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Week 2 Five Factors box scores

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USC had some of the worst turnovers luck you’ll ever see on Saturday night. And the Trojans still beat a good team by 18.

By Bill C.
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Stanford v USC Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images

This week’s Five Factors box scores are up! And because I love you so much, I added a spacer and a header row for each game since google embeds don’t freeze the top row like I wish they would.

Top 5 success rate margins (vs. FBS)

  1. Kansas State (+37% vs. Charlotte)
  2. TCU (+28% vs. Arkansas!)
  3. Wisconsin (+23% vs. FAU)
  4. USC (+22% vs. Stanford)
  5. Alabama (+20% vs. Fresno State)

If TCU has rediscovered efficient defense, this could be a super fun Big 12 title race. Meanwhile, if this is the USC we’re going to see the rest of the year, it could be a super boring Pac-12 South race.

Top 5 yards per play margins (vs. FBS)

  1. Texas (+3.8 vs. SJSU)
  2. Mississippi State (+3.7 vs. Louisiana Tech)
  3. Kansas State (+3.5 vs. Charlotte)
  4. Michigan State (+3.4 vs. WMU)
  5. Buffalo (+3.4 vs. Army)

MSU’s per-play advantage was aided just slightly by the Yakety Sax play of all-time.

Top 5 field position margins (vs. FBS)

  1. Toledo (+21.9 vs. Nevada)
  2. Ball State (+18.6 vs. UAB)
  3. Penn State (+17.6 vs. Pitt)
  4. Rice (+15.2 vs. UTEP)
  5. San Diego State (+12.8 vs. Arizona State)

Very unsporting of Ball State to so drastically tilt the field on UAB in the Blazers’ first FBS vs. FBS game since their brief shuffling of the mortal coil.

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

  1. Texas (+6.1 vs. SJSU)
  2. Michigan State (+5.6 vs. WMU)
  3. UCLA (+4.0 vs. Hawaii)
  4. Penn State (+3.6 vs. Pitt)
  5. Wake Forest (+3.4 vs. BC)

Penn State dominated Pitt in the Little Things. So how did the Nittany Lions ‘only’ win by 19? Because of their pesky old enemy, efficiency. They had a 38% success rate to Pitt’s 39%.

Top 5 turnovers luck margins (vs. FBS)

  1. Stanford (+4.1 vs. USC*)
  2. NMSU (+2.7 vs. New Mexico)
  3. Wake Forest (+2.6 vs. Boston College)
  4. South Dakota (+2.1 vs. Bowling Green)
  5. Virginia (+2.0 vs. Indiana)

* Translation: Stanford had a turnover margin that was +4.1 ahead of where national averages suggest it should have been. As each turnover is worth approximately five points, that means USC had to deal with about 21 points’ worth of bad turnovers luck. And won big anyway.

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