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Drive Efficiency

Analysis

Every team gets about a dozen possessions a game. This is what they do with them, and what they give up.

Points per drive, both directions

Scoring across, points allowed up. Fast and slow teams compare fairly here, because it is per possession. Top right is best.

1.02.03.04.01.02.03.04.0Points per drive← worsebetter →Points per drive allowed← worsebetter →
130 teams · dashed lines mark the league medianr = -0.36(r² = 0.13)

Sorted by Points per drive (offense). Every possession is an opportunity; this is what one is worth. Tap any column to re-sort.

#TeamPPD
1Ohio State3.89
2Coastal Carolina3.64
3Western Kentucky3.45
4Oklahoma3.32
5Alabama3.26
6Georgia3.21
7Army3.18
8BYU3.15
9Wake Forest3.14
10Michigan3.12
11UCLA3.08
12Utah3.04
13Tennessee3.01
14Cincinnati2.99
15SMU2.96
16UTSA2.95
17Air Force2.94
18Kentucky2.93
19Kansas State2.91
20Virginia2.91
21North Carolina2.89
22Oregon2.86
23Oregon State2.86
24Iowa State2.85
25Louisiana2.82
26Northern Illinois2.80
27Pittsburgh2.80
28Western Michigan2.80
29Louisville2.79
30Texas2.77
31Liberty2.77
32App State2.73
33Houston2.71
34Ole Miss2.67
35Nevada2.67
36Texas Tech2.67
37Notre Dame2.66
38Arizona State2.60
39Arkansas2.59
40Baylor2.56
41UAB2.54
42Kent State2.53
43Toledo2.51
44Miami (OH)2.47
45Utah State2.47
46Purdue2.46
47Michigan State2.46
48Fresno State2.46
49Marshall2.43
50Eastern Michigan2.43
51Miami2.42
52Washington State2.41
53Memphis2.39
54East Carolina2.39
55USC2.38
56Oklahoma State2.36
57Minnesota2.35
58Florida2.35
59TCU2.32
60Central Michigan2.31
61Buffalo2.31
62NC State2.31
63Florida State2.30
64Georgia State2.30
65Charlotte2.29
66Boise State2.29
67Nebraska2.26
68UCF2.26
69Mississippi State2.25
70Auburn2.19
71South Alabama2.19
72Missouri2.19
73Louisiana Tech2.16
74Wyoming2.16
75LSU2.13
76Virginia Tech2.13
77Texas A&M2.09
78California2.08
79Maryland2.06
80Wisconsin2.04
81Tulane1.99
82Ohio1.98
83Florida Atlantic1.97
84Boston College1.97
85Hawai'i1.97
86Tulsa1.95
87Middle Tennessee1.94
88Penn State1.92
89San Diego State1.92
90Clemson1.92
91West Virginia1.90
92Kansas1.89
93UTEP1.88
94Washington1.88
95Old Dominion1.87
96Ball State1.85
97Syracuse1.85
98North Texas1.79
99Navy1.79
100South Florida1.74
101UL Monroe1.71
102UNLV1.71
103South Carolina1.71
104Colorado State1.70
105Illinois1.70
106Texas State1.68
107Iowa1.68
108Arkansas State1.65
109Georgia Tech1.62
110Stanford1.61
111Bowling Green1.61
112Akron1.59
113Troy1.52
114Duke1.51
115New Mexico State1.49
116Florida International1.47
117Rice1.41
118Massachusetts1.41
119Georgia Southern1.39
120Rutgers1.35
121Colorado1.30
122San José State1.30
123Northwestern1.30
124Vanderbilt1.28
125Arizona1.11
126Indiana0.98
127Temple0.98
128UConn0.93
129Southern Miss0.83
130New Mexico0.70

What counts as a drive

211,555 possessions counted. A drive that starts with 24 seconds left and ends in a kneel is a real row in the data and a fake possession; left in, it drags every team’s points per drive down in proportion to how often their games were already decided. Excluded here:

  • end of half / game / quarter possessions
  • possessions starting inside 40s of a half
  • kickoff and uncategorised rows
  • FBS vs FCS games

CFBD spells the same outcome four ways across seasons — FG / FG GOOD / MADE FG, DOWNS / TURNOVER ON DOWNS / POSS. ON DOWNS — so every result is normalized once at build time rather than string-matched anywhere downstream.