Week 11 Five Factors box scores

This week’s Five Factors box scores are up! Check out all the results here. Week 11’s superior performances in each category are below.

Top 5 success rate margins (vs. FBS)

1. Texas A&M (+28% vs. New Mexico)
2. Penn State (+26% vs. Rutgers)
3. Ohio State (+25% vs. Michigan State)
4. Pitt (+22% vs. North Carolina)
5. South Carolina (+22% vs. Florida)

That Pitt managed to lose to UNC with a plus-22 percent advantage (and that South Carolina flirted with the idea against Florida) is awfully impressive.

Top 5 yards per play margins (vs. FBS)

1. Texas A&M (+6.1 vs. New Mexico)
2. Ohio State (+5.3 vs. Michigan State)
3. Arizona (+4.4 vs. Oregon State)
4. Wisconsin (+4.4 vs. Iowa)
5. Missouri (+3.8 vs. Tennessee)

Texas A&M’s win over UNM was one of the year’s most dominant and led to a lovely rise in S&P+ for the Aggies. The 55-14 win could have been much worse, too, but Kevin Sumlin called off the dogs in the second half against former A&M defensive coordinator Bob Davie’s squad.

Top 5 field position margins (vs. FBS)

1. Michigan (+25.2 vs. Maryland)
2. Miami (+23.0 vs. Notre Dame)
3. BYU (+22.7 vs. UNLV)
4. Wisconsin (+18.8 vs. Iowa)
5. LSU (+18.3 vs. Arkansas)

Michigan doesn’t need just a ton of offense to become a terrifyingly good field position team.

Top 5 points per scoring opportunity margins (vs. FBS)

1. Wisconsin (+6.2 vs. Iowa)
2. Ohio State (+4.6 vs. Michigan State)
3. Wyoming (+4.2 vs. Air Force)
4. North Texas (+4.1 vs. UTEP)
5. Appalachian State (+3.9 vs. Georgia Southern)

Air Force actually created more scoring chances than Wyoming, but the Cowboys won handily because they finished their chances in the end zone.

Top 5 turnovers luck margins (vs. FBS)

1. South Alabama (+4.6 vs. Arkansas State)
2. East Carolina (+4.2 vs. Tulane)
3. CMU (+3.2 vs. EMU)
4. Washington State (+3.2 vs. Utah)
5. Nevada (+2.6 vs. SJSU)

Translation: South Alabama had a turnover margin that was +4.6 ahead of where national averages suggest it should have been. As each turnover is worth approximately five points, that means Arkansas State suffered about 23 points’ worth of bad turnovers luck. In a five-point loss. Ouch. That does explain why the Red Wolves didn’t fall much in the S&P+ rankings, though.