Passing Fancy? Or Average?

Today the “for what it’s worth” department provides you their unique and strange look at stats related to Arkansas football.

If you compare Arkansas to the top 25 teams (USA Today poll), you see that:

- Arkansas averages 9 points less per game.
- The top 25 passes for 58.6% of its offense, versus 34.1% for Arkansas.
- The top 25 rushes for 80 less yards a game (177 avg per game).
- The top 25 passes for 117 more yards a game (251 avg per game).
- The top 25 averages 37 yards total offense a game more.
- The top 25 third down percentage is 43% versus our 34%

Only two teams in Division 1 football, Memphis and Rice, get less of their offense from passing than Arkansas. Season to date Arkansas has generated 34.1% of its offense by passing.

Only 20 out of 119 teams generate less than 50% of their offense via pass. 3 of those 20, Texas (46.2%), Penn St. (49.5%) and West Virginia (35.8%), are ranked in the top 25.

The moral of this story is fairly simple. Arkansas needs at least 50% of its offense from passing yards to even begin to look like a typical college football team, much less an average top 25 team.