18 most interesting stats of the 2017 CFB season

BMF

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Some good stuff here (I couldn't figure out how to cut/paste the graphs w/ the scoring stats - sorry for that):

The 18 most interesting stats of the 2017 college football season

https://theathletic.com/212751/2018...ng-stats-of-the-2017-college-football-season/

The 2017 season is in the books, and there was no shortage of surprising performances. Here are 18 of the most interesting stats from 2017.

1. Texas’ leading rusher was its backup quarterback.

True freshman Sam Ehlinger led the Longhorns with 381 yards after beginning the year as the backup quarterback. The leading running back rusher was Kyle Porter, who had 261 yards on 83 carries.

2. Army’s 65 passes were the fewest by any team in a season since 1997.

The Black Knights didn’t complete a pass in four games, going 3-1 in those matchups. They didn’t even attempt a pass in a 21-0 win at Air Force. The previous low was Ohio’s 58 passes in 1997, according to the NCAA. Also as a result, Army’s one sack allowed was the fewest by any team in at least the past decade.

3. Bryce Love had 13 rushes of at least 50 yards this season. That would have ranked second nationally among teams.

Only Arizona’s 14 such runs totaled more than Love alone. Memphis, Notre Dame and San Diego State were third nationally with 11. Love set FBS records on consecutive games with a 30-yard rush (13) and with a 50-yard rush (11).

4. Michigan had nine touchdown passes, the program’s fewest since 1975.

The Wolverines didn’t pass for a touchdown in six of 13 games. Wide receivers only caught three of those touchdowns, while tight ends had five and running backs had one.

5. Baker Mayfield broke the FBS record for passer rating — for the second year in a row.

This year’s rating of 198.92 surpassed his record last year of 196.38. Before that, the record was Russell Wilson at Wisconsin in 2011, at 191.78.

Mayfield also broke the FBS record for yards per attempt, at 11.45 this year. The previous record was Michael Vick’s 11.35 at Virginia Tech in 1999. Mayfield’s 11.08 yards per attempt in 2016 is No. 3.

6. Oklahoma’s 11.5 third-down attempts per game were the fewest in the country.

Now that’s an efficient offense. Heading into the Rose Bowl, the Sooners had the fewest third downs in the entire FBS despite having played 13 games.

7. San Diego State became the first team in NCAA history with consecutive 2,000-yard seasons by two different players.

Last year, Donnel Pumphrey rushed for 2,133 yards and broke the FBS career rushing record. Rashaad Penny topped Pumphrey’s 2016 total, rushing for 2,248 yards.

8. Iowa State didn’t lose a fumble until the final quarter of the final game of its season.

The one lost fumble tied three other teams (1996 Bowling Green, 1998 Miami (Ohio) and 2004 Northern Illinois) for the FBS record. It came in the fourth quarter of the Liberty Bowl, at the goal line. It looked like a touchdown before the fumble, but the review team felt otherwise.

9. Tulsa threw six touchdown passes one year after it threw 33.

The six were the third-fewest nationally, one year after the 33 were 12th nationally. In 2016, the Golden Hurricane became the first team in FBS history with a 3,000-yard passer, two 1,000-yard rushers and two 1,000-yard receivers. But only one of those five players returned, a running back, and Philip Montgomery’s offense fell off a cliff in 2017.

10. Here were the 10 largest increases and decreases in scoring offense.

Team

2016

2017

Difference

UCF

28.8

48.2

+19.4

Arizona

24.8

41.3

+16.5

Wake Forest

20.4

35.3

+14.9

Florida Atlantic

26.4

40.6

+14.2

Ohio

26.3

39.1

+12.8

Buffalo

16.5

28.5

+12.0

Georgia

24.5

35.4

+10.9

North Texas

24.8

35.5

+10.7

Louisiana-Monroe

23.3

33.9

+10.6

Arkansas State

27.3

37.8

+10.5



Team

2016

2017

Difference

Tulsa

42.5

29.3

-13.2

Louisiana Tech

44.3

30.5

-13.8

Middle Tennessee

39.7

25.5

-14.2

Old Dominion

35.1

20.7

-14.4

UTEP

26.3

11.8

-14.5

Michigan

40.3

25.2

-15.1

New Mexico

36.7

20.7

-16.0

Tennessee

36.4

19.8

-16.6

Pittsburgh

40.9

23.9

-17.0

Western Kentucky

45.5

25.5

-20.0

For the second year in a row, UCF saw a big jump on offense. A year ago, coming off an 0-12 season, the Knights’ scoring improved by 14.9 points per game, third-best nationally. Another big jump in 2017 resulted in an undefeated season and the most improved scoring offense.

Wake Forest wasn’t far behind. “I forced our offense to play slow the first couple of years because we were so good on defense and weren’t as good on offense,” Demon Deacons coach Dave Clawson said after his team’s Nov. 18 win vs. N.C. State. “That was my decision because I thought that gave us the best chance to win. This year, with the offensive skill we had, I thought this was the year we could take the training wheels off and go full speed.”

Among teams with the 10 largest scoring decreases, four still reached a bowl game.

11. Here were the 10 largest decreases and increases in scoring defense.

Team

2016

2017

Opponent scoring

Purdue

38.3

20.5

-17.8

Florida Atlantic

39.8

22.7

-17.1

Wyoming

34.1

17.5

-16.6

Marshall

35.3

19.9

-15.4

California

42.6

28.4

-14.2

Fresno State

30.9

17.9

-13.0

Oregon

41.4

29.0

-12.4

Texas Tech

43.5

32.2

-11.3

Middle Tennessee

35.8

24.7

-11.1

Mississippi State

31.8

20.9

-10.9



Team

2016

2017

Opponent scoring

Tulsa

29.8

37.5

+7.7

East Carolina

36.1

45.0

+8.9

UCLA

27.5

36.6

+9.1

Western Michigan

19.8

29.0

+9.2

Connecticut

28.1

37.9

+9.8

Florida


16.8


27.3


+10.5


Ball State

30.1

40.7

+10.6

Nebraska

23.9

36.4

+12.5

Oregon State

30.5

43.0

+12.5

Louisiana-Lafayette

25.3

40.0

+14.7

Purdue defensive coordinator Nick Holt might have done the most underrated job in college football this season. The Boilermakers had been lifeless in recent years, and while Jeff Brohm and his offense drew the headlines, it was the defense that was key to getting back to a bowl game this season.

Not only did Florida Atlantic have the fourth-best scoring offense improvement, it also had the second-best scoring defense improvement.

Of the 10 defenses that fell off the most, only UCLA reached a bowl game. Tulsa was among the 11 largest drops in both scoring offense and defense.

12. Here were the 10 largest increases and decreases in turnover margin.

Team

2016

2017

Difference

Boise State

-9

13

+22

Purdue

-17

4

+21

Wyoming

3

24

+21

Akron

-8

10

+18

Florida Atlantic

-5

13

+18

Fresno State

-9

8

+17

Southern Mississippi

-17

-1

+16

UCF

1

17

+16

Bowling Green

-16

-1

+15

Texas Tech

-4

11

+15



Team

2016

2017

Difference

North Texas

1

-11

-12

New Mexico

-1

-16

-15

Oregon State

1

-14

-15

Air Force

6

-10

-16

Rice

-7

-23

-16

Charlotte

8

-9

-17

Old Dominion

13

-4

-17

Kent State

11

-7

-18

BYU

12

-10

-22

San Jose State

-1

-26

-25

13. Miami (Fla.) and Purdue opponents didn’t miss a field goal against them all season.

Miami’s opponents went 21-for-21, including 9-for-9 on kicks of at least 40 yards. Purdue’s opponents went 15-for-15. That’s some bad luck.

14. UCLA’s run defense was the worst in school history and the Pac-12’s worst since at least 2000.

The Bruins allowed 287.38 rushing yards per game. The last Power 5 team to allow at least 300 yards per game was Northwestern in 2002. UCLA allowed 21 runs of at least 30 yards, three more than the next closest team. It also allowed an FBS-worst nine runs of at least 50 yards.

15. Washington’s Dante Pettis scored a punt return touchdown in the season opener for three consecutive years.

Pettis’ nine career punt return touchdowns broke the NCAA record. He had four in 2017.

16. Fresno State’s turnaround from 1-11 to 10-4 was the second-best improvement in FBS history.

Jeff Tedford led a remarkable debut season at his alma mater. Before Fresno State this year, the only other program to go from double-digit losses to double-digit wins was Miami (Ohio) from 2009-10. The best improvement all-time is Hawaii from 0-12 to 9-4 from 1998-99.

17. Kansas State has returned a kickoff or punt for a touchdown in 13 consecutive seasons, the longest streak in the NCAA.

Since the streak began in 2005, K-State has returned kicks or punts for 44 touchdowns. As of November, that was 16 more than the next closest school. Florida also entered 2017 on a 12-year streak but didn’t get a return score this season.

18. Gary Patterson and Mark Dantonio are a combined 55-10 coming off losing seasons (five seasons).

Patterson followed 5-6 in 2004 with an 11-1 season, followed 4-8 in 2013 with a 12-1 season and followed 6-7 in 2016 with 11-3 this year. Dantonio followed 6-7 in 2009 with an 11-2 season and followed 3-9 in 2016 with a 10-3 season this year.

Not only are they two of the most overachieving coaches relative to recruiting rankings, but their teams always respond to adversity.
 

Swamp Donkey

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4. Michigan had nine touchdown passes, the program’s fewest since 1975.



Probably half were against us.

Remember after the Meatchikin game how the Pumpers were claiming they must be a NC team? Good times.
 

BMF

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4. Michigan had nine touchdown passes, the program’s fewest since 1975.



Probably half were against us.

Remember after the Meatchikin game how the Pumpers were claiming they must be a NC team? Good times.

They actually only threw for 1 TD. But yeah, the pumpers were saying we lost to an NC contender. What a joke!
 

jdh5484

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Too bad they didn't have a "largest drop in relevence" category. I miss being able to say "we're number 1".
 

78

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I have carpel tunnel from scrolling through the OP.
 

Durty South Swamp

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4. Michigan had nine touchdown passes, the program’s fewest since 1975.



Probably half were against us.

Remember after the Meatchikin game how the Pumpers were claiming they must be a NC team? Good times.
:raisehand:

I remember being told over and over again how they had the best D in the country as well.
 

TheDouglas78

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I remember saying Butters got beat by a worse Michigan team than the team that beat him in the Outback Bowl.
 

Theologator

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They actually only threw for 1 TD. But yeah, the pumpers were saying we lost to an NC contender. What a joke!

At what point did they lose their QB? 4th game? They were top 10 at that point.
 

Gatorraid81

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Didn’t have any idea that we had a 12 year streak going for punt or kickoff return TD, of course Nord made sure he stopped that before getting canned. Lol
 

BMF

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Didn’t have any idea that we had a 12 year streak going for punt or kickoff return TD, of course Nord made sure he stopped that before getting canned. Lol

I posted a thread early in the season asking what streaks would end under Butters. I'm SHOCKED the shut-out streak is still alive (thank God for that safety against FSU a few years ago!! :D ).
 

CGgater

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4. Michigan had nine touchdown passes, the program’s fewest since 1975.



Probably half were against us.

Remember after the Meatchikin game how the Pumpers were claiming they must be a NC team? Good times.

Remember when the dumpers said foley wasn’t doing his job because he didn’t dump a truckload of money in harbaw’s lap? Good times.

foley wasn’t doing his job anyway, but that’s beside the point.
 

Gatorraid81

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I posted a thread early in the season asking what streaks would end under Butters. I'm SHOCKED the shut-out streak is still alive (thank God for that safety against FSU a few years ago!! :D ).

The fact that the shutout streak survived the likes of Champ, Mac , Nuss, and Pease, is simply amazing.
 

Gator Fever

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I can't stand Harbaugh but I do think that Michigan team will be very good next year with the new QB and those young players having a year of experience.

QB play was their biggest issue.
 

rogdochar

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An egregious oversight I see.
The most crucial CFB statistic is the dash (-) for it is truly what separates a win from a loss 12-1, 11-2. :cool:
 

Woodroe

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Didn’t have any idea that we had a 12 year streak going for punt or kickoff return TD, of course Nord made sure he stopped that before getting canned. Lol
And it wasn't just a 1 per year streak. With the likes of Percy and Brandon James pre 2012 we had multiple ST TDs every year sometimes 4 or 5 if I remember correctly.
 

Durfish

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And it wasn't just a 1 per year streak. With the likes of Percy and Brandon James pre 2012 we had multiple ST TDs every year sometimes 4 or 5 if I remember correctly.
A quick read of this one made it look like Percy and Brandon James had 4 or 5 STDs every year. That's a lotta penicillin.
 

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