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The Athletic's Most Interesting Stats of the Week column


Beau Vine

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This has become the first thing I read on Sunday morning.  I'll post the rest of the season if there's call...

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Week 11 is in the books. Let’s check out some numbers.

1. Northwestern is the first team in FBS history to reach a conference championship game despite going winless in nonconference play.

That’s per ESPN Stats & Info following Northwestern clinching the Big Ten West. Divisions in the FBS began in 1992. The Wildcats lost nonconference games to Duke, Akron and Notre Dame, but they’ve won 10 consecutive division games and 13 of their past 14 Big Ten games, including a 14-10 win at Iowa on Saturday to clinch the division. Northwestern will meet Michigan or Ohio State in Indianapolis for the Big Ten title.

All 10 of Northwestern’s games this year have been decided by 14 points or fewer, including six by four points or fewer.

2. Alabama has won a school-record 24 consecutive home games.

The 24 wins at home equal Alabama’s 24-game stretch from 1971-74 at Bryant-Denny Stadium and Legion Field. Saturday’s 24-0 win against Mississippi State marked the second consecutive shutout for the Crimson Tide, the first time they’ve shut out a ranked opponent in consecutive games. Alabama hasn’t allowed a point in more than nine quarters.

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is now second on Alabama’s single-season touchdown pass list (28, record is 30) and third on the single-season total touchdown list (31, record is 36). Alabama averages 8.6 yards per play when he’s at quarterback. In first halves this year, Tagovailoa is completing 70.9 percent of his passes with 25 touchdowns and one interception.

Alabama’s Joseph Bulovas hit a 49-yard field goal in the win, the longest by an Alabama player since the 2015 Iron Bowl.

3. Pitt’s 492 rushing yards against Virginia Tech were the Panthers’ most since 1975.

The Panthers totaled 654 yards in a 52-22 win. The 492 are the most ever allowed by Bud Foster’s defense at Virginia Tech — breaking the previous record of 435 set by Georgia Tech earlier this year. It included a Pitt-record 97-yard touchdown run by Qadree Ollison, who had 235 yards.

Pitt’s previous high was 530 yards against Army in 1975, when Tony Dorsett had 268 yards.

4. Washington State has completed passes to at least nine players in all 10 games this season.

Twelve players caught a pass in Saturday’s 31-7 win at Colorado. Three players caught at least five passes, led by Dezmon Patmon’s eight catches for 103 yards. Wazzu went 37-for-61 passing in the win. This season, six Cougars receivers have at least 30 catches.

5. Tulane had an NCAA-record 20 pass breakups in a 24-18 win against East Carolina.

The NCAA began tracking the stat in 2000. ECU quarterback Holton Ahlers went 21-for-67 passing and was responsible for 84 of ECU’s 94 plays. Along with 67 passes, he had a spike and a team-leading 16 rushes. A combined 10 carries by three other players made up for the rest. Ahlers completed just 31 percent of his passes. No other player has completed fewer than 35 percent of passes with at least 50 attempts since at least 2000, according to College Football Reference.

6. Five of Utah State’s 10 largest yardage outputs in since 2000 have come this season.

Saturday’s 62-24 win against San Jose State included a school-record 804 yards, the third-most in Mountain West history and the third-most in the FBS this year. The 510 passing yards were the third-most in school history.

The Aggies have scored at least 50 points in six of 10 games this year and broken 60 points four times, both school records.

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Kyler Murray passed for 349 yards against Oklahoma State. (Kevin Jairaj / USA TODAY Sports)

7. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State combined for 811 yards in the first half, the most in a single half between FBS teams this season.

The Sooners had 453 in the first half and 640 in the game in a 48-47 win. The Cowboys finished with 702 yards. Oklahoma has scored at least 20 points in the first half in 21 of its past 28 games.

Oklahoma has five wins when allowing more than 45 points over the past three seasons. No one else has more than one, per ESPN, but Texas Tech has three if that qualifier is 45 points or more.

8. Georgia running back D’Andre Swift is averaging 9.9 yards per carry in the past three weeks against Florida, Kentucky and Auburn.

The Bulldogs have figured things out on offense as the regular season winds down. Swift ran for 104 yards on 12 carries against Florida, 156 yards on 16 carries against Kentucky and 186 yards on 17 carries against Auburn. That’s 446 yards in three games. Before this stretch, Swift had 362 yards in the first seven games, with a single-game high of 72 yards.

9. Nebraska has surpassed 450 yards in seven consecutive games, the longest stretch in program history.

It’s been quite a turnaround in recent weeks. The Huskers had 606 yards in a 54-35 win against Illinois. The previous record of six games happened in 1972, 1982, 1994 and 1995. Nebraska has also had consecutive 600-yard home games.

10. UCF’s streak of consecutive 30-point games stretched to 22, tied for the third-longest in the AP poll era, since 1936.

The longer streaks are South Florida (24 from 2015-17) and Oregon (23 from 2011-12), per ESPN Stats & Info. UCF beat Navy 35-24 to extend its winning streak to 22.

11. SMU set a school record for points in a road game in a 62-50 win at UConn.

The previous record was 58 against Rice in 1978. Saturday’s 62 points came on just 69 plays, an average of 0.9 points per play. Four Mustangs touchdowns came on drives of four plays or fewer. It’s the first time in program history the Mustangs scored at least 45 points in consecutive conference games.

12. Texas A&M punter Braden Mann booted his 13th 60-yard punt of the season, tying an NCAA record.

Mann averaged 47.8 yards per punt in A&M’s 38-24 win against Ole Miss. Wake Forest’s Ryan Plackemeier played from 2002-05 and had 13 60-yard punts in his senior season.

13. Four Michigan State players have a punt of at least 50 yards this season.

That’s the most in the FBS in at least the past 20 years. Jake Hartbarger began the season as the top punter but suffered a season-ending injury. He had a long of 74 yards. Then the same happened to Tyler Hunt, who went as far as 63. Bryce Baringer took over and had a 52-yarder, and then William Przystup punted in Saturday’s 26-6 loss to Ohio State and had two 52-yard punts. It’s hard to imagine there’s a deeper punter room in the country. Quarterback Rocky Lombardi also has a 32-yard punt this year.

Also in Saturday’s game, four consecutive timeouts were called between plays. Late in the first half, Michigan State called timeout after a third-down completion to set up fourth-and-1. The Spartans came out on offense, and the Buckeyes took a timeout. Then another. Then Michigan State called timeout and kicked a field goal.

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Dexter Williams carried Notre Dame to a blowout win against Florida state. (Brian Spurlock / USA TODAY Sports)

14. Notre Dame running back Dexter Williams’ 202 rushing yards against Florida State were the most against the Seminoles since 1982.

That comes from The Tallahassee Democrat’s Curt Weiler. Southern Miss’ Sam Dejarnette had 304 against the Noles in 1982. Williams had 202 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns in a 42-13 win on Saturday.

15. Temple running back Ryquell Armstead had six rushing touchdowns in a 59-49 win at Houston.

Armstead had 30 carries for 210 yards and the six scores. In the past two weeks against AAC division leaders UCF and Houston, Temple has scored 99 total points. The Owls averaged 30.5 points per game in their first eight games.

16. Boise State quarterback Brett Rypien became the Mountain West’s all-time leading passer.

Rypien’s 41-yard pass on the first play from scrimmage in a 24-17 win vs. Fresno State on Friday put him ahead of former San Diego State quarterback Ryan Lindley. Rypien now has 12,924 career passing yards. It was Boise State’s longest play in nearly a year, since a 45-yard pass at Fresno State on Nov. 25, 2017. He also passed Lindley’s record for completions and now has 981.

17. Davidson rushed for 789 yards against San Diego — but lost 56-52.

In an FCS game, the Wildcats out-gained San Diego 852-625 in total yards. Davidson averaged 10.8 yards per rush, while San Diego ran for 69 yards, averaging 3.1 per rush. But Davidson passed for just 63 yards, and San Diego went 24-for-36 for 556 yards.

This is the same Davidson team that scored 91 points against Division III Guilford earlier this year.

 

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