| Phil Steele Blog • April 8th, 2016 |
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Most Improved Rush Offenses.
In today's Blog I will continue on with the Most Improved and Least Improved Rush Offenses. The Most Improved Scoring Defenses blog can be found <here>. Every year in my magazine I list the teams that I think will be the most improved and least improved prior to the season. This past year that chart was found on page 42. USF ended up the most improved going from 107.9 ypg in 2014 to 246.5 ypg last year. From my Top 15 in the magazine 11 teams ranked in the Top 42. 7 teams ranked in the Top 17 being Texas, Southern Miss, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Stanford, Oregon St and Kent St.
The chart listed below is ranked in order from the most improved to the team that had the largest set back in rush offense which was Wisconsin (went from avg 320.1 to 150.3 ypg). Of the bottom 5 teams that made my list in the 2015 magazine, all 5 were in the bottom 42 on this list. 2 teams were in the bottom 4, Mississippi St and Boston College.
The first column is last years rush ypg. The second column is rush ypg from 2014. The 3rd column is the difference between the two with a positive number for improvement and the 4th column gives you their ranking based on improved rush offense from last year. On Monday I will list the Most Improved Pass Offenses in 2015.
| Most Impoved Rush Offenses | ||||
| Tm | 2015 | 2014 | Diff | Rank |
| USF | 246.5 | 107.9 | 138.6 | 1 |
| Baylor | 326.7 | 215.5 | 111.2 | 2 |
| Texas | 224.8 | 137.4 | 87.4 | 3 |
| Southern Miss | 179.8 | 95.8 | 84.0 | 4 |
| Maryland | 200.7 | 121.8 | 78.8 | 5 |
| Tennessee | 223.7 | 146.4 | 77.3 | 6 |
| Clemson | 223.0 | 146.5 | 76.5 | 7 |
| North Carolina | 224.4 | 151.8 | 72.7 | 8 |
| Wake Forest | 105.2 | 39.9 | 65.3 | 9 |
| Stanford | 223.7 | 158.8 | 64.9 | 10 |
| SMU | 164.5 | 100.3 | 64.2 | 11 |
| UNLV | 193.3 | 129.2 | 64.1 | 12 |
| Oregon St | 177.7 | 118.1 | 59.6 | 13 |
| Iowa St | 182.0 | 124.1 | 57.9 | 14 |
| Northwestern | 188.5 | 136.6 | 52.0 | 15 |
| Houston | 235.8 | 183.8 | 51.9 | 16 |
| Kent St | 132.8 | 81.9 | 50.8 | 17 |
| Notre Dame | 207.6 | 159.5 | 48.2 | 18 |
| UTSA | 168.8 | 122.2 | 46.7 | 19 |
| Air Force | 319.1 | 273.1 | 46.1 | 20 |
| West Virginia | 228.2 | 182.8 | 45.5 | 21 |
| Vanderbilt | 154.7 | 109.3 | 45.4 | 22 |
| Oregon | 279.9 | 234.5 | 45.4 | 23 |
| Temple | 149.7 | 107.8 | 42.0 | 24 |
| San Jose St | 182.9 | 141.3 | 41.6 | 25 |
| Washington St | 80.5 | 39.8 | 40.6 | 26 |
| Akron | 164.2 | 123.7 | 40.5 | 27 |
| Arizona | 222.3 | 181.9 | 40.5 | 28 |
| Colorado St | 197.8 | 159.3 | 38.5 | 29 |
| Texas Tech | 191.3 | 153.0 | 38.3 | 30 |
| Western Michigan | 204.6 | 170.8 | 33.8 | 31 |
| ULM | 102.9 | 69.5 | 33.4 | 32 |
| UMass | 142.3 | 109.3 | 32.9 | 33 |
| LSU | 256.8 | 224.5 | 32.3 | 34 |
| Penn St | 134.2 | 101.9 | 32.2 | 35 |
| Miami, Oh | 129.7 | 97.6 | 32.1 | 36 |
| Florida St | 168.2 | 138.1 | 30.2 | 37 |
| Appalachian St | 271.5 | 241.8 | 29.7 | 38 |
| Louisville | 171.0 | 142.7 | 28.3 | 39 |
| Mississippi | 183.1 | 155.5 | 27.6 | 40 |
| Tulsa | 174.2 | 147.8 | 26.3 | 41 |
| Kansas St | 157.7 | 134.2 | 23.5 | 42 |
| Cincinnati | 177.9 | 156.5 | 21.4 | 43 |
| Wyoming | 173.4 | 153.2 | 20.3 | 44 |
| Eastern Michigan | 157.8 | 137.8 | 20.0 | 45 |
| Texas A&M | 169.1 | 149.9 | 19.2 | 46 |
| Iowa | 181.7 | 163.1 | 18.6 | 47 |
| Connecticut | 124.8 | 106.9 | 17.9 | 48 |
| Syracuse | 163.2 | 145.8 | 17.3 | 49 |
| San Diego St | 233.3 | 216.1 | 17.2 | 50 |
| Ohio | 180.9 | 164.1 | 16.8 | 51 |
| Arkansas St | 231.3 | 216.4 | 14.9 | 52 |
| Illinois | 129.3 | 117.5 | 11.8 | 53 |
| Virginia Tech | 159.2 | 147.9 | 11.3 | 54 |
| Duke | 192.9 | 181.8 | 11.1 | 55 |
| Louisiana Tech | 159.6 | 148.6 | 11.0 | 56 |
| Rice | 177.6 | 167.8 | 9.8 | 57 |
| Arizona St | 178.4 | 168.8 | 9.6 | 58 |
| Kentucky | 162.7 | 153.2 | 9.5 | 59 |
| TCU | 215.4 | 206.8 | 8.5 | 60 |
| Rutgers | 169.9 | 162.6 | 7.3 | 61 |
| USC | 168.2 | 160.9 | 7.3 | 62 |
| Virginia | 144.8 | 137.8 | 7.0 | 63 |
| Bowling Green | 180.0 | 173.0 | 7.0 | 63 |
| North Texas | 158.7 | 153.2 | 5.5 | 65 |
| Idaho | 147.2 | 141.9 | 5.3 | 66 |
| Nevada | 210.6 | 205.5 | 5.2 | 67 |
| California | 152.8 | 149.2 | 3.7 | 68 |
| Old Dominion | 151.8 | 149.4 | 2.3 | 69 |
| Colorado | 156.2 | 154.6 | 1.6 | 70 |
| New Mexico St | 180.5 | 179.3 | 1.2 | 71 |
| FAU | 164.8 | 163.6 | 1.2 | 71 |
| Georgia St | 96.9 | 96.3 | 0.6 | 73 |
| Ball St | 153.3 | 153.4 | -0.1 | 74 |
| NC State | 202.1 | 204.5 | -2.5 | 75 |
| Michigan | 158.2 | 162.8 | -4.6 | 76 |
| WKU | 154.1 | 160.3 | -6.2 | 77 |
| South Carolina | 154.7 | 161.0 | -6.3 | 78 |
| Alabama | 199.9 | 206.6 | -6.7 | 79 |
| Utah | 183.0 | 190.4 | -7.4 | 80 |
| Kansas | 112.9 | 121.2 | -8.3 | 81 |
| Oklahoma St | 126.8 | 136.6 | -9.8 | 82 |
| Memphis | 179.5 | 190.5 | -11.0 | 83 |
| Navy | 326.7 | 338.1 | -11.4 | 84 |
| Utah St | 165.1 | 180.1 | -15.0 | 85 |
| FIU | 109.9 | 125.2 | -15.3 | 86 |
| Georgia Southern | 363.0 | 381.1 | -18.1 | 87 |
| South Alabama | 160.7 | 179.0 | -18.3 | 88 |
| Ohio St | 245.2 | 264.5 | -19.2 | 89 |
| Arkansas | 197.3 | 218.0 | -20.7 | 90 |
| Boise St | 191.4 | 213.9 | -22.5 | 91 |
| Washington | 163.8 | 188.6 | -24.7 | 92 |
| Hawaii | 123.9 | 149.5 | -25.5 | 93 |
| Purdue | 131.3 | 157.2 | -25.8 | 94 |
| East Carolina | 133.3 | 161.1 | -27.7 | 95 |
| Tulane | 115.8 | 145.5 | -29.8 | 96 |
| UCLA | 176.8 | 209.5 | -32.8 | 97 |
| Oklahoma | 222.1 | 261.2 | -39.1 | 98 |
| Buffalo | 136.9 | 178.6 | -41.7 | 99 |
| Troy | 119.1 | 164.5 | -45.4 | 100 |
| Fresno St | 136.8 | 182.4 | -45.5 | 101 |
| UCF | 81.3 | 128.3 | -47.1 | 102 |
| Toledo | 207.9 | 256.4 | -48.5 | 103 |
| Texas St | 187.3 | 238.5 | -51.2 | 104 |
| Army West Point | 244.3 | 296.5 | -52.3 | 105 |
| UL Lafayette | 172.8 | 225.9 | -53.1 | 106 |
| Indiana | 210.5 | 263.6 | -53.1 | 107 |
| BYU | 128.3 | 181.8 | -53.5 | 108 |
| Central Michigan | 101.3 | 155.2 | -53.9 | 109 |
| New Mexico | 252.2 | 310.4 | -58.3 | 110 |
| Charlotte | 163.1 | 221.9 | -58.8 | 111 |
| Northern Illinois | 190.1 | 249.1 | -59.1 | 112 |
| Auburn | 196.4 | 255.5 | -59.1 | 113 |
| Nebraska | 180.0 | 240.2 | -60.2 | 114 |
| Miami, Fl | 119.9 | 180.4 | -60.5 | 115 |
| Florida | 126.9 | 187.7 | -60.7 | 116 |
| UTEP | 146.8 | 207.8 | -61.0 | 117 |
| Missouri | 115.4 | 177.9 | -62.4 | 118 |
| Pittsburgh | 186.8 | 249.5 | -62.6 | 119 |
| Georgia | 192.2 | 257.8 | -65.7 | 120 |
| Middle Tennessee | 145.7 | 213.8 | -68.1 | 121 |
| Minnesota | 144.1 | 215.5 | -71.4 | 122 |
| Michigan St | 151.3 | 235.2 | -83.9 | 123 |
| Georgia Tech | 256.2 | 342.1 | -85.9 | 124 |
| Mississippi St | 144.1 | 233.1 | -89.0 | 125 |
| Boston College | 164.4 | 254.7 | -90.3 | 126 |
| Marshall | 168.9 | 271.9 | -103.0 | 127 |
| Wisconsin | 150.3 | 320.1 | -169.8 | 128 |