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2007 College Football Season Conference Total Offense and Total Defense Statistics by Yards Per Play and Rankings (regular season)

By Andis Kaulins

Stats too often neglected in the analysis of college football teams are the total offense and total defense statistics. Using stats found at cfbstats.com for the 2007 regular college football season we have calculated the following conference rankings for College Football Conference Total Offense and Total Defense Statistics and also their Net Difference by Yards per Play (regular season) :

2007 Total Defense Rankings by Yards per Play by Conference
2007 Total Offense Rankings by Yards per Play by Conference
2007 Rankings of the Net Difference between Total Offense by Yards per Play vs. Total Defense Yards per Play by Conference

Our calculations were all done by hand, so inform us of any errors. We will have subsequent postings ranking the teams for the entire season, including bowl games, by the yards per play of total offense and total defense. As we shall see, this is a great parameter by which to rank football teams, if adjusted for the parameters of strength of schedule and wins/losses.

TOTAL DEFENSE RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1. ACC - Atlantic Coast Conference - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (Total Yards per Game are also given) - Average 4.98

1 Virginia Tech 4.3 293.3
2 Clemson 4.5 297.2
3 Virginia 4.6 323.3
4 Boston College 4.6 331.4
5 Georgia Tech 4.7 310.3
6 Wake Forest 4.7 351.0
7 North Carolina 5.0 349.8
8 Miami (Florida) 5.1 345.9
9 Florida State 5.1 350.4
10 N. C. State 5.2 393.9
11 Maryland 5.3 355.9
12 Duke 5.8 424.3

2. SEC - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.01

1 LSU 4.3 283.8
2 Auburn 4.6 298.3
3 Arkansas 4.7 359.1
4 Georgia 4.9 324.7
5 Alabama 4.9 341.2
6 Vanderbilt 5.0 325.3
7 Mississippi State 5.0 341.2
8 Florida 5.1 348.3
9 South Carolina 5.2 378.1
10 Kentucky 5.3 390.3
11 Tennessee 5.5 407.6
12 Mississippi 5.6 423.4

3. Pac 10 - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.05

1 USC 3.9 258.8
2 Oregon State 4.5 313.1
3 UCLA 4.6 349.8
4 Arizona 4.9 372.2
5 Arizona State 5.0 334.4
6 California 5.0 375.0
7 Oregon 5.2 386.8
8 Washington State 5.5 421.1
9 Stanford 5.8 435.4
10 Washington 6.1 446.4

4. Big East Conference - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.05

1 West Virginia 4.4 291.9
2 Pittsburgh 4.4 297.7
3 South Florida 4.5 326.8
4 Rutgers 4.8 319.5
5 Connecticut 5.0 346.3
6 Cincinnati 5.0 370.7
7 Louisville 6.1 416.5
8 Syracuse 6.2 468.8

5. Mountain West Conference - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) Average 5.07

1 Utah 4.5 319.4
2 TCU 4.5 320.0
3 BYU 4.6 307.2
4 Wyoming 4.6 330.4
5 New Mexico 4.7 329.1
6 Air Force 4.9 357.2
7 UNLV 5.6 386.8
8 Colorado State 5.9 414.5
9 San Diego State 6.3 498.2

6. Big 10 Conference - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.10

1 Ohio State 3.6 225.3
2 Penn State 4.5 306.6
3 Michigan 4.8 330.4
4 Iowa 4.8 350.8
5 Illinois 5.0 355.4
6 Purdue 5.0 385.3
7 Indiana 5.1 394.3
8 Michigan State 5.3 351.3
9 Wisconsin 5.4 350.4
10 Northwestern 5.8 410.5
11 Minnesota 6.8 518.7

7. Big 12 Conference - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.44

1 Kansas 4.5 318.3
2 Oklahoma 4.7 324.0
3 Texas Tech 4.9 367.1
4 Texas 5.2 374.8
5 Missouri 5.2 380.3
6 Kansas State 5.5 400.6
7 Colorado 5.6 389.4
8 Iowa State 5.8 390.3
9 Texas A&M 5.8 416.0
10 Oklahoma State 6.0 446.7
11 Baylor 6.0 461.6
12 Nebraska 6.1 476.8

8. Independents - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.53

1 Notre Dame 4.8 357.0
2 Army 5.7 423.5
3 Navy 6.1 438.2

9. Western Athletic Conference - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.61

1 Hawaii 4.7 348.9
2 Boise State 4.8 326.5
3 San Jose State 5.6 408.0
4 Nevada 5.7 403.9
5 Fresno State 5.7 409.8
6 Idaho 5.8 418.7
7 Louisiana Tech 5.8 424.2
8 New Mexico State 6.2 429.9
9 Utah State 6.2 450.3

10. Mid-American Conference - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.68

1 Miami (Ohio) 5.2 375.4
2 Temple 5.3 363.4
3 Ohio 5.4 407.7
4 Kent State 5.5 385.6
5 Akron 5.5 408.7
6 Western Michigan 5.6 399.3
7 Buffalo 5.6 405.6
8 Bowling Green 5.7 413.0
9 Northern Illinois 5.8 434.3
10 Central Michigan 5.8 450.2
11 Ball State 6.0 418.8
12 Eastern Michigan 6.1 423.6
13 Toledo 6.3 444.1

11. Sun Belt Conference - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.80

1 Arkansas State 5.3 363.4
1 Troy 5.3 378.3
3 Florida Atlantic 5.5 417.1
4 Middle Tennessee 5.7 415.2
5 Louisiana-Monroe 5.8 414.3
6 Louisiana-Lafayette 5.9 446.7
7 Florida International 6.2 446.8
8 North Texas 6.7 486.4

12. Conference USA - Total Defense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.94

1 UCF 5.1 379.3
2 Southern Miss 5.3 363.2
3 Houston 5.5 365.7
4 East Carolina 5.7 436.4
5 Tulane 6.0 420.3
6 Tulsa 6.0 469.0
7 Memphis 6.1 439.5
8 Marshall 6.2 450.8
9 SMU 6.2 498.7
10 UTEP 6.2 504.8
11 UAB 6.5 487.6
12 Rice 6.5 510.8

TOTAL OFFENSE RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1. Big 12 Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.91 (versus 5.44 per play total defense = net +0.47)

1 Texas Tech 7.0 537.0
2 Kansas 6.5 491.1
3 Oklahoma State 6.5 484.1
4 Oklahoma 6.5 451.2
5 Nebraska 6.3 468.3
6 Missouri 6.2 492.7
7 Texas 6.2 462.0
8 Kansas State 5.8 418.2
9 Texas A&M 5.5 402.8
10 Colorado 5.1 377.0
11 Baylor 4.9 351.3
12 Iowa State 4.4 326.9

2. Conference USA - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.75 (versus 5.94 per play total defense = net -o.19)

1 Tulsa 6.8 542.5
2 Houston 6.4 513.2
3 UCF 5.9 426.5
4 UTEP 5.9 422.8
5 Marshall 5.9 412.8
6 Memphis 5.7 447.4
7 SMU 5.6 423.4
8 Tulane 5.6 395.9
9 East Carolina 5.6 377.9
10 Southern Miss 5.5 393.9
11 Rice 5.3 404.0
12 UAB 4.8 325.6

3. Big East Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.66 (versus 5.05 per play total defense = net +0.61)

1 West Virginia 6.5 450.5
2 Louisville 6.4 488.0
3 Rutgers 6.2 437.2
4 Cincinnati 6.1 436.3
5 South Florida 5.6 421.6
6 Connecticut 5.1 358.3
7 Pittsburgh 4.8 322.5
8 Syracuse 12 4.6 291.9

4. Western Athletic Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.61 (versus 5.61 per play total defense = net 0.00)

1 Hawaii 7.3 529.3
2 Nevada 6.6 488.9
3 Boise State 6.3 475.7
4 Fresno State 5.9 406.9
5 New Mexico State 5.5 423.5
6 San Jose State 5.0 348.1
7 Idaho 4.8 349.7
8 Louisiana Tech 4.6 350.9
9 Utah State 4.5 277.9

5. SEC - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.53 (versus 5.01 per play total defense = net +0.52)

1 Florida 7.1 462.0
2 Arkansas 6.4 457.4
3 LSU 6.0 448.2
4 Kentucky 5.7 438.6
5 Tennessee 5.6 399.2
6 Georgia 5.6 379.1
7 South Carolina 5.4 371.8
7 Mississippi 5.4 346.5
9 Alabama 5.0 372.6
10 Auburn 4.9 327.8
11 Vanderbilt 4.7 326.6
12 Mississippi State 4.5 305.2

6. Big 10 Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.51 (versus 5.10 per play total defense = net +0.41)

1 Illinois 6.0 423.3
2 Ohio State 5.8 397.1
3 Michigan State 5.7 426.3
4 Wisconsin 5.7 413.9
5 Indiana 5.6 393.3
6 Northwestern 5.5 427.7
7 Purdue 5.5 422.9
8 Minnesota 5.5 407.5
9 Penn State 5.5 399.0
10 Michigan 5.1 373.5
11 Iowa 4.7 316.3

7. Pac 10 - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.35 (versus 5.05 per play total defense = net +0.30)

1 Oregon 5.8 462.1
1 Washington State 5.8 435.6
1 California 5.8 399.2
4 USC 5.6 418.4
4 Washington 5.6 394.2
6 Arizona State 5.4 405.7
7 Arizona 5.4 385.2
8 Oregon State 4.9 370.7
9 UCLA 4.8 335.1
10 Stanford 4.4 322.5

8. Sun Belt Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (also shown are the Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.24 (versus 5.80 per play total defense = net -0.56 )

1 Louisiana-Lafayette 5.7 406.9
2 Troy 5.6 452.8
3 Florida Atlantic 5.5 413.1
4 Arkansas State 5.4 379.8
5 North Texas 5.2 408.4
6 Louisiana-Monroe 5.2 385.7
7 Middle Tennessee 5.1 336.3
8 Florida International 4.2 269.7

9. Mountain West Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) Average 5.22 (versus 5.07 per play total defense = net +0.15)

1 BYU 5.9 457.6
2 Air Force 5.9 418.9
3 San Diego State 5.5 375.9
4 Colorado State 5.4 378.8
5 Utah 5.0 362.8
6 New Mexico 5.0 357.4
7 UNLV 5.0 353.2
8 TCU 4.9 388.4
9 Wyoming 4.4 322.8

10. ACC - Atlantic Coast Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.03 (versus 4.98 per play total defense = net +0.05)

1 Boston College 5.7 436.5
2 Clemson 5.6 412.4
3 Georgia Tech 5.5 385.4
4 Florida State 5.2 360.0
5 Maryland 5.1 350.4
6 North Carolina 5.1 325.3
7 Virginia Tech 5.0 332.4
8 Miami (Florida) 4.9 315.1
9 N.C. State 4.7 334.9
10 Virginia 4.7 329.2
11 Wake Forest 4.6 334.5
12 Duke 4.3 271.1

11. Independents - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 4.60 (versus 5.53 per play total defense = net -0.93)

1 Navy 6.1 444.6
2 Army 4.2 275.5
3 Notre Dame 3.5 242.3

12. Mid-American Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.26 (versus 5.68 per play total defense = net -0.42)

1 Ball State 6.0 431.7
2 Toledo 5.9 448.4
3 Central Michigan 5.8 447.9
4 Bowling Green 5.7 416.9
5 Ohio 5.3 362.6
6 Western Michigan 5.2 398.0
7 Buffalo 5.2 347.9
8 Miami (Ohio) 5.1 366.8
9 Kent State 5.1 366.7
10 Northern Illinois 5.0 337.9
11 Eastern Michigan 4.9 337.5
12 Akron 4.6 312.0
13 Temple 4.6 300.8

NET TOTAL OFFENSE vs. TOTAL DEFENSE RANKINGS BY CONFERENCE

1. Big East Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.66 (versus 5.05 per play total defense = net +0.61 yards per play)

2. SEC - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.53 (versus 5.01 per play total defense = net +0.52 yards per play)

3. Big 12 Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.91 (versus 5.44 per play total defense = net +0.47 yards per play)

4. Big 10 Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.51 (versus 5.10 per play total defense = net +0.41 yards per play)

5. Pac 10 - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.35 (versus 5.05 per play total defense = net +0.30 yards per play)

6. Mountain West Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) Average 5.22 (versus 5.07 per play total defense = net +0.15 yards per play)

7. ACC - Atlantic Coast Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.03 (versus 4.98 per play total defense = net +0.05 yards per play)

8. Western Athletic Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.61 (versus 5.61 per play total defense = net 0.00 yards per play)

9. Conference USA - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.75 (versus 5.94 per play total defense = net -o.19 yards per play)

10. Mid-American Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.26 (versus 5.68 per play total defense = net -0.42 yards per play)

11. Sun Belt Conference - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 5.24 (versus 5.80 per play total defense = net-0.56 yards per play)

12. Independents - Total Offense, ranked by Yards per Play (plus Total Yards per Game) - Average 4.60 (versus 5.53 per play total defense = net -0.93 yards per play)

Full post as published by LawPundit on January 13, 2008 (boomark / email).