049: Week four drive superlatives
A look through week four of FBS games through drives.
Week four of the college football schedule featured several teams snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, a couple coaches cutting wrestling style promos, and over 1500 drives.
Using drive data here are a few of the superlatives from week four . . .
Highest percentage of drives that ended in a touchdown
Fresno State, Air Force, Louisville, and Oregon all had at least 60 percent of its offensive drives end in a touchdown.
Fresno State beat Kent State 53-10. The Bulldogs scored touchdowns on its first seven drives.
Lowest percentage of drives that ended in a touchdown
Appalachian State, Auburn, Ball State, Baylor, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, and Iowa all failed to score an offensive touchdown in week four.
Not a surprise, but none of those teams won in week four either.
Iowa ran 33 plays. 45 teams scored more than 33 points
Average starting field position
The average starting field position for FBS vs FBS games in week four was the offense’s 29.5 yard line.
Duke had the best starting field position at their own ~44 yard line. The Blue Devils embarrassed UConn beating the Huskies 41-7.
Eastern Michigan, Colorado State, and Notre Dame all had the worst starting field position beginning drives behind their own 20 yard line.
Red zone success and failures
Baylor scored six points in six red zone trips in a 38-6 loss to Texas.
Georgia scored six touchdowns in six red zone trips in a 49-21 win over UAB.
Longest drive with and without points
Northern Illinois scored a touchdown on a 20 play 75 yard drive that took 11 minutes and three seconds of the clock. The Huskies lost to Tulsa 22-14.
Appalachian State’s 18 play 55 yard drive shaved nine minutes and 32 seconds off the clock and it ended with a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown.
Wyoming beat the Mountaineers 22-19.
Shortest drives with points
Minnesota started a drive on the Northwestern nine yard line, and scored a touchdown in one play and four seconds.
Punting is winning
Both of the following punts resulted in a touchback.
Arizona punted from the Stanford 39 yard line after a 10 play 39 yard drive that lasted four minutes and 51 seconds. The Wildcats beat Stanford 21-20.
Minnesota punted from the Northwestern 37 yard line after a five play 30 yard drive in the fourth quarter that took two minutes and 42 seconds off the clock. The Gophers downed the punt in the end zone.
Northwestern started the drive on their own 20 and drove 80 yards to send the game to overtime. Minnesota blew a 21-point lead and lost in overtime to the Wildcats.