Statistical Summer: Two-Year Drive Start Rankings For The Pac-12 And SEC

A few weeks ago, you were introduced to the world of short-field points, a statistic I’ve tracked the past two seasons before I came to Bloguin and The Student Section. What was once called “Enemy Territory” will now be called “Turf Battle,” and you’ll get weekly recaps throughout the coming season.

As the Statistical Summer winds down and opening day approaches, we’ll spend today and the weekend giving you information on short-field drives and points over the past two seasons. Today, we’ll offer the numbers and rankings for the Pac-12 and the SEC. Tomorrow, we’ll hit the other three “power-five” conferences, the ACC, Big Ten, and Big 12. Sunday, we’ll look at the Mountain West, The American, and the major independents (not Old Dominion or other like schools from 2012 and 2013). These are the conferences and teams that were tracked over the past two seasons.

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A brief refresher: Short-field drives, for the purpose of tracking these bundled stats, are drives that start at the 50 or in an opponent’s territory. Short-field points are tabulated under the assumption that a touchdown scores seven points, whether or not a team misses the PAT or goes for two.

NOTE: In 2012, stats were tabulated including end-of-game possessions with a lead. In 2013, seeing the lack of value in those possessions, they were dropped from Turf Battle’s tabulations. You will notice the decline in the number of recorded short-field drive starts in 2013. This is a product of the shift in stat-keeping, not an on-field trend. Several possessions were lopped off as a result of the procedural adjustment.

Here we go:

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PAC-12 TURF BATTLE STATS AND RANKINGS, 2012 AND 2013

2012 SHORT-FIELD DRIVES WITH TEAM RANKINGS ATTACHED

1. Tie — Oregon and UCLA, 35

3. Arizona, 29

4. Tie — Arizona State and Washington, 25

6. Tie — Stanford and Washington State, 24

8. Utah, 23

9. Tie — California and USC, 21

11. Oregon State, 20

12. Colorado, 13

2012 SHORT-FIELD POINT TOTALS WITH TEAM RANKINGS

1. Oregon, 157

2. UCLA, 134

3. Arizona, 117

4. Arizona State, 111

5. Washington, 97

6. Utah, 86

7. USC, 83

8. Stanford, 76

9. California, 65

10. Oregon State, 58

11. Washington State, 54

12. Colorado, 47

2013 SHORT-FIELD DRIVES

1. Stanford, 28

2. UCLA, 27

3. Tie — Oregon and Oregon State, 26

5. USC, 23

6. Arizona, 21

7. Arizona State, 20

8. Washington State, 18

9. Tie — Utah and Washington, 15

11. Tie — California and Colorado, 9

2013 SHORT-FIELD POINT TOTALS

1. UCLA, 145 — Jim Mora (pictured in the cover photo, above) has led the best short-field team in the Pac-12 over the past two seasons

2. Stanford, 110

3. Oregon State, 89

4. USC, 88

5. Oregon, 87

6. Arizona, 83

7. Washington, 76

8. Arizona State, 75

9. Washington State, 65

10. Utah, 45

11. Colorado, 27

12. California, 17

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SEC TURF BATTLE STATS AND RANKINGS, 2012 AND 2013

2012 SHORT-FIELD DRIVES 

1. Florida, 33

2. Missouri, 32

3. Alabama, 30

4. Georgia, 29

5. LSU, 26

6. Tie — Mississippi State and South Carolina, 23

8. Tie — Tennessee and Vanderbilt, 21

10. Tie — Ole Miss and Texas A&M, 19

12. Kentucky, 15

13. Auburn, 14

14. Arkansas, 12

2012 SHORT-FIELD POINT TOTALS 

1. Alabama, 142

2. Missouri, 117

3. Florida, 112

4. Tennessee, 96

5. LSU, 92

6. Ole Miss, 88

7. Texas A&M, 87

8. Mississippi State, 86

9. Georgia, 82

10. South Carolina, 80

11. Vanderbilt, 58

12. Arkansas, 34

13. Auburn, 33

14. Kentucky, 31

Gary Pinkel at 2014 SEC Media Days

Gary Pinkel has coached the best short-field team in the SEC over the past two seasons. Missouri has squeezed more production out of this stat than any other SEC team since the start of the 2012 campaign.

2013 SHORT-FIELD DRIVES

1. Missouri, 26

2. Texas A&M, 25

3. Vanderbilt, 24

4. Mississippi State, 22

5. South Carolina, 21

6. Alabama, 20

7. Florida, 19

8. Tennessee, 18

9. LSU, 17

10. Auburn, 13

11. Arkansas, 10

12. Tie — Georgia, Kentucky, and Ole Miss, 9

2013 SHORT-FIELD POINT TOTALS

1. Texas A&M, 114

2. Missouri, 108

3. South Carolina, 107

4. Vanderbilt, 97

5. LSU, 82

6. Tie — Alabama and Auburn, 80

8. Mississippi State, 66

9. Florida, 62

10. Georgia, 45

11. Ole Miss, 44

12. Arkansas, 37

13. Tennessee, 30

14. Kentucky, 23

About Matt Zemek

Editor, @TrojansWire | CFB writer since 2001 |

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