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There are a ton of stats that are considered critical indicators of football success — total yardage, third down conversions, time of possession. But other than points itself, one of the best indicators of success is which teams make big plays, and which teams shut them down.
Each week, we look at each team’s slate of big plays made or allowed — those covering 25+ yards — to see how the big plays factored in the team’s ultimate success or failure.
The individual plays are listed, with a “T” indicating that a play was a touchdown.
Big Play Makers
Texas A&M: +6 Big Plays (+6 on the season)
Big Plays Made: 7
Runs: 2 (32t, Knight), (27, Bussey)
Passes: 5 (40, Knight-Ford), (36, Knight-Reynolds), (34, Knight-Tabuyo), (34T, Knight-Kirk), (64T, Knight-Kirk)
Allowed: 1
Pass: 1 (27)
You can credit this performance to playing Prairie View A&M. Or you can credit it to the Aggies having one of the most explosive big play attacks in the conference. Not only is that 10 big plays in two games, but eight players have been involved. An explosion will come from their offense, but opponents can only guess from where.
Auburn: +4 Big Plays (+3 on the season)
Big Plays Made: 8
Runs: 4 (47T, Johnson), (64, Pettway) (29, Pettway), (41, Franklin),
Passes: 4 (42, White-Davis), (25, White-Stevens), (29T, White-Hastings), (27, White-Slayton),
Allowed: 4
Passes: 4 (68, 34, 42, 38)
As with A&M, subpar competition helps produce a week like this. But honestly, after Week 1, it would’ve been surprising to imagine Auburn ever breaking eight big plays in a single game. Seven hundred total yards later, here we are. The emergence of Sean White will control the Tigers’ fate in 2016, and in Week 2, he led the most potent offense in the conference.
Alabama: +3 Big Plays (+7 on the season)
Big Plays Made: 4
Passes: 4 (28, Hurts-Ridley), (51, Hurts-Ridley), (52, Barnett-Stewart) (40, Hurts-Dieter)
Allowed: 1
Pass: 1 (59)
Alabama was a bit sloppy against Western Kentucky, but holding WKU QB Mike White to one big play is typically good work for the Tide. Surprising that the running game wasn’t more explosive, but Jalen Hurts has been the sizzle to the Tide’s steak so far.
Georgia: +3 Big Plays (+4 for the season)
Big Plays Made: 3
Passes: 3 (36, Eason-Godwin), (29, Eason-Woerner), (66T, Eason-McKenzie)
Allowed: None
Nicholls’s longest play was a 20-yard pass.
The Bulldogs were disappointing in Week 2, with no big plays coming from the ground game and Jacob Eason looking a little less sharp than he had in Week 1. Still, a win is a win, and a +3 big play day helped make the difference.
Mississippi State: +3 Big Plays (Even for the season)
Big Plays Made: 3
Runs: 2 (74, Fitzgerald), (25, Fitzgerald)
Pass: 1 (31, Fitzgerald-Myles)
Allowed: None
The development of Nick Fitzgerald into Dan Mullen’s next run-pass threat should help the Bulldogs stay on the plus side of the register for the rest of 2016. Any time your defense doesn’t give up a big play, it bodes well.
Middle of the Pack
Florida: +2 Big Plays (+2 for the season)
Big Plays Made: 5
Run: 1 (36, Perine)
Passes: 4 (28, Del Rio-Goolsby), (78T, Del Rio-Callaway), (26T, Del Rio-Swain), (28T, Del Rio-Perine)
Allowed: 3
Runs: 2 (25, 25)
Pass: 1 (45)
Florida was far from the middle of the pack on the scoreboard, put was merely human in the big play breakdown. Of course, part of this is an illustration of the arbitrary limits of the system. If we classify only 26+ yard plays as big plays, Florida was +4, which is probably much closer to what happened in the game. It’s running back by committee for the Gators, and Del Rio looked very poised against a Kentucky defense that did little if anything to disrupt him.
Tennessee: +2 Big Plays (+2 for the season)
Big Plays Made: 4
Runs: 3 (40, Dobbs), (31, Dobbs), (27T, Dobbs)
Pass: 1 (38T, Dobbs-Malone)
Allowed: 2
Run: 1 (69T)
Pass: 1 (30)
A solid week for the Vols, and it bodes well to see Joshua Dobbs’s name in the big play log four times. If Dobbs is doing his thing and creating opportunities on the ground and the air, UT suddenly looks much more like the SEC favorite that most of us thought they were. If Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara can join the party in Week 3, look out.
LSU: +1 Big Play (+2 for the season)
Big Plays Made: 4
Runs: 3 (32, Guice), (44, Guice), (29, Guice)
Pass: 1 (46T, Etling-Smith)
Allowed: 3
Run: 1 (35)
Passes: 2 (76T, 42)
A slow week for the Tigers, as human highlight reel Leonard Fournette was on the bench, replaced by Derrius Guice, who just went for over 150 yards and three big plays of his own. Some defensive faltering in this game has to be a little disconcerting for Les Miles.
Mississippi: +1 Big Play (Even for the Season)
Big Plays Made: 2
Passes: 2 (30, Kelly-Pack), (33, Kelly-Engram)
Allowed: 1
Pass: 1 (32)
A snoozer of a week for the Rebels, as they kept much of the aggressive stuff under wraps. No big plays from the ground game in two weeks is a little disconcerting. Still, Ole Miss would trade a -10 on big plays this coming week for a victory.
Missouri: +1 Big Play (Even for the season)
Big Plays Made: 6
Run: 1 (26T, Crockett)
Passes: 5 (36T, Lock-Hall), (87T, Lock-Johnson), (68, Lock-Wingo), (52T, Lock-Wingo), (49, Lock-Hall)
Allowed: 5
Run: 1 (30)
Passes: 4 (25, 32, 30, 28)
Inferior competition had Drew Lock firing darts all over for the Tigers. The defense isn’t as sharp as it has been the past two seasons, but if the offense keeps making big plays, it won’t matter.
Vanderbilt: +1 Big Play (-1 for the season)
Big Plays Made: 2
Runs: 2 (49, Webb) (42, Webb)
Allowed: 1
Pass: 1 (26)
The good news? Three big plays allowed in two weeks. The bad news? Only two made. Vandy’s offense will go as far as Ralph Webb can carry it.
Coming Up Short
Kentucky: -2 Big Plays (+3 for the season)
Big Plays Made: 3
Runs: 2 (25, Badet), (25, Williams)
Pass: 1 (45, Johnson-Badet)
Allowed: 5
Run: 1 (36)
Passes: 4 (28, 78T, 26T, 28T)
Honestly, the game wasn’t this close. Kentucky’s big plays were 60 percent of its offense for the day. Defensively, UK has allowed seven big plays in two weeks.
Arkansas: -3 Big Plays (-5 for the season)
Big Plays Made: 2
Run: 1 (37, Williams)
Pass: 1 (25, Allen-Sprinkle)
Allowed: 5
Run: 1 (26)
Passes: 4 (31, 26, 57, 43)
Arkansas is our outlier here. Bret Bielema’s team depends on working the ball methodically down the field instead of gaining huge chunks of yardage. That said, it is interest that while the defense has allowed seven big plays, none has been for a touchdown. The defense bends but doesn’t break, and the offense relies on opposing defenses to bend. Will be interesting to see if this trend holds up all season.
South Carolina: -3 Big Plays (-1 for the season)
Big Plays Made: None
Carolina’s longest play of the game was a 24 yard pass from Brandon McIlwain to Bryan Edwards.
Allowed: 3
Runs: 2 (74, 25)
Pass: 1 (31)
On the other hand, there’s Carolina. Week 1, they’re +2 and they win. Week 2, they’re -3 and they lose. The big play seems to define the Gamecocks’ progress thus far.
Joe Cox is a columnist for Saturday Down South. He has also written or assisted in writing five books, and his most recent, Almost Perfect (a study of baseball pitchers’ near-miss attempts at perfect games), is available on Amazon or at many local bookstores.
