Dawg Stats: Tracking the Metrics Through the CFP Poll

With each game more data points allow the stats to show a picture of offensive and defensive efficiency. I’ve taken the stats I track for Dawg Sports and laid them out throughout the College Football Committee’s 25 ranked teams. I realize that I have basically made a quarterly report for a Friday Staff meeting and didn’t bring any bagels or doughnuts. (tell me you never have to do quarterly reports by making quarterly report for free). As always, much of this data is courtesy of CFB Data. Here we go.

Starting with offensive yards per play. Georgia has hovered about 6.8 per play (exactly what the offense had against Florida.

• 2020 Bama 7.8
• 2019 LSU 7.9
• 2018 Clemson 7.4
• 2017 Alabama 6.6

2021 UGA 6.8

That’s good, really good even if not as good as the last two champions’ offense average. But, here comes the defense. The Bulldogs defense is allowing a stifling 3.8 YPP which actually went up. Gators average 2.8 YPP (over 3 yards per play under their season average)

• 2020 Alabama 5.0
• 2019 LSU 5.1
• 2018 Clemson 4.2
• 2017 Alabama 4.0

2021 UGA 3.8

The official stat of Dawg Sports Live, Net YPP is offensive yards per play and subtracting the yards per play allowed. Dawgs have a 3.0 Net YPP, which is best under Kirby Smart. the 2018 team had a 2.1 and the 2017 just over 2.0

• 2020 Alabama 2.8
• 2019 LSU 2.8
• 2018 Clemson 3.2
• 2017 Alabama 2.6

2021 UGA 3.0

Now we will get into the more advanced stats. Here’s a quick primer

Success Rate - percentage of plays which gain

• 50% of yards to gain on 1st Down
• 70% of yards to gain on 2nd Down
• 100% of yards to gain on 3rd/4th Down

Offense and Defense Success Rate for the last for CFP Champions

• 2020 Alabama 57%/39%
• 2019 LSU 56%/37%
• 2018 Clemson 43%/39%
• 2017 Alabama 49%/34%

2021 UGA 50%/32%

EPA is a average of all plays’ expected points added which places a value on yards gained based on down, distance, and field position. Not all yards are created equal. A 4 yard gain on 3rd and 3 at the opponents 38 yard line has a higher EPA than a 4 yard gain on 1st and 10 at your own 25.

Offense/Defense EPA from last 4 CFP Champions

• 2020 Alabama 0.450/0.083
• 2019 LSU 0.420/0.098
• 2018 Clemson 0.368/-0.034
• 2017 Alabama 0.275/-0.018

2021 UGA 0.280/-0.096

Explosiveness is the EPA of a team’s successful plays. “How good are your good plays”

With these three stats, higher is better for offense and lower is better for your defense.

• 2020 Alabama 1.204/1.251
• 2019 LSU 1.324/1.244
• 2018 Clemson 1.173/1.312
• 2017 Alabama 1.154/1.186

2021 UGA 1.107/0.872 <<<(THIS INSANE)

I hope that you get some perspective for the playoff contenders seeing the last few champions and this year’s numbers laid out. Personally, I think that Cincinnati has a case for being included, but looking at Notre Dame on these charts diminishes that big win for the Bearcats.

Here are all the stats by team and their FBS rank for a little more perspective