Interesting stats here at this link. Conventional wisdom is that passing teams ...ie Spread Teams ...don't do as well in the red zone as teams with a more balenced offense with good running games. But when you look at the top 10 redzone TD teams on this list you'll see only Wisconsin as a traditional pound it out power running team. Other teams like Oregon and Oregon State have good running games but they do not run out of a power formation the RB stands next to the QB and takes the hand off vs the I formation Teams with the QB under center who hands off to the RB as the RB comes toward the line, they may be supplemented by a FB to block So it would seem that the conventional wisdom that you have to have a power running game to do well in the red zone. Is no longer true in college football. Also looking at these stats teams that are identified with strong running games like Navy, Ga.Tech, Air Force, Alabama all finished way out of the top 50 in red zone TD scoring. The Gators weren't esp efficient in the red zone scoring TD's either only a 50% success rate, which is worse than ND's and the Irish fans lamented our lack of a running game. Red Zone Scoring When you reorder the stats for scoring (either FG or TD) you see the Gators way down at #98 and the Irish at #44. I guess this is where you have to factor in the fact that ND had no defense and UF had a great defense. to account for the disparity in wins vs offensive efficiency.
Terry, You also have to factor in the amount of scores that came from outside the redzone. I'd bet some of the better teams that fall down a bit on that list hit quite a few big plays to take up some of the slack...
yeah if you sort on all scores the top teams move to the top of the list. I think if you have a strong defense then a field goal, is valuable. If Alabama went 14-0 next year and won every game 3-0, I would be very happy. Of course if you look at the the final top 10 then it looks like red zone scoring is really not a very important stat.
Florida was off key last year.....no Harvin.....new offensive coordinator...and it showed in the redzone. It was a criticism all year. In 2007....UF #1 in the RZ......Tebow wins the Heisman. In 2008.....UF #6 in the RZ......UF wins the NC. UF 2009 was all about defense with a little Tebow thrown in. .
NEBRASKA was off last year also. We started to see what a Bo Pelini lead team can acheive. Watson's doing final adjustments to the offense. He's getting back to power sets and still mixing in the WCO. Along with the returning starters and a few sophs and jr's nobody's seen yet, coupled with a suffocating defense, it's no wonder Vegas has us as a favorite to win the NC. Back in mix. Right where the Train belongs.
I think kp is right, the whole key in todays college football is great defense. You can win a lot of games with a great offense for sure but when it gets down to crunch time it'll be the team that also has an excellent defense. Last years Huskers and the Tide are prime examples. Both had adequate offenses that had their moments, but great defenses and Huskers had their best season in awhile and Tide won the NC. Even Texas while an excellent offense last year, had a lot of games where we had a hard time getting going on offense but the defense was so good that the opponent had no chance to get going either. While the Irish had an excellent offense but absolutely terrrible defense so the offense go no help and teams with ordinary offenses for the most part just hung in there with us and the games were always close at the end. If Weis had ever been able to get an excellent defense he would still be the coach at ND.