | 54.51% |
| 21. | Arizona (2) | 84.75% | 85. | Notre Dame (1) | 54.47% |
| 22. | Cincinnati (2) | 84.55% | 86. | Florida (8) | 54.46% |
| 23. | San Jose St (1) | 84.30% | 86. | Tennessee (8) | 54.46% |
| 24. | Southern Miss (3) | 83.42% | 88. | Oregon (9) | 54.20% |
| 25. | North Texas (4) | 82.80% | 89. | UCLA (10) | 53.47% |
| 26. | Colorado (3) | 82.72% | 90. | BYU (2) | 53.25% |
| 27. | Washington (4) | 82.56% | 91. | Minnesota (9) | 53.21% |
| 28. | Utah (5) | 82.21% | 92. | Idaho (8) | 52.55% |
| 29. | Rice (5) | 82.13% | 93. | Louisiana Tech (9) | 50.81% |
| 30. | New Mexico St (3) | 82.02% | 94. | Northwestern (10) | 50.33% |
| 31. | Georgia St (4) | 81.71% | 95. | Georgia (10) | 47.80% |
| 32. | NC State (4) | 81.50% | 96. | Boston College (10) | 47.31% |
| 33. | Penn St (2) | 81.17% | 97. | Mississippi (11) | 47.17% |
| 34. | Stanford (6) | 80.90% | 98. | Michigan (11) | 46.94% |
| 35. | LSU (2) | 80.70% | 99. | Marshall (10) | 46.67% |
| 36. | Texas St (5) | 80.57% | 100. | Wyoming (8) | 46.42% |
| 37. | Vanderbilt (3) | 80.50% | 101. | Oregon St (11) | 45.98% |
| 38. | Troy (6) | 80.44% | 102. | Connecticut (11) | 45.69% |
| 39. | USF (3) | 80.41% | 103. | Louisiana (9) | 44.51% |
| 40. | SMU (4) | 79.61% | 104. | Nevada (9) | 43.51% |
| 41. | Georgia Southern (7) | 78.84% | 105. | Washington St (12) | 42.62% |
| 42. | Hawaii (2) | 78.25% | 106. | Colorado St (10) | 42.44% |
| 43. | Kentucky (4) | 78.22% | 107. | UTSA (11) | 42.28% |
| 44. | FIU (6) | 77.88% | 108. | Virginia (11) | 41.68% |
| 45. | Temple (5) | 76.95% | 109. | Iowa (12) | 40.73% |
| 46. | Memphis (6) | 76.87% | 110. | Maryland (13) | 40.21% |
| 47. | New Mexico (3) | 76.84% | 111. | West Virginia (9) | 38.88% |
| 48. | Tulane (7) | 76.59% | 112. | Indiana (14) | 38.58% |
| 49. | Middle Tenn (7) | 75.44% | 113. | Old Dominion (12) | 37.21% |
| 50. | Wake Forest (5) | 71.94% | 114. | S Alabama (10) | 36.70% |
| 51. | Mississippi St (5) | 71.93% | 115. | UTEP (13) | 36.33% |
| 52. | FAU (8) | 71.93% | 116. | Duke (12) | 35.20% |
| 53. | Clemson (6) | 70.83% | 117. | ULM (11) | 34.04% |
| 54. | Kent St (7) | 70.78% | 118. | Boise St (11) | 32.57% |
| 55. | UNLV (4) | 69.51% | 119. | Florida St (13) | 32.20% |
| 56. | Nebraska (3) | 69.11% | 120. | South Carolina (12) | 31.41% |
| 57. | N Illinois (8) | 68.99% | 121. | Miami, Oh (13) | 30.10% |
| 58. | Akron (9) | 68.51% | 122. | Fresno St (12) | 29.98% |
| 59. | Iowa St (4) | 68.07% | 123. | Georgia Tech (14) | 29.56% |
| 60. | Syracuse (7) | 68.04% | 124. | East Carolina (12) | 27.43% |
| 61. | Navy (8) | 67.45% | 125. | Army (3) | 26.84% |
| 62. | Houston (9) | 65.45% | 126. | Alabama (13) | 23.99% |
| 63. | Cent Michigan (10) | 65.41% | 127. | Auburn (14) | 22.70% |
| 64. | Utah St (5) | 64.69% | 128. | Kansas St (10) | 18.69% |
2015 College Football Preview
available right now on iTunes!
In 2013 was the first year my College Football Preview magazine was available on iTunes to download to your iPhone or iPad. In that initial year, we naturally dealt with some issues through trial and error and it was not available to purchase until mid-August. Last year it came out in early June and was PERFECT with none of the bugs of the previous year. I loved it as I do not use my iPhone much (I am always at my desk computer) but I was able to navigate it easily with no problems!
This year’s version is up and available right now!
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2). It’s easy to use and works perfectly for both the iPhone and iPad. The download process may take up to 10-15 minutes but that’s because we have 352 pages with jampacked information!
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4). Non-U.S. Customers: The magazine will not be on the newsstands internationally, the only way to get the 2015 College Football Preview is to order through our offices and pay at least $35 (includes S&H) or get it on iTunes for just $9.99.
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Don’t wait three weeks until the magazine hits the newsstands.
Available now on your iPhone or iPad.
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