Effective Points per Possession (opponent adjusted), 2005-2013

We recently added a new feature here at CFBTN. If you go to the Teams menu, you'll find the option to look at team statistics for 2005 to 2013. To celebrate, I've decided to do a short series on the best performers across a few interesting teams statistics since 2005. Today, we're going to look at opponent-adjusted effective points per possession (EP3+).

EP3+ is a measure of a teams offensive production. It is similar to points per possession, but has three advantages. First, EP3 takes field position into account. Second, it gives little weight to possessions in non-competitive situations. Third, EP3+ is adjusted for the strength of the competition. For the sake of brevity, I've listed those teams that have managed more than 2 effective points per possession.

• Only three teams made the list between 2005 and 2009. Six have made the list in the four season since.
• That makes USC's 2.29 in 2005 even more impressive.  
• Georgia Tech led the country in 2009 with 1.58, 3/4 of a point lower than Texas A&M (2012).
• Only Baylor has made the list twice (though the Bears slip through only if you round up in 2012). 
• Only Hawai'i (2006) tops 2 EP3+ from a non-BCS conference after adjusting for competition. Hawai'i scored 3.88 points per possession that season.

Points per possession, 2005-2013

We recently added a new feature here at CFBTN. If you go to the Teams menu, you'll find the option to look at team statistics for 2005 to 2013. To celebrate, I've decided to do a short series on the best performers across a few interesting teams statistics since 2005. In this first edition we're going to take a look at points per possession.

For the sake of brevity, I've limited the list to teams that score more than 3.5 points per possession, or half a touchdown.

• In nine seasons, 12 teams have managed to cross that threshold. 
• Florida, Wisconsin and Stanford did it twice (each in consecutive years). 
• Only Hawaii (2006) and Tulsa (2008) managed 3.5+ points per possession in non-BCS conferences. 
• The 2008 season was particularly prolific; four teams topped 3.5 and Texas was a few hundredths below. 
• Two of the nine national champions during this period scored more than 3.5 points per possession (Florida 2008 and Florida State 2013), and USC (2005) and Oklahoma (2008) lost title games.
• Louisiana Tech (2012) and Nevada (2009) led the nation in points per possession, but scored fewer than 3.5.
• Oregon has not scored 3.5 points per possession in any one season. Good teams that play fast are at a particular disadvantage in this case, because they can run out to big leads early.