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Explosive plays are the reason most of us watch football.
There’s nothing more exciting than holding your breath as your favorite quarterback lets one fly 50 yards down the field, or when the conference’s most exciting running back slips through a seam and has nothing but daylight in front of him.
So this season, we’re going to be tracking explosive plays for each team … how well they’re able to produce them, and how they are able to defend them.
The numbers may get a little skewed early based on non-conference opponents, but this should even out as the season goes along.
For the purposes of this story, SDS defines an explosive play as a run of at least 20 yards or a pass of at least 30 yards.
EXPLOSIVE PLAY MARGIN
This is the ultimate measure of how well a team is performing in the explosive plays department. It is simply a tally of explosive plays created measured out against the amount of explosive plays allowed. If your team has made more explosive plays than they have given up, there’s a good chance they are doing something right.
Ole Miss took an early lead in this category with its big-play ability against a weak Week 1 opponent in UT-Martin.
| TEAM | MARGIN | EXPLOSIVE PLAYS | EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ALLOWED |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Ole Miss | +6 | 8 | 2 |
| T2. Georgia | +4 | 5 | 1 |
| T2. Arkansas | +4 | 6 | 2 |
| T4. Mississippi State | +3 | 6 | 3 |
| T4. Alabama | +3 | 4 | 1 |
| T4. Texas A&M | +3 | 4 | 1 |
| T7. Kentucky | +2 | 6 | 4 |
| T7. Missouri | +2 | 2 | 0 |
| 9. Florida | +1 | 4 | 3 |
| T10. Vanderbilt | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| T10. LSU | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12. Auburn | -2 | 1 | 3 |
| 13. Tennessee | -3 | 4 | 7 |
| 14. South Carolina | -4 | 1 | 5 |
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS: OFFENSE
This will be the area in which we break down how the explosive plays are happening for each team.
Who would’ve guessed that Arkansas would have been the most prolific downfield passing team in Week 1?
| TEAM | EXPLOSIVE PLAYS | RUSHES FOR 20+ | PASSES FOR 30+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Ole Miss | 8 | 5 | 3 |
| T2. Arkansas | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| T2. Mississippi State | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| T2. Kentucky | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 5. Georgia | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| T6. Alabama | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| T6. Florida | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| T6. Tennessee | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| T6. Texas A&M | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 10. Missouri | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| T11. Auburn | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| T11. South Carolina | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| T11. Vanderbilt | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 14. LSU | 0 | 0 | 0 |
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS: DEFENSE
Much like the offensive rankings above, we’ve taken similar effort to breakdown exactly how the SEC defenses are allowing explosive plays.
Tennessee’s secondary had its troubles against Bowling Green’s passing attack, which should be something to note as the Vols prepare to host Oklahoma this week.
While LSU was buried in the offensive rankings due to its Week 1 game cancellation, the Tigers make it up on the defensive side of things, where the “0” plays well.
| TEAM | EXPLOSIVE PLAYS ALLOWED | RUSHES FOR 20+ | PASSES FOR 30+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1. Missouri | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T1. LSU | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T3. Alabama | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| T3. Georgia | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| T3. Texas A&M | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| T3. Vanderbilt | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| T7. Arkansas | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| T7. Ole Miss | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| T9. Auburn | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| T9. Florida | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| T9. Mississippi State | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 12. Kentucky | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| 13. South Carolina | 5 | 4 | 1 |
| 14. Tennessee | 7 | 2 | 5 |
Nick Cole is a former print journalist with several years of experience covering the SEC. Born and raised in SEC country, he has taken in the game-day experience at all 14 stadiums.
